According to Service Bell, only 27% of businesses follow up with new leads. Of those, 47 hours is the average response time. Regarding lead follow-up times, the first 24 hours are critical. The adage, “strike while the iron is hot,” rings like a bell as it pertains to converting new leads. A compelling study in the Harvard Business Review revealed that businesses that respond to new leads within the first hour of contact are up to 7 times more likely to convert that lead into a customer.
Think about the customer’s journey. When someone takes the time to perform a search, clicks on your URL to visit your website, and finds your brand content compelling enough to fill out a web form, they aren’t just a casual browser. Instead, they are performing their due diligence, and your financial firm is among the top companies that person is considering.
Beat Your Competitors to the Punch
Why not beat your competitors to the punch and get there first? Statistically speaking, if only 27% of businesses follow up with leads, you have a much higher likelihood of being the firm that lands that prospect by being the first to engage.
Can you imagine going to the pharmacy and waiting 47 hours to be waited on? Of course not. You would leave after the first few minutes of poor service and most likely shop with a competitor. Most financial services firms understand the urgency of connecting with leads as quickly as possible, so why are they falling short in this critical step in reaching their target market?
- First, many business owners, particularly smaller firms or family offices, aren’t equipped to respond to every inquiry immediately. They must balance the needs of their existing clients with the incoming volume of new leads.
- Second, they most likely aren’t leveraging the power of autoresponders, live chat, or knowledge base to make the first point of contact with new leads.
Automated marketing systems like HubSpot offer robust automated marketing and sales enablement tools to help firms attract, nurture, and convert leads into customers. The systems and content you set up one time run repeatedly, allowing you and your teams to focus on what you do best: sales and client services.
Some call it your “silent salesperson” who works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and never calls in sick! So, let’s explore some tools you can leverage to follow up with your leads within 1 hour using the automated tools found in HubSpot to nurture sales leads and increase conversion rates.
Automate Your Email Messages
Before we talk about automation, we should mention that it is not meant to replace human contact but merely enhance it. So, for example, you can use automated email follow-ups to connect with your leads upon entering your pipeline, then follow up with a phone call afterward.
These automated drip emails move your prospects down the marketing funnel until they are ready to buy. Your leads have been primed with information about your brand, its unique selling proposition, and what differentiates your brand in the marketplace. This makes it easier to have a successful, meaningful sales call with leads.
Automated emails, often referred to as drip campaigns, are one of the most potent forms of communication in the sales and marketing toolbox that can replace much of your cold-calling process by:
- Offering value and education about your product or service
- Leaning into your prospect’s pain points
- Demonstrating how your firm solves challenges for your clients
- Delivering “value add” products like eBooks, case studies, and white papers
Segment Your Leads
Financial services firms that offer multiple products and services will likely have more than one type of contact form. This allows you and your teams to segment your leads based on “urgency type.” For example, hot leads are ready to talk to an advisor or salesperson. However, cold leads need more time, nurturing, and materials to move them down the funnel.
You can establish automated email sequences based on the requested information or action taken. If a lead requests your firm presentation or performance reporting, they need more time to prepare for a sales call. Conversely, if a lead requests a quote or asks to be contacted, they will require a much quicker response. Automation software provides an easy way to sort leads by urgency. So, your sales teams can prioritize hot leads rapidly and tend to less urgent leads another day.
Create Instant Alerts
Leads can fill out a web form on your website at 3:00 am or 1:00 pm. Instant alerts help inform your sales teams when they have new leads without having to check their pipelines compulsively. When a lead fills out a web form, you can set up workflows that automatically deliver messaging to the lead and alert messages to your staff. You can also trigger notifications when someone opens one of your emails.
You can significantly enhance your sales and conversion processes with rapid response automation. But what will you do with the extra time and revenue you generate from converting more leads?
Need help improving your lead generation, sales, and conversion processes? Let’s start a conversation. Contact us!
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