On May
Congrats on getting a lead! Now it’s time to convert your lead into a sale. As you’ll read below, what you do in the first 10 minutes after you capture a lead can make or break your chances of closing the deal. Here are the 6 most important things that sales offices should be doing immediately after a potential client fills out a digital form:
- Send out a confirmation email right away.
Filling out a form should trigger an instant automated email response. The email should thank the user for their inquiry and tell them a little bit about your company. Give leads the option to learn more about your business and invite them to follow you on social media. Include links to some of your best blog posts. Prospective clients visit your website or social media for information, so now is the time to shine.
- Call the lead IMMEDIATELY!
The amount of time that lapses between a potential client clicking “submit” on a form and a salesperson contacting the potential client is key to converting the lead. A popular Harvard Business Review Study found that most companies are not responding to leads fast enough, with the average response time being 42 hours! Furthermore, according to the well-known Lead Response Management Study, “the odds of qualifying a lead in 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drop 21 times. And from 5 minutes to 10 minutes the dial to qualify odds decrease 4 times.”
- If your product or service has a multi-stage sales cycle, then the lead should immediately be put into an automated sales funnel process.
The lead should be placed in the lead nurturing campaign schedule so that you can keep in touch with the customer and communicate with them throughout the process. The most successful sales funnels keep track of each individual lead’s status and the time they have been in that status. This allows you and your sales team to effectively communicate with each lead with customized content, as opposed to sending out messaging that may not relate to them. Sales funnel communications should be viewed as a support to the sales team, not a replacement or a crutch.
- Capture UTM data so you know exactly where the lead came from.
Generating leads is only part of the equation. Once you have a lead, do you know where it came from? Having UTM parameters in place will help you identify the lead source so you can make sure you are using the most effective marketing strategy tailored to that specific person. Beyond that, UTMs can capture additional attributes such as SEM campaign, SEM ads and keywords. This allows for optimization on every level of your digital marketing campaigns. Keep in mind though, tracking at this level is not limited to just SEM. UTM tracking can be also utilized for tracking organic traffic, lead providers, and even direct mail campaigns. Having a deeper insight into every lead that comes in the door allows you to optimize quickly and effectively.
- Make sure the retargeting pixel is firing so that the customer can be remarketed to almost immediately.
Did you know that a website visitor who’s been retargeted with a display ad is 70% more likely to convert? Make sure your retargeting pixel is firing right away so that you can follow your sales leads when they are browsing online. This will make them aware of your company and keep you “fresh” in their heads. Retargeting will allow you to personalize ads or promotions to leads who have shown interest in specific products or services.
- Send out an SMS text thanking the customer for their registration.
This should be similar to the autoresponder email, but very trimmed down and to the point. Since 45% of form data is submitted on a mobile device, the goal here is to get the customer to call or text back before they move on to a competitor’s website. Being able to reach out to potential sales leads on the same device they just contacted you on is invaluable. There is no waiting for them to check their inbox and no calling a landline while they are out of the office.
Conclusion:
In order to be successful in converting your prospects, sales and marketing teams must work together to create clearly defined sales processes so that no leads slip through the cracks. If your sales team makes a commitment to reach out to new leads within the first 5-10 minutes, sales efficiency will be improved astronomically.
14, 2018, Tom Gricka and John Lynch of Babylon Solutions attended Broker Fair. Broker Fair, presented by debanked, is a gathering of MCA and business loan brokers, funders and service providers. At the event, attendees are able to share knowledge, listen to speakers, network, and inspire each other.
Tom Gricka, the founder and president of Babylon Solutions (a marketing and technology company with over 10 years of experience in the alternative lending and merchant services space) was one of the presenters at Broker Fair. He shared his tips on overlooked marketing strategies in the alternative lending space.
Here is a summary of his presentation:
Diversification
- No more than 1/3 of leads should be coming from a single source
- If your budget is greater than $10k per month, you should have at least 2 sources
- Average test budget is $5k
Drip Marketing
- Differentiate your messages
- Don’t just pitch capital
- Test your subject lines
- Open rates can vary from 5% to 30%
- Have multiple Calls to Action
- Take a multi-faceted approach
- Incorporate social media and calls
Customization
- Don’t just use a single landing page
- Customization can lead to double digit increases in conversion rates
- Social media imagery should align with targets
- SEM ads should always include a variation of the keyword in the headline and/or first line
- Targeted direct mail should be customized to the specific industry when applicable
Communication
- Marketing and Sales traditionally have an antagonistic relationship
- Sales needs to know where leads are coming from
- Live vs Aged data must be treated differently
- Sales must understand if there is and how much competition exists per lead
- Sales must understand if leads are coming in from a brand other than their own
- Marketing can learn from the intangible data that the sales team experiences
- Disposition of leads must always be entered CRM
- Marketing must know the hurdles experienced during the sales pitch
If you would like to learn more about the strategies and concepts in this presentation or how Babylon Solutions can help you with your marketing and technological efforts than please contact us at info@babylonsolutions.com.