MIT RESEARCH PAPER THE INSIDESALES.COM LEAD RESPONSE MANAGEMENT AND JAMES OLDROYD, PHD, PROFESSOR AT M.I.T.

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1 LeadResponseManagement.Org Presents THE INSIDESALES.COM MIT LEAD RESPONSE MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PAPER PRESENTED BY DAVID ELKINGTON, CEO OF INSIDESALES.COM AND JAMES OLDROYD, PHD, PROFESSOR AT M.I.T. AT THE MARKETING SHERPA S BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS DEMAND GENERATION 4TH ANNUAL SUMMIT, 200

2 FIGHT TO THE DEATH THE BOASTING OF INSIDE SALES RAPID RESPONSE SOFTWARE VS AN M.I.T. BEHAVIORAL STUDY ARE WE STUPID FOR DOING THIS? SURE WE ARE STUPID LIKE A FOX. We cast trepidation aside and confidently forked over years of results from six major companies into the hands of one of the world s most respected schools of thought. Using a scientific approach to break our software down would leave no wiggle room to excuse any short comings in our product. The results and our response? Excellent and ecstatic. Take that, Science. Professor James Oldroyd a faculty fellow at MIT set out to answer one question: When should companies call web-generated leads for optimal contact and qualification ratios? Or, more simply: When s the best time to call an interested contact to enter them into the sales process? Information used for the study includes 3 years of data, 15,000 leads, and over 100,000 call attempts from six di erent companies who generate and respond to web leads. This report details some of the more interesting findings o ered in two forms for your convenience: a nice easy summary sifting through all the data, or, if you are more visual, some detailed bar graphs that show just how much further one bar goes than another bar. Enjoy. 001

3 DR. OLDROYD SET OUT TO ANSWER ONE QUESTION: WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO CALL AN INTERESTED CONTACT TO ENTER THEM INTO THE SALES PROCESS? ROUND 1 DAY OF THE WEEK DAY OF THE WEEK: INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS THAT BECOME CONTACTED * DAY OF THE WEEK: INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS THAT BECOME QUALIFIED It turns out Mid-week is prime. Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to contact leads with odds 50% greater than the worst day, Tuesday Who new Tuesday sucked so bad? Friday did, because Friday comes in last in its own right when it comes to committing a lead into the sales process. In fact, the odds sink 25% lower than the best day, Wednesday. Well done Wednesday. Have a ta y. Just one mon tues wed thur fri mon tues wed thur fri 2 ROUND 2 TIME OF DAY Between 4 and 6 p.m. is the best time to make contact with a lead. The odds are a staggering 114% greater than that of the worst time block, 11 a.m. 12 p.m. Eleven to Twelve, go stand with Tuesday. No ta y. 3 The best times to commit those leads are between 8 9 a.m. and 4 5 p.m. 164% higher than that of the worst time, 1 2 p.m. So don t call when the Soaps are on; wait until the evening news when you can grab people s attention. 4 TIME OF DAY: INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS THAT BECOME CONTACTED 3.50e e e e e e e e TIME OF DAY: INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS THAT BECOME QUALIFIED * all values illustrated in the charts are in terms of odds ratios

4 THE ODDS OF CONTACTING A LEAD IF CALLED WITHIN 5 MINUTES VERSUS 30 MINUTES ARE 100 TIMES GREATER. ROUND 3 RESPONSE TIME ANALYSIS BY HRS Data suggests that if you are going to try to contact a lead, your odds to reach them drop over ten times if you wait past the first hour of shown interest. And the odds of qualifying that lead decrease by a painful six times after hour one. 5 6 How crucial is rapid response? You can see how great the curve is between Hour One and Hour Eight. Once you pass hour 20, the results become even more grim. RESPONSE TIME FROM CREATION BY HOURS: INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS THAT BECOME CONTACTED 5 RESPONSE TIME FROM CREATION BY HOURS: INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS THAT BECOME QUALIFIED 6 1 HR 2 HRS 3 HRS 4 HRS 5 HRS 6 HRS HRS 8 HRS 1 HR 2 HRS 3 HRS 4 HRS 5 HRS 6 HRS HRS 8 HRS ,190 1,680 12,00 10,384 ROUND 4 RESPONSE TIME ANALYSIS BY FIVE MIN. INCREMENTS RESPONSE TIME FROM CREATION BY 5 MIN: CONTACTED LEADS THAT BECOME CONTACTED / QUALIFIED ( / ) We wanted to push the level of accuracy, so we took the first three hours after a lead was generated and broke it up into five minute segments. What did the good Professor find? The odds of contacting a lead if called within five minutes versus 30 minutes are 100 times greater. Also extremely important to note is that your odds increase 21 fold when attempting to enter that lead into the sales process if called within five minutes compared to 30 minutes

5 FIGHT STOPPED DUE TO BLEEDING INSIDE SALES REIGNS TRIUMPHANT THE STUDY HAS BEEN DONE, AND THE FACTS ARE FACTS. If you have the tools to call within minutes of a generated lead, your odds increase 100 more than that if you delay. How many companies are unaware that this strategy even exists? When it comes to using rapid response technology, you literally up your odds of selling a thousand times over when calling a lead within five minutes. And not literally when used in: Last night I literally ate like a thousand pounds of ice cream, and like I am literally going to die. We mean it in the truest definition of the word. Maybe you find that interesting. Maybe not. But someone will. Well done, Someone. Have a ta y. What has always set apart is its ability to remain on the cutting edge of product innovation. Unafraid to explore new technology and willing to be an industry trailblazer, continues to add award-winning software to its arsenal of lead management, dialers, and voice-messaging tools setting itself apart as a vital component in the world of Remote Sales. Our influence has reached beyond our headquarters in Provo, Utah, extending across the globe to assist over 450 companies in reaching their unique and individual goals. This is the point where most companies would shamelessly name drop. Not us. If Dun & Bradstreet, Omniture, and HP want to tell you how we ve helped them, then so be it. We ll take the high road. LEAD MANAGEMENT CRM INBOUND TOLL-FREE TRACKING OUTBOUND CALLING SOLUTIONS NURTURING AUTOMATION ELF office: toll-free: fax: sales@insidesales.com 34 East 100 South Novell Building A, Suite 113 Provo UT