As the saying goes, there are plenty of fish in the sea – and marketing and sales teams want to be hooking as many of the fish as they can get. In a lot of other endeavours, it’s sensible to wait before making the first move. In fact, in some cases, it’s best not to make the first move at all (like on a blind date). However, the same logic doesn’t apply in the B2B world of sales.\r\n\r\nThe go-to response for a lot of companies dealing with new contacts on their website is simply to add them to an email campaign before playing the waiting game. It’s not that this isn’t a viable response – it works, and it works well. The problem is that it takes a lot longer to see results than getting in touch straight away. There are actually a few reasons why you shouldn’t wait around.\r\n\r\nFirstly, the statistics speak volumes. Although only 37% of companies get in touch with contacts within the first hour, these companies are already seven times more likely to have a meaningful conversation with a key decision maker than those doing so even an hour later. It’s hard to say exactly what it is driving these statistics, but it’s believed that it might have something to do with the short attention span of people in the business world. With this in mind, sales callers need to move fast. In fact, research has even shown that 35-50% of closed deals can be attributed to the providers that got in contact with customers before their competitors.\r\n\r\nThat’s why it is so vital to strike while the iron’s hot. But what if you just can’t get a hold of website leads?\r\n\r\nThere are two options if you reach this blockade. Try emailing them, but there is the risk getting lost in a sea of other emails (with business inboxes receiving an average of 90 emails per day). It can be a good idea to aim for an eye-catching subject line to grip contacts, but with the average inbox attention span lasting only five seconds, this still might not save the email from being ignored. The other option is to leave a well thought-out voicemail, which can often do a lot of good. It can be a lot more personal and is a lot less widely done – so if it’s done right, it might just do the trick.\r\n\r\nBut when calling a company or office, it’s not just ‘missing the contact’ that could stand in the way. There is a risk of getting stopped by a gatekeeper who may refuse to pass the call through to the key decision maker too. With software that can tell you exactly who it is that should be contacted, it becomes easier to achieve the desired leads.\r\n\r\nSomething to remember about getting in touch ASAP with contacts is that even if they aren’t interested in a sales pitch straight away, a rapport can be built with them. Some 50% of leads are qualified but not yet ready to buy, so it’s important to find out what they are interested in. That way a company can continue to intrigue them until they decide they want to buy.\r\n\r\nIt’s worrying that due to a lack of nurturing campaigns, 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales. It’s also surprising that, with nurturing emails getting a four to 10 times higher response rate than an average email blast, 65% of B2B marketers aren’t using lead nurturing. Whilst it might seem like a company is coming across as too eager, generally getting in contact right away is more beneficial to its business. The advice is to let the contact guide the conversation, and if it’s felt that they aren’t ready yet it doesn’t hurt to wait. Even if it’s decided not to sell straight away, the initial call can help to start a loyal relationship with leads early on.
