Most would hate to wait after they swipe right on a prospective match. When people swipe right on a match, they are eager for the match to reciprocate. The wait gets unsettling. The mix of anticipation and eagerness leads to more right swipes. This is for that elusive match on a dating app. Same applies to digital leads.
The click on your online ad by a customer is the sales equivalent of a right swipe on a dating app. Both actions lead to anticipation for an instant reciprocation from the other party.
Dating app user would love to get a match. Customers would love to get an instant reply from the advertiser.
Both, the user and the customer, would hate if you make them wait. So, don’t sit tight when they swipe right.
Responding to digital leads – Do you make your customers wait?
Your response speed to web and digital leads could be the difference between winning and losing a deal. Call it the fast mover’s advantage in sales.
Surprisingly, a lot of businesses make customers wait. Refer to these digital leads response time statistics from Chili Piper:
- Businesses are 21 times more likely to qualify leads with a fast response time than waiting for more than 30+ minutes
- On average, B2B sales teams take 42 hours to respond to new lead and 38% of those leads never reply back. That’s awfully slow
- After five minutes pass, the odds of connecting and qualifying with the lead drop 80%
- Businesses who respond to leads in five minutes or less are 100x more likely to convert opportunities.
One thing is for sure, when it comes to winning digital leads, it’s not the slow and steady that wins the race. Time to be a rabbit.
Deploy mechanisms, workflows and check points in your sales process. The goal – don’t make the customer wait more than 5 minutes after you receive a new lead. You’d do well to set an ambitious goal of a response within the first 30 seconds.
Quick response increases your sales conversion
Visualize a customer’s journey for web and digital leads.
Annie is a mother of two. She is looking for a daycare for her kids while she and her husband will be away at work. She does a quick online search for “daycare near me” on her smartphone.
There are more than a few search results – a few paid and a more organic results.
What would Annie do?
Does she contact one daycare? Or does she reach out to more than one?
I’m sure you guessed it right – she would reach out to more than one.
What happens next? Annie is eager to hear back from each of the businesses. She has an urgent need. Her buy intent is high.
Web Leads Are High On Intent
Wouldn’t you agree that the first responder has a clear advantage? Sure they do. Especially over some competitor who responds a day later or never calls back.
Then it is also about Annie’s availability to talk to the business. When she clicks on the business listing or ad on the search engine – getting a daycare for her kids is on top of her priority list. Also, she is available to receive your call and talk to you.
That makes it the best time to call back. This golden period is usually within the first few minutes. And since you will be competing with a few other proactive businesses, set a goal of less than 30 seconds.
If you call after a delay, Annie may not be available to pick up your call. She may be busy with her kids or some other work.
Catch them when you can.
So, don’t sit tight when they swipe right 😊
Winning more digital leads and sales is quite like online dating.
Make a move and win more often. Here’s a link to my video on why you should be monitoring and continuously improving your digital leads response time.
Recommended Post: The Introvert’s Guide to Succeeding in Sales
Time for some myth busting folks. Is being an introvert holding you back from a successful career in sales. The constant interaction with people and the need to network can be draining and uncomfortable for introverts in sales.
But it’s a myth. A misconception. And this blog post will bust the myth.
