A lead is just a potential customer. But it’s your job to make sure these leads turn into opportunities. You can’t rely on luck — you have to follow up, time and time again until they finally convert into sales.
You know, the higher up you are in a company, the less time you have to nurture leads because you’re usually busy doing other things. The same applies to salespeople — your daily activities may include meeting existing customers and pushing products. Unfortunately, this could lead to you neglecting prospects who haven’t yet converted into customers.
But what happens if you don’t follow up with your leads? Your business will suffer, which means potential revenue will be left on the table.
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How to Manage Your Sales Leads
Here are five tips to help you better manage your sales leads and turn them into opportunities:
1: Use CRM Software.
You have to track your leads effectively in order to reach out to them at the right time. A customer relationship management (CRM) tool is a good way to keep track of your prospects, including their contact details, attainment status and open opportunities. You can also use the information you’ve gathered to send automated emails when certain triggers happen — e.g., a prospect hasn’t visited the website for more than two months, or you haven’t made any contact with them in three weeks.
2: Ask and Answer Questions.
At the beginning of your relationship with a new lead, you don’t really know what they need. So, you have to ask appropriate questions to gain insight into their business and needs.
The salesperson’s responsibility is to know the buyer and show them how they can solve their problem with an appropriate solution. There are many ways you can do this – through research, email communication, phone calls and even conversations at events.
3: Follow up Consistently.
According to Salesmate, 44% of sales reps give up after 1 follow-up. Remember, prospects are busy people, and you need to be creative in order to break through the clutter and communicate with them. Set up a comprehensive follow-up sequence that works for you and your schedule. Ideally, you want to talk to them after their initial interaction with your product or service.
Just remember that continuous follow-up is essential in the process of sales — it’s what makes the difference between a relationship turning into an opportunity or not.
4: Connect Leads with the Right People.
Connecting your prospects with the right resources makes them feel like they’re being thought of by a professional team. The benefits are that your prospects will be more likely to turn into customers, and you’ll get better results from all of your interactions.
5: Set Targets.
Set a target for every sales lead or appointment you want to make and stick to it, whether you can make it or not. If you miss your daily/weekly/monthly targets, don’t worry about it. You can always take the blame and make up for the missed appointment the next day.
Following these five tips is crucial if you want to boost your sales and manage leads effectively. Do these well, and you’ll be on the path to potential increased revenue.
Why Is It Important to Follow up on sales leads?
The key to success in sales is being able to stay in contact with your leads. So what does that mean? It means nurturing them. You have to maintain existing relationships by keeping the lines of communication open, but you also need to maintain new relationships by contacting your prospects regularly.
Tips For Follow-Ups
1. Make Sure You’re Following Up On The Right Leads
It’s important to vet leads before you decide whether or not to follow up with them. You can also use a CRM tool to track the amount of time spent on certain leads and the value each lead can potentially deliver to your company. If a lead doesn’t seem promising, it’s okay to let them go.
2. Develop a System for Tracking Your Leads
You can use an online system or an app to track your sales leads and get a sense of what’s going on with all of them. By keeping track of all your sales leads, it will be easier for you to remember when they bought and who your current customers are so that you can market to them in the future.
3. Develop a Repetition System to Nurture The Leads
It’s important to maintain regular communication with your leads. A common rule of thumb is to touch base with leads once every couple of weeks and then again closer to their buying date, which will be about 90 days after the first contact.
When you follow up, consider commenting on their social media posts. It’s a good way to keep in touch and also give them something to share with their friends and family.
According to MailChimp and a study from MIT, these are the days to best reach out to your leads (Wednesday and Thursday are the best!), see below!
https://www.leadsimple.com/sales-course/follow-up-tactics
https://www.leadsimple.com/sales-course/follow-up-tactics
4. Send a Simple Thank You Note After Each Follow Up
If you haven’t already, include your business card with your note so the customer can actually hand it off to someone else if they don’t want it after reading the note. You don’t need to provide a sales pitch or drop any hard-sell tactics. Just include your company name, contact information and a simple thank you for following up.
5. Set Up a Meeting With Your Leads Soon After They Convert
When your customers finally make the purchase, let them know you’ll be there for them. Ask to set up a meeting with them in person (if possible) or via skype or phone call immediately after the sale is made. You can thank them for their business and learn more about their needs.
Conclusion
What have you done to effectively reach out to your leads to convert them? Are you tracking your conversion rate within your CRM? What about past leads that haven’t been touched for a while? Those can be revitalized within your sales process by reaching out through email, text, LinkedIn messages. Let me know what works best for you!
