How Much Do You Care About Your Inbound Leads?

12 years ago

I haven't done sales or cold calling but I do know from reading that it takes at least seven followups to make a sale. Take into consideration the "rule of seven," suggesting that it takes seven interactions with your brand for a customer to make a purchase.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Fight Phishing Attacks, BEC, Ransomware Data Breach & other Threats
https://tangabyte.com
Free Reseller Account: https://hostingbizresellers.com

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7081045].message }}

Claude Whitacre

12 years ago

Originally Posted by surgematrix

I haven't done sales or cold calling but I do know from reading that it takes at least seven followups to make a sale. Take into consideration the “rule of seven,” suggesting that it takes seven interactions with your brand for a customer to make a purchase.

Sorry for kind of hijacking this thread. The whole "It takes seven followups to make a sale" myth is silly. I'll tell you where that came from, but first a few questions;
Have you ever bought anything the first time you saw it? Ever?
If you hear a joke, is it funnier the seventh time you hear it?
How many times does it take for you to watch a movie before you decide if you like it or not? Seven?

That whole "seven impressions before you buy" ,or variatrions of it, came from the 1950's from an advertising agency.
They found that it took an average of seven times hearing a brand name before the consumer could remember the brand name and associate it with a product. That's all.

And later authors thought it sounded good, and it morphed into "seven closes before they buy" or "Seven sales letters before you get an order" or "Seven phone calls before you get an appointment".

I've even had ad reps tell me that I needed to run an ad at least seven times before it would generate a single sale. Really? What a silly thing to believe. I know why he told me that...seven insertions without expecting any results. But it isn't reality.

And anyone that has ever tried selling anything for more than a week knows that you get the vast majority of your decisions on the first attempt. Desire to buy does not increase with the repeated telling of a sales story.

Does repetition sell? Sure. But the vast majority of the decisions are made the first time the offer is understood by the prospect.

Anyway, I know this isn't the purpose of this thread, but I needed to rant.

And this idea sounds so reasonable. But it isn't true.

OK, back to the thread; I don't follow up. I talk to them once. As long as I'm talking to the decision maker. Once is enough. It's either a good fit, and you both know it, or it's not.

These are inbound leads, and they need to think about it? You didn't surprise them with a phone call...the surprised you.
The one calling is the one selling. Let them sell you.
"What did you have in mind?"
"What do you hope to gain?"
"What have you already done?'
Keep them talking about what they want. Jason Kanigan has a brilliant riff on getting them to tell you that they will pay more than you are charging. Isn't that something you would like to know?
I used to do that in people's homes before a presentation, but Kanigan taught me how to do it before I spend 10 minutes with them on the phone. Anyway, I hope you get something out of this.

Thanks

Signature

One Call Closing book https://www.amazon.com/One-Call-Clos...=1527788418&sr

What if they're not stars? What if they are holes poked in the top of a container so we can breath?

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7082146].message }}

vndnbrgj

12 years ago

Just a note... it used to take 4 points of contact, and now it's 8.4
The reason, the more advertising messages people get, the more you have to get that top of mind awareness.

My strategy for conversions is to get an appt. Whether on the phone or face to face because my close works better when I know more about the business. I don't get calls about pricing because my cheaper services prices are posted on my site.
My marketing consulting requires a meeting. I laid everything out on my site.

Follow up. I follow-up every month and will continue to do so until told otherwise.
My objection if any are... can't do such and such at this time.
It wasn't never, just not at this time.
So I follow-up until I hit that time.
After 6 months I try to get another appt to see how much of what I suggested has been implemented.
Oh, next to nothing.... Do you want to hold off on this for another 6 months or are you ready to grow your business starting today?

How do I qualify? I ask if they have the money.
Referrals let them know the cost, other methods I ask if they have a budget set aside for growing their business. But, I don't target businesses that aren't already advertising and doing enough a year in revenue to where they could afford my services. My minimum is $500k that the business has to be doing to be contacted.

Thanks

Signature

Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone

- Neale Donald Wilson -

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7081623].message }}

Rearden

12 years ago

Max -- Youtube Claude Diamond and watch his free videos.

He teaches how to pre-qualify in 3 to 5 minutes and politely "fire" the prospect if they aren't up to snuff.

In my opinion, it's incredibly powerful salesmanship and a must if you need to quickly cut down on spending time with tire kickers and increase urgency to buy.

Originally Posted by maxrezn

I'm thankful to be in a position where I'm fielding anywhere from 2-4 calls a day for SEO or web design from around the nation. (Working on getting it to 10-15 per day).

At first, I was floored and didn't want to let any of them slip through the cracks!

About a month later, I'm beginning to change my position on how hard to chase these leads. A LOT of people are tire kickers....and I can usually tell if they're a true buyer within the first 5 minutes. So I don't really waste my time following up with the "let me think about it" or "let me talk to my business partner" leads.

My question is, what is your strategy for maximizing conversions on inbound phone leads? How long do you follow up for? How do you qualify?

Thanks

Signature

David Duford -- Providing On-Going, Personalized Mentorship And Training From A Real Final Expense Producer To Agents New To The Final Expense Life Insurance Business.

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7081660].message }}

Rearden

12 years ago

In fact, here's an exemplary call Claude made to demonstrate how to ask the tough questions up front and fire the tire-kickers as quickly as possible.

A Funny G.U.T.S. Live Sales Training Phone Call -...

[ 1 ] Thanks
1 reply

Signature

David Duford -- Providing On-Going, Personalized Mentorship And Training From A Real Final Expense Producer To Agents New To The Final Expense Life Insurance Business.

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7081678].message }}

Unisons

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Rearden

In fact, here's an exemplary call Claude made to demonstrate how to ask the tough questions up front and fire the tire-kickers as quickly as possible.

A Funny G.U.T.S. Live Sales Training Phone Call - YouTube

His videos were AWESOME

Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7082477].message }}

TyBrown

12 years ago

My service is different than SEO but what we do with an inbound lead is follow a basic protocol. After a few days we call them again to check up and see if they want to move forward.

If they haven't bought we wait a week and offer them a different program, not a discounted rate, but a hybrid between two of our set programs that is a little bit easier to swallow price-wise for some clients.

If they haven't bought a few weeks later we offer them another special which is actually a higher price but the payments are spread out longer.

If they haven't bought the next month we send them a postcard with one last offer, not a discounted rate, just a more bare bones offer to get them to pull out the card.

None of this takes much time and it helps turn some tire kickers into paying clients.