Reasonable customers win with reasonable follow-up.

Posted on May 23, 2005 by Dave J.

While I’ve had some recent run-ins with whiney leads who don’t want to be contacted, they are the exceptions. MarketingVox confirms that assumption with this post this morning: Study: Same-Day Lead Follow Up Boosts Satisfaction:

“88 percent of those contacted on the same day said they were happy, where only 70 percent said the same when contacted more than four days after initially indicating interest.”

The post leads to BtoBonline, which apparently has a vague press release from KnowledgeStorm. Still its good news that most leads are happy to hear from a company promptly, and that personal response only increases the satisfaction.

I still remember filling out a ‘contact us’ form at a website five or six years ago, then getting a phone call from a salesperson within 15 minutes. He answered my questions and took me back to their website to show me some more product details. I was amazed at how effective it was for him to be that prompt to respond.

UPDATE: Brian Carroll has more to say about this report and the ‘need for speed’ when it comes to lead follow-up. Listen-up to the lead guru!

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  • Brian Carroll

    Good points. Lead generation for most companies is reminds me of a leaky bucket, either you need to find a way to fill it with cheaper water (inquiries) or patch the leaks. I’ve found that up-to 40% of web inquiries are followed up late (days or weeks after the request) or never at all.Most companies make the mistake of forwarding “leads” (unqualified inquiries)directly to their sales team. Bad idea. Most sales people choose the path of least resistance and just like books, inquiries are judged by how they look at a surface level. This erroneous disqualification is hurting ROI and sales but sales people with quotas to meet don’t have the time do weed through inquiries. So why do so many companies make their sales people do this? We all need to look at our lead generation programs, to try to find the leaks… and then start patching them. This is just one of many potential leaks.

  • Brian Carroll

    Good points. Lead generation for most companies is reminds me of a leaky bucket, either you need to find a way to fill it with cheaper water (inquiries) or patch the leaks. I’ve found that up-to 40% of web inquiries are followed up late (days or weeks after the request) or never at all.Most companies make the mistake of forwarding “leads” (unqualified inquiries)directly to their sales team. Bad idea. Most sales people choose the path of least resistance and just like books, inquiries are judged by how they look at a surface level. This erroneous disqualification is hurting ROI and sales but sales people with quotas to meet don’t have the time do weed through inquiries. So why do so many companies make their sales people do this? We all need to look at our lead generation programs, to try to find the leaks… and then start patching them. This is just one of many potential leaks.

  • valueprep.com

    Brian certainly did not give bad advice. However, when speaking on the true generation, it is counterproductive in the first place to generate without appropriate follow-up to justify generating it in the first place. That is where the busines owners must start to understand that it is merely half the battle to get the lead, the other is closing the deal! There is a finite amount of time that expires in the customers mind and the interest is then gone. Business can help that by quickened follow ups.Take careBrian< HREF="http://valueprep.com" REL="nofollow">relationship help<>