Creating a Successful Lead Follow-Up System
We are going to take a deep dive into the Deep Earth follow-up process and discuss the best way to follow up with leads, whether they are coming from Facebook, Instagram, Google My Business, or from your website contact form.
Many Jewelers are Allowing Leads to Fall Through the Cracks
A study conducted by the Harvard Business Review gives great insight into internet leads, specifically regarding lead response time. The study analyses over 100,000 call attempts with 15,000 unique leads from online forms. One key finding from this study was that after five minutes, the odds of qualifying a lead decrease by 400 percent. The odds of qualifying a lead decrease by 400 percent after only five minutes of waiting to contact them once they have reached out.
Additionally, this same study also found that it takes an average of six attempts to actually contact a lead from an online source. Many salespeople give up after two, three, maybe even four times of trying to reach out to a lead; this means that they are not even reaching average. A majority of salespeople are missing a massive number of leads, possibly 60-75 percent of their online leads. Businesses are allowing leads to fall away because they think, “Oh, I’ve contacted them three times; they must not be interested.” This is really valuable data that can be used to construct a converting lead follow-up system.
Ask yourself:
- How many of your leads are going cold due to improper follow-up techniques?
- Are you following up within five minutes of a lead coming in and then following up six to ten times at a minimum to get in touch with the lead?
If these questions are not being answered properly, a massive amount of business is being lost.
Creating a Successful Lead Follow-Up System
Let’s walk through a successful lead follow-up system and examine the standard operating procedure (SOP) for lead follow-up.
Follow-up with all Facebook ads leads, Google ads leads, website leads, and form submissions with a phone call within five minutes of the lead form being submitted. If the lead does not answer the first time, leave a voicemail, and send a text immediately afterward. Then, continue to follow up with this lead a total of 10 times, or until the lead books an appointment or directly communicates that they are not interested.
Next, enter the lead into a lead sheet. This will then be given to the sales team, so they have notes on the lead interaction. Then, when the lead is booked for an in-person appointment, we can send the team at the store an email with all the information gathered on the lead, along with the time and date of the appointment.
After sending the store and sales team the lead sheet, we can create a task in our calendar for two hours before the appointment; this is the time that leads are most likely to cancel, change plans, or decide that they’re not coming. This is a great time to call or text to confirm the appointment.
Opt-In Messaging Increases Lead Conversion
It is crucial to build out your lead ads to allow the potential client to opt-in to receiving text messages. This is because the open rate for text messages is about 98 percent, while the open rate for emails is about 20 percent. This is a simple way to increase lead conversion.
Here is an example of what the text may look like after your initial call:
“Hey [Name], that was me who just called. It’s Tim from ABC Jewelers. I saw that you were interested in , and I was reaching out to see if I could help schedule a time for you to stop by and see us.”
It is best to put the onus back on them and say, “Hey, I am just here to help you with your appointment that you scheduled or wanted to schedule.”
It is important to get all these steps nailed down to increase lead conversion. If you do not have the framework or bandwidth to do this, we offer services internally for our partners. We would love to help!
