How to Shorten Lead Response Time

One of the key components of your lead management system or process is the way you respond to leads. The ideal lead response time varies by industry, but the benefits of fast response (relative to the competition) are pretty much universal.

Studies published by Insidesales.com and HBR show that response within 5 minutes means that you are:

7 times as likely to qualify the lead as compared to those who respond within an hour; and

60 times as likely compared to those who respond after 24 hours or more.

So one of the things your marketing and sales teams have to figure out is how to shorten lead response time in order to close the deal fast, or at least get a first-mover advantage over competitors who aren’t that prompt in responding to leads.

Considering that a majority of inbound leads will come to you through your website, telephone, social media and email, here’s a list of solutions and providers that will help you shorten lead response time on these channels.

Callback: It’s the nature of the web that website visitors are more open to asking you to call them back, as opposed to calling you. So if you’re wondering why your website visitors are not contacting you, then what you need is a callback tool.

(Lucep, an instant response callback tool, makes it easy for your website visitors to get an instant callback from a member of your sales team. Try lucep. Talk to your customers now.)

Using the Lucep widget on your website and the free Lucep mobile app in your sales team’s smartphones will enable you to call back website leads within 60 seconds, resulting in up to 48% more lead generation and up to 72% more lead conversions. That’s the power of fast response to website leads, coupled with Lucep’s unique AI engine that intelligently matches a callback request to the right sales team member who is available at that moment.

Live Chat: Live chat web apps and widgets allow you to talk to and engage website visitors instantly.

For example, Freshdesk lets you engage website visitors proactively and initiate a conversation before they ask to speak to you. This live chat solution works seamlessly with your helpdesk, with no set-up or integration requirements.

Click to Call: This is like a virtual PBX, where inbound calls get routed through to the right sales team member. As a nod to the importance of digital marketing, cloud telephony companies like Knowlarity now offer website to phone solutions such as Click to Call. Knowlarity’s instant calling widget connects your sales team to leads right away to increase your conversion rate.

Gamification: A carrot and stick approach where you give your sales team targets and then gamify first response or fast response to leads with rewards will push them to scramble and reach leads first before anyone else can get a leg in the door. If you want to explore the possibilities for sales performance gamification, Salesforce has a nice collection of gamification apps.