With 80% of all business decisions taking place between the 5th and 15th contact on average, a robust follow-up process needs to be part of your B2B lead generation strategy.
Straightahead UK is just the beginning of the relationship with your prospects, but we believe in making it as easy as possible for our clients to follow up on leads in a timely and effective way.
“92% of all customer interactions happen over the phone" (Source: Salesforce)
This advice will explain what you need to do to make sure you get the best out of each B2B lead we send you.
Using lead generation activity reports
During a lead generation campaign, our regular reports will illustrate any calls we have made and their outcomes.
Any leads that need your attention on the activity reports will be coloured in yellow, while everything else will be looked after by us. All the leads we send you will have been through our rigorous quality assurance process to make sure there’s no ambiguity or concerns about the lead or their level of interest or engagement in the conversation.
In the report, you can see each prospect’s position and the conversations we have had with them so far. We will tell you the date when the prospect has agreed to be contacted again and how they are expecting you to get in touch (appointment, call or email).
How we define a ‘lead’
We define a lead as a prospect who:
- is in the market (they have expressed a need or interest) for your product or service, and
- wishes to take the conversation to the next stage – the lead may be an appointment, a video or phone call
It’s essential that you follow up the lead appropriately (in the way the prospect has asked for) and in a timely period. The speed with which you follow up a lead is the essence of how fruitful they will be.
The dynamics of cold calling is entirely different from leads generated from a website or referral, and so it comes with different client behaviour, it just means you have to be tenacious, respectful and understanding to build the trust it's important to do exactly what you’ve promised to do.
Lead follow-up support from our Client Relationship Manager
Once we have started the calling and you have received your first activity report, our Client Relationship Manager will call you to discuss your first day's calling and will be your main point of contact and will contact you regularly to find out where you are with the leads throughout the campaign.
We always encourage you to take this opportunity to provide us with feedback on your reports. Your expertise helps us to refine our calls and work with you to deliver the best possible leads. The more feedback we receive, the better our calls will be.
Getting the lead is only the start of the process
There is a myriad of options to keep in front of your prospects; it’s about being tenacious and respectful of their wishes, while not being pushy or demanding.
For appointments in person or video and phone calls, we suggest you send an introduction email, thanking them for the time they have spent with us on the phone, send them an invitation and then follow up with them if they haven’t responded within a couple of days.
By following up as agreed, you encourage your prospects to continue speaking to you and develop a stronger business relationship.
We can help you to create a follow-up process that reflects well on your business and demonstrates you can prioritise your prospects’ needs.