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When Should My Sales Team Reach Out to an Inbound Lead?
marketveep.com
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“The right answer is immediately.” This chart from the Lead Response Management Study shows the steep drop-off in lead qualification after the 5-minute mark: (Source: Lead Response Management Study) Okay, so instant response is critical to sales success. But should that response always come from sales? Should it always be a call? That depends. Prioritize and Score Your Inbound Leads A lead might convert on a piece of website content (with a blog subscription, for example), but this doesn’t always mean they’re hot and ready to buy. Inbound leads are more likely to close than cold calls, sure. But there’s still a difference between a lukewarm lead and a sales qualified lead. A rapid response in some form is essential, so who should reach out? The highest priority leads should get the fastest contact from sales. However, in many cases the first point of contact should actually be marketing, with lead nurturing material. Instant outreach from a salesperson can seem overly aggressive and scare off leads who aren’t primed and ready to close. Also — unless you’re dealing with a relatively small number of contacts — you might not have the time or resources to reach out to every single inbound lead manually. This is where lead scoring comes in. Your digital conversion actions should be tied into analytics that track all sorts of demographic information and purchase intent indicators. These metrics can score your leads and tell you whether or not they’re sales-ready. If they qualify on the first touchpoint (by clicking a “contact a sales rep” CTA, for example), then all bombs away. If not: Put the lead in a marketing drip campaign Segment the lead into a workflow that suits the info you have so far Offer additional value over time Gradually profile the lead further Prep them for a qualifying action Get the sales team involved as soon as they convert The sales team should be involved as soon as a lead has taken steps that show they’re serious.
“But that doesn’t mean they’re ready to make a purchase right away, and you definitely don’t want to scare them off.” This chart from the Lead Response Management Study shows the steep drop-off in lead qualification after the 5-minute mark: (Source: Lead Response Management Study) Okay, so instant response is critical to sales success. But should that response always come from sales? Should it always be a call? That depends. Prioritize and Score Your Inbound Leads A lead might convert on a piece of website content (with a blog subscription, for example), but this doesn’t always mean they’re hot and ready to buy. Inbound leads are more likely to close than cold calls, sure. But there’s still a difference between a lukewarm lead and a sales qualified lead. A rapid response in some form is essential, so who should reach out? The highest priority leads should get the fastest contact from sales. However, in many cases the first point of contact should actually be marketing, with lead nurturing material. Instant outreach from a salesperson can seem overly aggressive and scare off leads who aren’t primed and ready to close. Also — unless you’re dealing with a relatively small number of contacts — you might not have the time or resources to reach out to every single inbound lead manually. This is where lead scoring comes in. Your digital conversion actions should be tied into analytics that track all sorts of demographic information and purchase intent indicators. These metrics can score your leads and tell you whether or not they’re sales-ready. If they qualify on the first touchpoint (by clicking a “contact a sales rep” CTA, for example), then all bombs away. If not: Put the lead in a marketing drip campaign Segment the lead into a workflow that suits the info you have so far Offer additional value over time Gradually profile the lead further Prep them for a qualifying action Get the sales team involved as soon as they convert The sales team should be involved as soon as a lead has taken steps that show they’re serious.
“The real question is whether they’re ready for sales, or better suited to lead nurturing from the marketing department.” This chart from the Lead Response Management Study shows the steep drop-off in lead qualification after the 5-minute mark: (Source: Lead Response Management Study) Okay, so instant response is critical to sales success. But should that response always come from sales? Should it always be a call? That depends. Prioritize and Score Your Inbound Leads A lead might convert on a piece of website content (with a blog subscription, for example), but this doesn’t always mean they’re hot and ready to buy. Inbound leads are more likely to close than cold calls, sure. But there’s still a difference between a lukewarm lead and a sales qualified lead. A rapid response in some form is essential, so who should reach out? The highest priority leads should get the fastest contact from sales. However, in many cases the first point of contact should actually be marketing, with lead nurturing material. Instant outreach from a salesperson can seem overly aggressive and scare off leads who aren’t primed and ready to close. Also — unless you’re dealing with a relatively small number of contacts — you might not have the time or resources to reach out to every single inbound lead manually. This is where lead scoring comes in. Your digital conversion actions should be tied into analytics that track all sorts of demographic information and purchase intent indicators. These metrics can score your leads and tell you whether or not they’re sales-ready. If they qualify on the first touchpoint (by clicking a “contact a sales rep” CTA, for example), then all bombs away. If not: Put the lead in a marketing drip campaign Segment the lead into a workflow that suits the info you have so far Offer additional value over time Gradually profile the lead further Prep them for a qualifying action Get the sales team involved as soon as they convert The sales team should be involved as soon as a lead has taken steps that show they’re serious.
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