There are many businesses out there that have a single point of contact for leads that come in through their Web site. This is fine for smaller companies where that one person is also responsible for responding to Web leads, but in larger organizations, it isn’t practical.
What happens when that person goes on vacation? When they’re out sick? If they have computer problems?
We recommend using technology to help solve this problem.
If you have a CRM system (such as Salesforce.com) you can setup various assignment rules that will automatically assign the lead from the Web site to the proper sales rep based on various criteria. You can setup rules based on products, territories, budgets, or just about any other criteria.
If you’re not using a Web-based CRM product, that doesn’t mean you can’t have similar functionality. Many of our clients have us send form submissions to different people based on a simple drop-down field. Each item in the drop-down field will be associated with a different rep and will get the information as soon as it is submitted.
With ever increasing customer demands and the instant gratification expected online, reducing the number of steps to connect a sales rep and a potential customer is critical.
A recent survey by InsideSales and MIT discusses various criteria for contacting leads, such as day of the week, time of day, and most importantly, response time. They examined 3 years of data across six companies that generate and response to Web leads, from over fifteen thousand leads and over one hundred thousand call attempts.
The chart below shows how the odds of contacting a lead drop over 10 times after the first hour.
The odds of calling to contact a lead decrease by over 10 times in the first hour.
What does this mean for your business? It means that it needs to be connected. When a lead comes in, it should be sent to someone who can handle it as quickly as possible. Whether it’s a sales rep on the road, calling from their mobile phone, or a service that contacts leads to qualify them, getting back to people quickly will help you increase sales.
Having the technology in place to handle these response times will provide your customers with a better experience through your Web site and will help you maximize your opportunity to grow your business.
