No matter what tools you use to bring new leads in to your business, it all comes down to emails and phone calls. No matter how many great leads you’re receiving, if you miss the mark with your follow-up strategy, you will miss the mark with your quota.
But what is the best way to set yourself up for success? Thankfully, there is a robust body of research on this subject to provide us with some best practices backed up by solid data.
First, remember the importance of first impressions and speed of service. When a prospect “raises their hand” by replying to a communication, leaving a message, or requesting a contact, following up directly with that person as soon as possible will greatly increase your chances of continuing that conversation further. Not only will you make a great initial impression on that prospect, by following up within a few minutes with an inbound lead, you can ensure that you are reaching your prospect when your offering and company is still forefront in their mind.
While timely follow-up is essential, overzealous follow-up can be detrimental. The goal is to be persistent without crossing the line into annoying. As much as we may want to at times, you can’t really brow beat someone into become a customer – at least not a happy customer. The best you can do as a sales person is to make sure you are optimally presented as a good option so that when your prospect is ready, they can make the choice themselves to pursue doing business with your company. If you follow up too often and try to force the sale or conversation, you will end up losing some contacts that otherwise would have been ideal prospects for you. Just try to keep in mind how frequent of contact you would find professional if you were on the other end of the exchange.
None of these strategies should be anything new to sales people, and yet these simple steps to success are actually practiced by a shockingly small number of sales people. To be successful in sales we just need to remember to focus on strategies that expand our reach to enough people to allow us to focus on prospects that are interested on their own, rather than focusing on strategies to convince uninterested prospects that they need to buy.
LeadSeek can help you expand your reach and allow you to focus on interested prospects. Spend more time closing and less time selling. Drop us a line and let’s talk about how.