The Importance of Following Up on Leads
If you’re a business owner wanting to reach the next level of success, there are three questions you must ask yourself. Your answers will determine whether your company grows dramatically over the next few years, or whether you’ll be sitting wondering why you have very few prospects. Consider these questions as if they were a toll bridge standing between you and your success.
- How many prospects did your business generate last month?
- How many of these prospects did business with you, converting them from a prospect into a customer?
- How many times did you contact the prospects that didn’t do business with you?
If you answered No. 3 with, “Only once or twice,” I suggest you keep reading...
According to a study conducted by SiriusDecisions, the average salesperson makes only two attempts to contact a prospect. After that, they hang them out to dry. The thought of a salesperson giving up so easily should surprise and frustrate you. You likely spend a lot of time and money obtaining new leads, so why would someone just abandon that investment?
Moen Faucets conducts “Did you Buy?” surveys every month, collecting data on their customers and presenting it for their peers. From those surveys, they’ve discovered that, on average, only 15 percent of customers who request information from the company make a purchase inside the faucet category — not necessarily with Moen — within the first 90 days of requesting information.
That means about 85 percent of the future value of all your leads is at least 90 days out.
When it comes to nurturing leads, you need to follow up with them. That doesn’t mean badgering your prospects, but it does mean following up regularly.
Your first call shouldn’t be the only contact. It should be an assessment call. Just because a lead might not be ready to do business now doesn’t mean they won’t want to later. Sort them into different timelines for future follow up calls.
While there may not be an exact way to predict when a customer will make the decision to move forward, the more motivated they are to buy, the more frequent and personal your communication with them needs to be. Remember why you were initially in contact with them, and feel free to remind them if they were the ones to reach out to you!
Don’t throw away old leads as if they were spoiled fruit. Stay in regular contact and watch your business go to the next level.