Lead Follow-Up And Our Debilitating Need For Speed

By Perry Rearick, Chief Editor, Follow Your Buyer

Thought for the Week—Lead Follow-up and Our Debilitating Need for Speed

I recall meeting with a sales leader in a company that delivered really complex, high-cost services to other businesses with an average sales cycle of more than six months.   

He was ready to defund marketing because the leads, while plentiful, were terrible according to him. They had not converted a single marketing lead and the only sales they closed were with clients they already knew.  

I asked him about his lead follow-up process. According to him, it was great. They sent each lead an auto-response message within seconds of leaving the website or hitting a piece of gated content. They all received the same message that was a cut and paste from the “about us” section of their website. His assumption was that the sooner they respond to a lead, the better chance they have of turning into a sale. Hmmm?

Building a lead follow-up process around the principle of speed alone is a big waste of time and money. Rather, it should be developed around personalization, quality and offering valuable information. Acknowledging that a prospect accessed a white paper with a thank you is a great thing to do. But that must be followed up with something more substantive than a meeting request.

When was the last time you assessed your lead follow-up process?

What level of quality goes into your follow-messages?

Are they all the same? Your buyers aren’t.

Are you taking the time to discover more about your leads?

Do you have an adequate library of helpful content to share as part of your follow-up?

I hope you have a great week and good luck with your follow-ups!

--Perry