According to a new study by Velocify, titled, “Sales Lead Response: The Ugly Truth Behind Call, Voicemail, and Email Practices,” most sales teams are not making the most of their inbound sales opportunity with effective follow-up including timeliness, persistency, and value.
Velocify CEO and President, Nick Hedges says that “It was eye opening to find… many companies are throwing money away… not responding appropriately or at all to high-value leads… poor lead response… devastating to… bottom line and… ability to compete and grow.”
To assess effectiveness, the study analyzed lead response tactics, including the message in comparison to established best practices, and found that communication channel, timing, frequency, and quality are the keys. These four communication factors have the greatest impact on lead progression, and ultimately conversion to a sale, says the report.
The study scored sales reps’ voicemail and email messages against five effective characteristics. Voicemails were graded on context; clarity; length; personalization; and tone, and emails on clarity; context; personalization; length; and clear Call to Action. 82% of voicemails and 92% of emails that were assessed needed improvement. The most pervasive issues behind the low ratings were:
According to the study, most sales reps were too slow to follow-up and not persistent enough. Maintaining a consistent and disciplined follow-up process is just as important as the quality of your message, says the report.
By fine tuning communication timing and frequency, plus putting more emphasis on persuasive and proven messaging, companies can improve their initial impact on inbound sales leads, concludes the report.
To download the full report, please visit here.