I’m often asked the question: “How fast do I need to call a lead back after we get the live chat lead transcript”? My answer is always: “As fast as possible”. My theory is that the quicker you get back to someone the better your chances are that:

• You’ll catch them
• They’ll be “in the moment”, increasing your chances of closing them or setting an appointment.

To me, my assumptions make sense, but rather than just assume that I am correct, I recently went looking for further evidence. A Kellogg study on Lead Response Management (LRM) revealed some very interesting statistics, which (lucky for me) also validated my prior assumptions:

• The odds of connecting with a lead increases by 100 times if attempted to contact them within 5 minutes (versus 30 minutes).
• The odds of converting a lead if called within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes increases by 21 times.

In another study by the Harvard Business Review, I found this compelling statement:

“Companies that try to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving queries are nearly 7 times as likely to have meaningful conversations with key decision makers as firms that try to contact prospects even an hour later. Yet only 37% of companies respond to queries within an hour.”

Wow! Only 37% of companies respond to inquiries within an hour? That is absolutely astounding to me… talk about a missed opportunity! So how do you make sure that your staff is responding to prospects within that rapidly closing window (besides investing in an espresso machine)?

The best long-term approach to maximize your online lead opportunities is to create a system or game plan. When a new lead comes in, do you have a plan? Who gets the lead? What do they do with it? Is there a script for follow and what do they do if they don’t catch them on the first call?

Creating a proper course-of-action may take you several hours to construct but once it is in place you should quickly see an increase in lead conversion. You’ve heard it a million times, “failing to plan, is planning to fail.”

So in summary: have a plan, and when it comes to lead conversion, “time is money!”