b2b lead generation: Tips for getting appointments
Submitted by Jen Brannstrom on Tue, 2011-07-26 11:58
When does a web lead go cold? Immediately!
Contact rates decrease 100 times if you wait 30 minutes, as opposed to five minutes, to call back.
If you think your company is good at responding, think again, says Dave of InsideSales.com who has conducted more than 5,000 audits for leading companies.
The average response time is 44 hours!
An average of 43 percent didn’t respond at all.
78% of sales goes to the company that responds first – not to the company with the best or cheapest product.
Sales professionals will attempt an average of 1.29 calls to reach a lead and give up after that.
However, in the B2B lead generation environment, 30 percent of leads go into the pipeline after the first dial attempt, 61 percent go into it at the second.
It’s worth calling back until the eighth attempt.
Some companies see leads move into the pipeline even after the 12th call. Higher-ticket items require more research before calling the customer. The more you research, the less you will have to dial. Make the most of every call by capturing permission to communicate with them in the future.
A single rep can capture 7,500 permissions in the course of a year, “That’s enough contacts to fill a webinar without making another phone call,” Dave points out. No-show rates to appointments can be as high as 50 percent. Prevent that with a “hot transfer” – ask if they would have 10 to 15 minutes to talk immediately. Build a direct-dial database. Contact rates increase by 300 percent when using direct dial.
- If you call between 8 and 9 a.m. and 4 and 5 p.m., you’re 150 percent more likely to connect.
- If you call on Wednesday and Thursday, you’re 80 percent more likely.
- Always call before emailing.
- And don’t limit communication to email – leverage Twitter, LinkedIn and fax.
- Dave reports fax pulls seven times better than email.
- Show a local presence. When callers used a local number, there was at least a 60 percent increase in contact rates. Emails sent with a local number received a 40 percent higher response and 33 percent lower negative response rate.
improve the quality of
reducing costs in