Series: Part 3 – How to Shorten the Lead Response Gap - FFC

Speed to Lead Series: Part 3 – How to Shorten the Lead Response Gap

“Speed to lead is the ability to successfully get in contact with the person requesting information on your products or services in a short amount of time as possible.”  You’d think contractors/sales reps would respond to these inquiries immediately right?  Unfortunately, that’s not the case.  Last week we revealed that 40% of home services companies that were surveyed* NEVER responded to the request for service. NEVER.

Here are a few things you can do to make sure you’re not missing out on leads and how you can get your staff to respond to these inquiries in a timely manner:

  • Start tracking your lead response time.

    The first step is to understand your company’s actual speed to lead.

  • Create an automated response system.

    An automated lead follow-up process saves your company time and money and helps increase conversion rates.

  • Contact leads multiple times.

    Only 1 in 50 sales are closed with the first contact. ** So, you shouldn’t stop after one attempt…or even two! It’s important for companies to set call back guidelines for their sales teams. Persistence usually wins more sales and keeps your company top of mind for the lead. Responding to leads over the weekend is a great opportunity as they may have more availability to chat or meet.

  • Introduce new technology into lead response strategies.

    Many home services companies are implementing call tracking software, email automation software, sales reporting tools and live chat on their website.  The costs of these technologies can definitely pay for themselves.

  • Website best practices.

    Make sure your website users feel secure. An SSL security certificate is inexpensive and simple to get and implement on your site. It’s also important to be mindful of the number of fields on your website inquiry form. Make sure the important fields are required (name, email, phone number) and the rest can be optional.  The average number of fields on a company’s form from our survey was 6.

Customer expectations are constantly increasing, especially in this digital age.  If you don’t respond quick enough, they will move on to your competitor.  Be sure you understand what your company’s lead response time is and then set expectations for your sales team.

Part 1 – What is Speed to Lead

Part 2 – The Survey Results

 

*2018 Valve+Meter Performance Marketing Study

**Marketing Wizdom, Robert Clay

Note: Use of the terms "Loan," "Lender" and "Borrower" is for ease of reference only. Financings are in the form of retail installment contracts ("RIC").

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