The Need for Speed WHY YOUR LEADS DESERVE PROMPT FOLLOW-UP. White paper Quick and successful lead conversion 2Lead. generating success

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1 The Need for Speed WHY YOUR LEADS DESERVE PROMPT FOLLOW-UP

2 Response time is the overriding factor in successful online lead conversion. Recent surveys all point in the same direction: not only the first hour, but even the first minutes are crucial when it comes to contacting the lead and closing the deal. This white paper gives you the facts and some quick ways to pick up speed. ONLINE ADVERTISING SPENDING WORLDWIDE (billions) Lead generation is as old as the book, but in recent years digital channels have added a whole new chapter. Industries like financial services, automobiles, education, software, This means ads served to desktop and laptop computers, mobile phones and tablets will make up around one-quarter of total media ad spending. 80 health care, professional services, and many 60 others increasingly turn to the Internet to The vast majority of these ads is used for 40 generate sales leads. online lead generation, and this channel is 20 still growing strongly. Over the past two years, 0 Online advertising is soaring spending in the US increased from nearly Source: Zenith Optimedia, 2014 In 2014, worldwide spending on digital advertising will reach $137. billion. $40 billion to $3.6 billion. In Europe spending rose from $26.1 to $33.1 billion. 2

3 MANY FIRMS ARE SLOW TO RESPOND Follow-up of leads falters With these huge investments in online lead generation, one would expect companies to be eager to follow-up on their leads. 26,1 % 24,0 % 22,8 % However, this does not seem to be the case. A recent audit of more than 2,000 U.S. companies shows that only 37% responded 6,4 % 4,0 % 3,6 % 4,0 % 2,7 % 0,3 %,9 % to their lead within an hour; 24% took more than 24 hours and 23% of the companies never responded at all! The average response RESPONSE TIME 0- MIN. -30 MIN MIN > 24 NO REPLY time, among companies that responded within 30 days, was 42 hours. Source: Harvard Business Review, 3/2011 3

4 Online leads go cold fast These are sobering facts, especially since online leads appear to go cold extremely fast. To investigate this, Harvard followed over a million sales leads from different B2C and B2B companies. Companies that tried to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving a query were more than 60 times as likely to qualify the lead as those that waited 24 hours or longer. Qualifying means there was a meaningful conversation with a key decision maker. Another recent study took a closer look at just the first hour after receiving a query. It shows that calling within the first minutes increases the odds of qualifying a lead immensely: the odds are four times better than after 10 minutes, 20 times better than after half an hour! So: how to pick up speed? The overall message is clear: if you invest heavily in online lead generation, you should also organize your follow-up. Pronto. Otherwise you are literally throwing away a big chunk of your marketing budget. Online leads expect a prompt reaction: it s a matter of minutes before people are out of your reach or decide to take their business elsewhere. 4

5 How can companies respond to online leads at Internet speed? By taking away the most common barriers. 1. Change your daily routine 2. Set the right sales priorities 3. Improve distribution Many companies still retrieve leads from In many cases, sales people are focused Speed is often hampered by company rules CRM systems databases on a daily basis, rather than continuously. Fully automated follow-up tools can easily fill this gap. on generating their own leads, sometimes even ignoring customer-driven signs of interest. Handraisers however are hot leads that are much easier to convert. for distributing sales leads among retailers, dealers, agents and partners, based on geography and fairness. Smart applications take all these rules into account, whilst assuring rapid distribution.

6 2LEAD BY MMIT If you ve read this far, you may have guessed it by now: MMIT has developed a tool that helps companies with quick and successful lead conversion. 2Lead works for all kinds of leads you 4. Facilitate follow-up. Create a no-excuse situation In many cases, sales people still receive The division of tasks and responsibilities internally distributed leads by phone or channels that leave room for mistakes and delay. This is easily solved by a tool that is dedicated to lead follow-up and gives Sales all useful information at a glance. between Marketing and Sales departments 4 is not always clear. If you can follow a lead real-time as it passes through the organization, it s easier to discover and eliminate bottlenecks in your workflow. generate: online as well as call center leads, event-generated leads, et cetera. You can also easily connect 2Lead to your existing CRM to ensure timely follow-up on leads that are nurtured there. 2Lead makes it possible to keep track of every single lead and logs what you ve done - or still need to do - with them. What s more: it helps you to get back to your leads within minutes. If you want to score business at Internet speed, 2Lead is what you need. 6

7 mmit.com MMIT Boston MMIT Amsterdam MMIT São Paulo Independence Wharf, Suite Atlantic Avenue Boston, MA 02210, USA T Nieuwe Teertuinen 2a 1013 LV Amsterdam The Netherlands T. +31 (0) mmit.com Av. Paulista, Piso Pilotis Cerqueira César São Paulo-SP Brazil T