According to a new report from Leads360, an analysis of 3.5 million leads across 400 companies shows that the act of placing a phone call to a new prospect within a minute of lead generation can increase likelihood of conversion by nearly 400%. Lead Conversion Improvement by Quick ResponseTime Elapsed From LeadImprovement On Lead Conversion Rate 1 minute 391% 2 minute 160% 3 minutes 98% 30 minutes 62% 1 hour 36% 5 hours 24% 24 hours 17% Source: Leads360 Sales Optimization Study, November 2012 More than half of all prospects that eventually convert are actually reached sometime after the 1st call attempt, but 40% of leads are never called a second time according to previous research. However 93% of all converted leads are reached by the 6th call attempt. The resources required to get the final 7% is not worth the cost, says the report, considering that leads that require 7 or more calls are 45% less likely to convert than those that are initially contacted in 6 or fewer calls. Cumulative Percentage Of Converted LeadsCalls to make 1st contactConverson (cumulative percentage of converted leads) 1 48% 2 70% 3 81% 4 86% 5 90% 6 93 7 94% 8 96% Source: Leads360 Sales Optimization Study, November 2012 Calling within the first minute is what all organizations should strive for, suggests the report. To determine when to make subsequent calls, assuming prospect is not reached with first call, prospects contacted on the2nd call, made 30-60 minutes after lead generated, had a higher conversion rate than all other half hour periods following the initial call. Impact of Timing On ConversionCallTimingConversion ImprovementDay 1 1st 0-1 min. +156% higher 2nd 30-60 mins. +58% higher 3rd 1-2 hrs. +25% higher Day 5 4th +22% higher Day 14 5th +23% higher Day 15 6th +9% higher Source: Leads360 Sales Optimization Study, November 2012 The use of email in addition to phone outreach has a positive impact on the ability to contact and ultimately convert a prospect. The study found that prospects who receive email have a 16% higher chance to be contacted by phone. Yet, 59% of the prospects in the study don’t receive a single email. And, about 40% of the prospects that had an email address on file are never sent an email message. Part of this may be that companies don’t have a clear strategy for sending email the way they do for phone calls, says the report. Findings show that the optimal number of emails to increase conversion during the 1st month of prospect lifetime is five. The conversion rate for leads that were sent more than five email messages, prior to reaching the prospect, was 36% lower than the conversion rate for leads that were reached after having received one to five email messages. Impact of eMail Inclusion on ConversionDayEmailConversion Improvement Day 1 1st +49% higher Day 4 2nd +85% higher Day 8 3rd +52% higher Day 15 4th +37% higher Day 22 5th +44% higher Source: Leads360 Sales Optimization Study, November 2012 The report concludes with the summarization of significant findings: