COMMENTS
From my own spectacular experience a few years ago, getting back to people within the hour is vital. If not, they will have gone elsewhere by the time you call them "later"
Nothing more to add, it's correct!
This article helps to confirm why so many dealerships are having success adding live chat to their website - it gives a potential buyer the opportunity to connect with the dealership immediately. Whether the dealership manages the chats internally or has a reputable, automotive-focused company helping them it can be the best couple of hundred bucks a dealership spends each month.
The study validates what Televerde has known for a long time. Timeliness and relevance of a reply to a new lead is essential. An MIT study a few years ago revealed similar results. With today's short attn spans and "need an answer now" mode of business, speed is critical. As is relevance, so use the BI you have on individual and corporate prospects before you make the call back.
We have found that if you are fast and first you have a huge competitive advantage. You disrupt the search and establish credibility by being so responsive. 75% of internet leads who buy do so from the first company to call them. Here are a few more lead response tid bits;
The first business to contact a lead increases conversion by 238%, according to a LeadQual study.
• Leads called within five minutes have a 194% better chance of conversion.
• A Kellogg study found that the odds of reaching a lead increase 100% if called within 5 minutes vs. 30 minutes.
•The study also found that the odds of qualifying and converting a lead increase 21 times if called within 5 minutes vs. 30 minutes.
• Approximately 35% of leads are reached on the first call and up to 72% are reached on the second call, but 48% of leads never get a second call.
EXACTLY! For auto dealers there is a brand new service called AVA (Automated Virtual Assistant) that takes it to an entirely new level.
Using military-grade artificial intelligence, to engage and communicate with each lead to verify buying intent and schedule phone appointments with dealership personnel – all without human intervention. By automating the “best-practices” of the most successful dealerships, AVA professionally and consistently establishes and builds a relationship between the dealer and customer. The critical component to AVA’s artificial intelligence is its ability to decipher responses from consumers and take appropriate action based on a consumer’s reply.
I work with the company doing marketing for AVA.
If you're a car dealer owner or GM, send me an email at david@robertsonmarketing.net and I can arrange a personal introduction to AVA (demo) with the company's owner and president.
Here is a
Any correlation to phone versus email contact? I try to have our sales people call on the telephone...but wonder if there are statistics that compare how conversions go based on the type of response. Email is not as personal in my opinion, where a phone call is.
Hey Parker, with the AVA product you there are 3 stages so you can see the metrics of how the conversation goes. A few points:
1) 70% of a can salesperson's time is spend leaving messages, chasing down the prospect.
2) There is a very high percentage of prospects who believe they are corresponding with a real person from 'customer service, not sales.
3) Consistently, prospects are giving the CSR (AVA) detailed info that helps the sales rep meet the need and close a sale
4) Customers that engage/shop/research online are comfortable with email
5) AVA tees up the sales rep so the prospect eventually connects with a real person
6) The sales reps get a 'personal assistant' that consistently follows up appropriately and tees up their appointment calls; PLUS, AVA doesn't cut into their sales or commissions.
dr
I'd have to agree with your article here. Leads that are acted on swiftly usually generate a positive conversion.
so we can get the 7x conversion if we response in an hour? that is cool but that for people have mel list is good but i don't own that. so is okey for me.
Langsing
I absolutely agree. Every time I have failed to follow up immediately, it showed in my results. ALso, one of my pet peeves is filling out a Customer Service Request form online, only to be sent an autoresponder message that has little/nothing to do with what I asked (it was sent just because of the key words I had used). When that happens (and it often does), I usually fire back a message that says, "Could someone PLEASE personally respond to me outside of an autoresponse message?" If nothing happens, I move on, cancel my business, and take it elsewhere. Why? No phone number to call. No way to get service. Why should I stay on as a customer then? Just my opinion. :)
I totally agree. However, is it applicable to all industries?
My family has a small business and i do get back to customers almost immediately and it works.
I also work for a school of business and if i do that, people will feel like we are stalking them, so we get in contact with them between 2 - 3 days after their first enquiry.
They don't make a decision about joining our program inmediately, they prefer to do their homework and then make a decision.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Darien
Nice article, and i am totally agree with you.