Commentary

Inbound Lead Response Takes Speed, Persistence And Quality

According to a new study by Velocify, titled, “Sales Lead Response: The Ugly Truth Behind Call, Voicemail, and Email Practices,” most sales teams are not making the most of their inbound sales opportunity with effective follow-up including timeliness, persistency, and value.

Velocify CEO and President, Nick Hedges says that “It was eye opening to find… many companies are throwing money away… not responding appropriately or at all to high-value leads… poor lead response… devastating to… bottom line and… ability to compete and grow.”

To assess effectiveness, the study analyzed lead response tactics, including the message in comparison to established best practices, and found that communication channel, timing, frequency, and quality are the keys. These four communication factors have the greatest impact on lead progression, and ultimately conversion to a sale, says the report.

The study scored sales reps’ voicemail and email messages against five effective characteristics. Voicemails were graded on context; clarity; length; personalization; and tone, and emails on clarity; context; personalization; length; and clear Call to Action. 82% of voicemails and 92% of emails that were assessed needed improvement. The most pervasive issues behind the low ratings were:

  • More than half of voicemails were lacking good tone. The wrong tone can give the impression that the rep lacks enthusiasm for the product or their job. Plus, if the voicemail sounds like the rep is reading from a script, it will give the impression of poor training and lack of product knowledge. 
  • Half of all emails received lacked a clear CTA. (Call to Action.) Most had too many CTAs but some failed to include even one CTA.
  • 39% of emails lacked the prospect’s name. With so many automation options available today, sales reps need to be sure to include the personal touch of addressing prospects by name in the body of their outreach emails.

 According to the study, most sales reps were too slow to follow-up and not persistent enough. Maintaining a consistent and disciplined follow-up process is just as important as the quality of your message, says the report.

  • More than 33% of leads didn’t even receive a call
  • Only 7% of prospects received a call within the recommended best practice of one minute 
  • 85% of leads didn’t receive the optimal number of voicemails
  • Most email follow-up was too quick, too slow, or not frequent enough
  • 35% of leads received an email in less than one minute, the recommended best practice is to wait 20 minutes before sending an email so it doesn’t feel like an automated, impersonal email to the prospect
  • Only 5% of leads received the optimal number of emails

 By fine tuning communication timing and frequency, plus putting more emphasis on persuasive and proven messaging, companies can improve their initial impact on inbound sales leads, concludes the report.

To download the full report, please visit here.

 

 

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