A guest blog post by Irv Shapiro of Ifbyphone.
What do birthday greetings and punch lines have in common? Both rely on good timing to be effective. The same is true for responding to inbound marketing leads. Those first five minutes are crucial. Leads convert 22 times more often when you make contact within the first five minutes, according to an MIT study.
Though traditional marketing automation platforms help you capture, nurture, and score leads, at some point in the process, you may want to get on the phone and speak with a prospect to close a deal.
The window of opportunity closes quickly in the sales process; response time is critical. Consider this: An eager buyer fills out a Web form, but by the time your sales team responds, the prospect is no longer interested or, worse, he has moved on to a competitor.
To learn more about the importance of lead response and how it can help close sales leads, check out the infographic below.
As CEO and CTO of Ifbyphone, Irv Shapiro is responsible for overall business strategy and corporate leadership. His business success has earned him several awards including as inductee status with the “Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame” and as gold winner in the Executive of the Year category for the Best in Biz Awards.
Tags: Marketing, Sales, Strategy and Tactics
The 5 minute rule you describe – easy to remember and, when you keep in mind the consequences, important to live by.
Nice infographic Irv! I have been a big fan of this study since it was released 5 years ago. The thing that has always bugged about it though is they only measured down to 5 minutes. What if they had taken it down to 30 seconds? Based on what our clients tell us, it would have increased the connections and conversions even more. A lot more. But 5 minutes is better than 5 hours!
Sammy
very true and PS: a great infographic!
[...] Si viendo estas cifras piensas que estás haciendo un buen trabajo es porque no conoces la Regla de los 5 Minutos. Según el estudio de HBR respecto a esta regla, las posibilidades de contactar a un lead que acaba [...]