Outrage! The reaction of some sales people when we dared suggest that sales teams don’t follow up leads in our “Why B2B Struggles with Lead Generation” article.
Ok so not all sales teams are the same and in a lot of cases it may be a lack of leads that is the problem however why is it that so many chances go begging because someone doesn't follow them up?
Ultimately buyers will only buy when they’re ready - It takes on average 5 -12 interactions before a prospect is ready to commit so no wonder so many people get side tracked before they can close the sale. How often do we need to be getting in contact and what do we use to do so, is social media a valid method of personal engagement?
The first touch is the most important as up to 50% of prospects select the company that they first spoke to. So being quick out the blocks when you identify a prospect is vital however it’s what we do next that is important. From that first contact we need to quickly understand how far along the buying process the prospect is or whether in fact they are serious about the purchase at all.
Once we have that established we can look at nurturing that contact via our sales pipeline. Depending on their position and stage in the buying cycle the prospect will need different levels of interaction some may just need the occasional bit of content drip feeding via email or social media. However if the prospect is more advanced in their buying decision a follow up call or face to face meeting should be arranged and stuck to.
The most common excuse for not following a lead up? “I didn't know about it” or “ I thought so and so was dealing with them…” sound familiar? It comes back to fact that Sales and Marketing teams need to communicate effectively with each other. Every business will be different when it comes to the hand over point for a lead and in fact it can be different depending on the lead, however the one thing that all sales and marketing teams within any business should be doing is talking to each other! The fact is from a business perspective it doesn't matter who follows a lead up because the more leads you follow up the more you are likely to convert.
Of course there is another way... Using a professional marketing services company such as GCL Direct to nurturer and qualify the leads for you can save your sales team hours of wasted time and hassle by only passing on sales ready leads. Call us to find out more 0121 452 2020.
