Follow-up Strategies

The last component in lead management is your follow-up strategy. There are several different strategies that you can use and each is dependent on the score the lead receives. You can also change your strategy depending on the response's you get as you attempt to contact each lead. The strategies we'll talk about today are very basic and can be adjusted according to individual needs and results.

The first strategy is known as immediate response, meaning that as soon as you receive their information you attempt to contact your lead. This is often your most effective strategy especially with “hot” leads that show a lot of promise. A new study done by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and InsideSales.com, a leader in the lead management industry, shows that with web leads you should contact them within five minutes of capturing them or your chances of contacting them and making a sale drop dramatically. So with all good leads you should contact them immediately. It's similar to someone who came into a guitar store, a good clerk doesn't just wait for them to come to him after they've entered the store he greets them immediately and begins the sales process. It should be the same when you receive leads, especially request or inquiry leads, you contact them as soon as possible and keep the ball rolling.

The second strategy is 24-hour response, usually used if the immediate response fails. Try calling 3-5 more times within the next 24 hours. You can even send an email, text message, or snail mail if you can't contact them over the phone.

The third strategy is the two-week response. If the first two strategies fail try a phone call everyday or every other day for the next two weeks. Also try sending more emails or faxes to see if can get a response.

The last strategy is a lead nurturing campaign. When you first captured the lead they weren't interested enough to make a purchase. Using emails, letter, faxes, and phone calls you try to generate more interest, contacting them about once a month using one of these tools. Try and build more interest in your product by offering free trials, special offers, more information, webinars, whatever it is you think will add value to your prospect–just try to get them interested enough to contact you again.

Using lead management software this process can be made very simple and easy to track allowing you to know where every lead stands in regards to which strategies are being applied with them and where they are in the contacting and sales process.