How to Create an Effective Sales Follow Up Process
A report published by Salesforce shows it now takes an average of six to eight touches to generate a sales lead. Of course, material handling companies must then convert the sales lead into a customer, which requires following up with the sales lead. If you don't follow up with sales leads -- or if you use the wrong followup approach -- you'll struggle to generate sales. You can optimize your material handling or logistics company's sales follow up process in several ways.
Use the Sales Lead's Preferred Method of Communication
You're more likely to reach a lead if you follow up with him or her using their preferred method of communication. Some material handling buyers prefer using email, whereas others prefer phone calls. However, be careful as the sales lead may automatically say email as it may be the easy choice, but not necessarily the best choice.
After you had an initial phone call, and (hopefully) you’ve created the next step in the sales cycle, you can ask if they agree with the next step you’re suggesting. For instance, “Based on our conversation, I’ll email you the information and give you a call on Thursday. This way it will give you a chance to review the information. Is this a good plan for you?” With the open ended question, you can begin to better understand their level of interest and why they are choosing the preferred method of communication.
Don't Give Up After a Single Follow Up
Statistics show nearly half of material handling sales reps give up after just one follow up. In other words, when a lead rejects their offer during the first followup, about half of material handling sales reps stop pursuing the lead. You should be persistent with your follow up strategy by not giving up after just one failed attempt. If a lead rejects your sales pitch, you may or may not find out what's holding him or her back from purchasing your material handling company's product or service.
This is where you need to find additional contacts within the sales leads company. How? By using Salesleads’ Target Account Sales Intelligence database, you’ll be able to get all the information you’ll need on the sales lead. Enter in the company name, and you’ll get all of the contacts from multiple departments. You can further refine your search by location and/or title. Now that you’ve identified others within the department or the sales leads’ direct report, now you can call and dig deeper into the sales potential and eliminate any barriers to moving forward. Want to see how it works? It’s free to check it out.
Try to Follow Up Within 5 Minutes
Time is of the essence when following up with leads. The sooner you follow up with a lead, the greater the chance of it going into the sales cycle. According to HubSpot, sales reps who follow up with leads within the first five minutes are nine times more likely to connect with them. The sales lead still has you fresh in their minds…and most importantly, they are available by their phone! I must admit, I always call within 5 minutes. I reach the sales lead 9 out of 10 times, have in depth conversation and always end with a next step.
Follow Up by Phone Between 7:00 AM and 9 AM
You may not always be able to follow up within 5 minutes. The next best time to reach a sales leads by phone, call between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. You can experiment with other times for your followup calls, (such as 6:00 a.m.) but you'll probably discover these hours offer the best results. Several studies have found that material handling buyers are more likely to answer the phone during these hours. And once you've got a lead by phone, you can begin to qualify the lead by understanding their business need, how your material handling company’s solution can solve their problem and continue to nurture the lead into a paying customer.
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