I was recently talking to a friend that works in sales. He was complaining that he doesn’t get any good leads from his marketing department. I work in marketing so this is a common argument in my life, but that’s another story.

The company my friend works for still do a lot of calling, usually triggered from a contact us form being submitted or someone’s activity on their website. All stats they are given from their marketing department.

After speaking to my friend for a couple of minutes I realised his problem. His average follow up time for someone who had just filled a form out asking for more information or, even better, a call, was 3 days to a week. In other words, too long.

By the time he had followed up the lead had either forgotten about their enquiry, sometimes even who the company are, or worse case, had bought from another company that contacted them immediately. In reality, without a solid follow up plan your sales team are unlikely to get this right.

Luckily we’ve put together an action plan for flowing up on your leads. Specifically, what to do within the first 3 days of follow up to help increase your lead conversion to sales.

So, no, more leads doesn’t necessarily mean more sales. Following up on leads isn’t like going on a date, they won’t think you’re too keen if you call straight away, in fact that’s what they want. Why not use the 3-day plan above to get started? You can always adapt it when you learn what is working for you.

If you’re thinking, I barely have enough time to follow up on the leads I’ve already got, then not only do I envy your casual approach to sales, but I would recommend you read our blog ‘1 change that will make you more sales’. The likelihood is that you’re not actually too busy selling, you’re too busy doing all the admin that goes alongside it. Put our blog into action along with a solid follow up strategy and you’ll be selling more in no time.