Leads going cold on you? Here is why.

You’ve been following up with a lead – and from all indications, he may close soon. Then, all over sudden, he’s stopped picking your calls and is not replying to your emails.

What happened?

You lead just went cold.

Leads not responding to calls or emails is a common hurdle in sales, and understanding why it happens is critical in improving your lead-to-customer conversion rate.

Here are the two main reasons why leads go cold – and what you can about it.

i) Delayed follow ups

Getting a new lead is never easy.

It takes lots of time, advertising budget and sound strategies to reach the right people, capture their attention and eventually turn them into leads.

Unfortunately, after doing all the hard work, most businesses fail to immediately follow up with these new leads.

The problem with delayed follow up is that it shifts the odds against you.

In most cases, your lead will not just sit there waiting for your response – especially if they need an urgent solution to their problem. Some of them will move on and start engaging your competitors.

In the end, you lose the lead because you were not available when they were ready to talk to you.

To come out of this delay cycle, there are a few things you can do to ensure that your response is timely.

a) Adopt a 5-minute rule

According to a study by LeadResponseManagement.org, your leads are 21 times more likely to convert if you follow up within 5 minutes, instead of 1 hour.

So, the quicker you respond – the lesser your leads will go cold.

b) Explore conversational marketing

Instead of capturing your leads using forms, you can use live messaging and chats on your website to give real time follow up to your leads.

This is even better than the ‘5 Minute Rule’.

ii) Lead not a good fit

Not every person who fills your form, calls you or sends you a sales inquiry email is a qualified lead.

Unfortunately, most businesses are guilty of passing off every new lead to their sales teams without any quality checks.

Such a move exposes your sales team to leads who are not worth investing their time and resources on.

There are some common warning signs that can easily help you identify those who do not fit the bill – and here are some of them.

a) Insufficient budget

Imagine a situation where you are moving your office next month and is looking for an affordable moving company.

So, you approach one of the movers in your city for a quote and what they ask for is double your budget.

In most cases, you would simply walk away and look for a more affordable option.

That’s what happens.

If a lead cannot afford your products or services, there is little you can do to make them buy from you.

b) No real need

Can you really make people buy things they don’t need?

Stashed in your pile of leads, you will always find some people who do not actually need your products or services. It could be a competitor checking out your lead generation process, or just people on a research mission.

Such leads should never find their way to your sales team.

c) Cannot make the purchase decision

In some purchases, like in B2B, the process is often complex and involves several people.

For instance, let’s say you are a social media management software vendor. Your lead may be the social media manager who will be using the software on a daily basis, but does not validate the purchase decisions.

So, instead of dealing with the social media manager – you should track down the key purchase decision makers.

d) No timeline

Some of your leads could be having a budget, real need and authority to make purchase – but no timeline.

They are not under any pressure to make a purchase soon.

If you focus on such leads, chances are they may soon go cold on you. It makes more sense to stay on top of leads that can close next week as compared to next year.

Keep your leads warm

The success of your lead generation depends on the number of quality leads it delivers to your sales team.

So, to avoid leads going cold on you – ensure that your average lead response time is under 5 minutes and your lead qualification process is effective.

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Schedule a 30 minute chat to learn how Higanijulu can help you generate enough qualified sales opportunities. We’ll talk about your challenges, goals and figure out if we would make a good team – no strings attached.