MANAGEMENT LEAD RESPONSE RESEARCH PAPER A 2012 RETROSPECTIVE: FIVE YEARS AFTER THE ORIGINAL DEMAND GENERATION SUMMIT

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1 0 RETRECTIVE: FIVE YER FTER THE RIGINL LED RENE NE REERCH ER REED BY DVID ELKINGTN, CE F INIDELE.C N D D R. J E L D R Y D, h D T THE 007 RKETING HER BUINE-T-BUINE DEND GENERTIN UIT

2 FUNDL R E N YUR LE TE IN T GETTING THE REULT YU EXECT ND NEED (as reported in the Harvard Business Review**) Five years ago we opened up one of the largest sales and call data sets ever compiled to one of the world s most respected schools of thought. Using a scientific approach, rofessor James ldroyd at the time a faculty fellow at IT set out to answer one question: When should companies call Webgenerated leads for optimal contact and qualification ratios? r, more simply: When s the best time to call an interested contact to enter them into the sales process? ince then, the data has transformed the process of remote professional sales, and founded an entirely new industry surrounding the process of responding to sales inquiries. The original study s two most dramatic conclusions:. CNIE DN T REND FT ENUGH, ND. THEY DN T REND ERITLY ENUGH T LED. 0 INIDELE.C 00 **

3 IINE WLKING INT NRDTR T LK T HE, NLY T BE HVED UT THE DR ND TLD YU LL BE CNTCTED IN 4 T 48 HUR. FR T RETE RFEINL LE TE, THI I THEIR RCH T RENDING T NEW, RKETING-GENERTED LED. YU VE EEN IT HEN IN EVERY INDUTRY Companies that didn t adapt. Didn t update processes and technologies to face the new realities of their industry and ended up out of business. Lead Response anagement (LR) isn t a new concept; every business fundamentally understands that they need to reach out quickly and professionally to new prospects. Yet in spite of 50,000 downloads of the original LR study, and articles in the Harvard Business Review, Inc.com, and CBoney s (formerly BNET) ales achine blog, repeated studies show: The average company continues to be terrible at responding to their marketing-generated inquiries. The most recent Reponseudit targeted,05 attendees and sponsors of Dreamforce 0. Check the results in the table on the right. DREFRCE 0 RENE UDIT REULT. Immediacy of Response TTET TYE hone Call verall verage Response Time VERE RENE TIE Day, 8 Hours, 5 inutes 9 Hours, 4 inutes 4 Hours. ersistency of Response ETRIC REULT Total verage Responses, ll Types. EEING THE TREND HERE? Companies invest hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars building sales and marketing teams. They develop Web sites, campaigns, and strategies, to generate opportunities for its sales team. But then they fail to follow-up quickly and persistently. ND WHY DE NY F THI TTER? verage # of hone Calls ade to New Leads verage # of s ent to New Leads ercent of Companies That Never Responded % Because every time a prospect slips through the cracks especially when a sales team had every opportunity to change that outcome you re wasting the time, money, and effort it took to produce that lead in the first place. 0 INIDELE.C 00

4 THE DD F CNTCTING LED IF CLLED WITHIN 5 INUTE VERU 0 INUTE RE 00 TIE GRETER. BUCKING THE TREND o how do the great companies avoid failure, and maximize every sales and marketing opportunity? The answer isn t rocket science: ) Contact your leads and do it fast, and ) be persistent don t give up too soon. The LR study definitively shows that your odds of reaching a new sales lead drop over 0x if you wait longer than the first hour of shown interest, and the odds of qualifying that lead decrease 6x after the first 60 minutes. RENE TIE FR CRETIN BY HUR: INITIL DIL T LED THT BECE QULIFIED HR HR HR 4 HR 5 HR 6 HR 7 HR 8 HR ,680 RENE TIE FR CRETIN BY HUR: INITIL DIL T LED THT BECE CNTCTED 0,84 The bottom line: Response times to new sales leads should be measured in minutes and seconds, not hours or days. HR HR HR 4 HR 5 HR 6 HR 7 HR 8 HR ,90,700 RENE TIE FR CRETIN BY 5 IN: LED THT BECE CNTCTED / QULIFIED ( / ) THE FIVE-INUTE RKER Winning and losing in sports is often a difference of inches. In lead response management, every second can make a difference. To push the level of accuracy even further, we took the first three hours after a lead was generated and broke it up into five minute segments. The findings are even more incredible: the odds of contacting a lead if called within five minutes versus even 0 minutes are 00x greater. Note too that your odds of entering the Lead into your sales cycle increase x if called within five minutes compared to 0 minutes. 0 INIDELE.C 00

5 VID CLLING DURING LUNCH HUR, ND DURING THE ET F THE WRK DY WHEN ELE RE T BUY. FLLW-U FINDING: DY F THE WEEK DY F THE WEEK: INITIL DIL T LED THT BECE CNTCTED * DY F THE WEEK: INITIL DIL T LED THT BECE QULIFIED nce you ve solved problems and (speed and persistency of response), the LR study shows that if you dig a little deeper, the time of day and day of the week can also play a role in prospecting success. The best days of the week to both contact and qualify a new lead are Wednesday and Thursday In fact, a sales rep is 50% more likely to both contact and qualify a lead on the best day of the week Wednesday than on the worst day, Tuesday. Notice too, that Friday is a great day for prospecting to make contact but your chances of actually qualifying a lead are lower than any other day of the week TIE F DY: INITIL DIL T LED THT BECE CNTCTED.50e+08.00e+08.50e+08.00e+08.50e+08.00e e e TIE F DY: INITIL DIL T LED THT BECE QULIFIED TIE F DY Want to make contact with your sales leads? The beginning and end of the day are your best bets. Between 4 and 6, a rep has a 4% greater chance of making contact than at the worst time, between and Noon. To qualify a decision-maker, 8-9 and 4-5 are the best times, and are 64% better than calling at the worst time, between and. It seems intuitive, but the data s conclusive: to have the highest chance of contacting a lead, avoid calling during lunch hour, and during the meat of the work day when people are most busy. The value of your sales agents prospecting time increases significantly if they re calling at the best times to make contact. 0 INIDELE.C 004

6 C REL, EURBLE LE GIN CN BE HD IN TTER F DY, R EVEN HUR, BY UDTING ELECT FEW RCEE ND YTE. CNTCT INIDELE.C NW T FIND UT HW. INCE 007, THERE BEEN RECIU LITTLE IRVE IN LED RENE NE RCTICE. VID THE #FIL. olve the riddle of ) immediate response and ) persistent response, and gain an immediate competitive advantage in your market. Close more sales, and leverage every ounce of your marketing and sales budget and efforts LE TE C RE WEEK DUBLED REULT INTERE TED LED 005 C LE TE LE TE TED INTERE LED INTERE TED LED t Insideales.com, we never stop searching for innovative ways to provide our clients with powerful, effective sales and marketing solutions. ur ground-breaking research with Harvard Business Review, Northwestern Kellogg chool of anagement, infou, and others has made Insideales.com an industry thought leader in the areas of sales automation, marketing, and lead management. TED INTERE LED With over 500 clients spanning the globe, our goal is to provide the quality of service and support that every business should expect from a trusted partner. ur client list includes flac,, ct-n oftware, arketo, n4, Fusion-I, Domo, ckesson, Dell, and Cisco. ct now, and get the products and best practices for people that don t just expect success, but demand it. C LE TE toll-free: (877) 0-04 fax: (80) [email protected] 4 East 700 outh Building, uite rovo UT 84606