We live in an age where customers expect a fast response… the numbers simply don’t lie about this. The faster you respond to leads, the more likely you are to get the business.
- 50% – 78% of leads go with the vendor that responds first. Sources: Hubspot, Lead Connect
- Businesses that contact a lead within the first hour are 7 times more likely to qualify the lead than businesses that respond within two hours. Source: Harvard Business Review
- Calling within 5 minutes is 21x more effective than calling after 30 minutes! Source: LeadSimple
- After 5 minutes, the odds of qualifying a lead drop off by 80%. Source: Vendasta
I recently had a chance to interview Jay Baer, Author of “The Time to Win: How to Exceed Your Customers’ Need for Speed,” on one of my podcasts. Jay said that one of the best ways to lead in your category is to understand the critical relationship between responsiveness and revenue. Based on his research, the business that responds first not only has the best chance of winning the business but also that you don’t have to have the lowest price to win the business.
This is because people care about their time more than ever. According to Jay’s research, two-thirds of customers say that speed is as important as price. There is a direct financial correlation between responsiveness and revenue because potential customers associate time with money.
According to Jay, “If you are faster, you will not only get more customers, but you will keep more of the customers you’ve already earned because, for customers of all kinds, time actually is currency.”
So, hopefully, it is clear just how important it is to respond quickly and effectively to leads… But just how do you do this?
There are several things that any business can do to improve and win at the speed of response:
- Make sure your website has a textable phone number – some people want to text, not talk.
- Implement a missed call text back feature. When you can’t answer a call live, you still immediately send a text to the caller to let them know their call was important and to expect a call back soon. This provides a scroll-stopping effect and buys your business time to review the lead and respond by text or phone call quickly.
- Add a Text Widget on your website. Unlike a “chat” feature, which requires live monitoring to be effective and only works while leads are on your website, a text widget allows you to have a two-way business SMS conversation.
- Monitor text messages for key phrases to deliver useful responses with information to help leads solve their problems. This allows your business to become a trusted and vital resource in a responsive and timely way that helps you convert leads into customers.
- Marketing Automation gives you the ability to stay top of mind and to nurture leads to guide them through the buyer’s journey, including sending a link to book a consultation or appointment.
About the Author:
Ken Tucker is the owner and Marketing Solution Architect of Changescape Web, a full-service digital marketing agency in St. Louis. Ken is a StoryBrand Certified Guide, a Business Made Simple Coach, and a Master Duct Tape Marketing Consultant, and is a bestselling author on Amazon. Changescape Web is one of the Top 10 largest website development companies in St Louis. They are SEO experts as well as a Google Partner and a Yelp Advertising Partner.