How would you react if you learned today that responding to a prospect within one minute of their inquiry could improve your ability to win new business by 391%? Similarly, if you help your clients improve their response time they could generate more revenue, and your agency could win more organic new business? Read on to learn more.
A leads management provider called Leads 360 recently published a fascinating study on the power of speed to influence new sales. In short, new business opportunities seized upon quickly convert at orders of magnitude better than those that languish – where “languish” means anything over about 24 hours.
- Leads called within one to two minutes of their being born convert 160% more often than the average.
- 88% of leads that close are those called within 24 hours.
But the real kicker is this:
When you call new leads in under 60 seconds, the study shows an astounding 391% improvement over average conversion rates.
Why do you suppose that speed is so important? Is this just another by-product of the Internet Age? Or, are most consumers impulse buyers who quickly lose interest? On the contrary, the study’s authors suggest something even more radical. Leads contacted in the first 60 seconds may not close that day, week or month. However, the impression of that immediate contact is lasting and forms a “bond” that has real value.
That’s a compelling insight that can positively impact your business.
Impact on New Business – Questions to Answer
- Does your agency have a website form that prospective clients fill out and submit? Who receives the form? How long does it take to respond to those forms with a phone call?
- What happens to incoming calls? Do they get answered by someone in all cases? Or, do some end up in a voicemail box? How long does it take to respond to those messages?
- Do you track your speed of response? Assuming you don’t, how could you? Who can you put in charge of response time to ensure that speed prevails?
Impact on Organic Growth – Questions to Answer
- How do each of your clients (whether B2B or B2C) respond to incoming leads? Have you mapped – and timed – the process from web-form submission to customer service/sales rep (assuming they don’t have an online direct-purchase option or call center model)?
- What changes can you recommend to increase response times?
- What metrics can you put in place to measure the impact of improved response time on new revenue?
- How will you communicate the benefit of improvements in response time and revenue growth to position your agency to work on more of their business?
This is such a simple concept, but one that isn’t necessarily easy to implement. It will be impacted by your CRM software, perhaps your phone system, your existing work processes, and ultimately your culture.
Regardless, with the prospect of closing four times as many new leads as we do now, I promise you that this is something we’re going to be working on starting today. How about you?
