Instant communication is the level most companies strive to achieve with their clients. With companies like Amazon in most people’s daily lives, the gratification of getting their needs meant as soon as possible has become the norm. If you’ve ever received a call where a prospect dumps as much information as they can the moment you answer the phone, chances are they are trying to get their needs met while the thought is still fresh in their minds. So how do businesses remain consistent with instant responses? The answer is automation.
Real World Data and Execution
Harvard Business Review conducted a study on almost 2250 companies and found that waiting more than one hour to contact a lead or answer a question makes all the difference. In fact, the prospect had only a 10% chance of interest (conversion) when contacted later than 1 hour after first contact (form submission, first inquiry, etc.). That being said, only 37% of the companies involved were responding to their leads within that hour. Most companies respond by making phone calls back to clients, and some also will respond via email inquiry.
Let’s say that you are working from a purchased lead list to get your clients. Even if you are following the response time rule, those companies who are also doing the same are now overwhelming the potential client with phone calls within the first hour. You’re running a business, and it’s nearly impossible to monitor those responsible for calling an inquiry to respond fast enough. That’s where an automated text going out as soon as a lead submission comes in is a game changer. Not only do you set yourself apart from those ‘unknown number’ phone calls, but you also have the advantage of getting the first response of individuals that aren’t able to talk out loud at that time.
Don’t Let Your Leads Go Uncontacted
You may be wondering what happened to those companies that didn’t fall into the 37% of the ideal lead contact time. 16% of them responded within 24 hours. 24% took more than 24 hours. The last 23% never responded. The third highest result of this study had interested prospects going to them and not getting serviced simply because they were overlooked. If you’re leads are going into a database or CRM, great! That means there’s still plenty of potential prospects you can contact at any time.
When the Channel Automation team sends out automated text and email blasts, we always get responses. Some of these prospects may have never spoken with the business before, and some haven’t been spoken to for over a year! You’d be surprised how many prospects are still interested in doing business and have held off because they never found the right company.
It could be that they were waiting to see some video content showing off your companies’ success, or perhaps what you said resonated with the type of person they feel comfortable working with. Sending out the right content at the right time can be the factor that led to a sale, and with Channel Automation you won’t miss a response no matter when or where they replied. All responses go to one dashboard where you can continue the conversation live with your prospect.
If this sounds like something you want for your business, send us your questions. Give us the chance to prove that our automated contact system more than pays for itself in closed deals and happy clients.
