{"id":5587,"date":"2016-06-14T10:12:04","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T10:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/test_manager\/why-salespeople-dont-follow-up-on-good-leads\/"},"modified":"2019-07-19T08:37:32","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T08:37:32","slug":"why-salespeople-dont-follow-up-on-good-leads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/el\/why-salespeople-dont-follow-up-on-good-leads\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Salespeople Don\u2019t Follow Up on Good Leads"},"content":{"rendered":"

No matter how much effort Marketing puts into delivering high-quality, actionable leads, most salespeople remain convinced that\u00a0marketing-generated leads<\/span> are lousy.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at a typical experience from the salesperson\u2019s perspective. She gets 100 leads. Marketing promises that these leads are Glengarry Glen Ross golden. The tire-kickers have all been screened out. Each is an inbound lead from someone actively looking to buy \u2013 prospects who called the toll-free number or clicked on a web page asking for information.<\/span><\/div>\n

So she blocks out precious hours \u2013 hours she\u2019s taking away from existing customers and deals already in the pipeline \u2013 and starts calling.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By the time she gets to the bottom of the pile, she\u2019s won exactly two sales.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Next month, she gets another hundred leads and gets the same results. The month after that, she gets another hundred. But by now she\u2019s not getting any sales from them \u2013 because she\u2019s shoving them into a shoebox under her desk and ignoring them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

45% of leads end up buying<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a statistic that would surprise reps like these \u2013 and might surprise some marketers as well: about 45% of business-to-business leads, that is people who\u2019ve inquired about a product or service, will end up buying. (Business-to-consumer leads tend to close at an even higher percentage: typically, 55 to 60%.)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So where\u2019s the disconnect?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, let\u2019s go back to our salesperson and see. Out of those first 100 leads, assume that 45 will eventually buy. Not all of them will buy from our salesperson, of course \u2013 let\u2019s say her closing ratio is about 33%. So out of those 100 leads, she\u2019ll have 45 sales opportunities, and can expect to close about 15.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the problem: Reps often underestimate how long it takes for those leads to turn into sales.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Most reps would tell you that if 45 purchases are eventually made, the buying behavior would look something like this. After all, leads become stale, right?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, the behavior looks more like the purple line in the second chart. About four will buy in the first month; about the same the second month, and so on:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It makes sense if you think about it. A buyer could be anywhere in the buying cycle when the rep calls. Some are ready to make a final decision. Others are just beginning to explore their options.\u00a0 In other words, out of those 45 opportunities, only about 4 will be ripe. The rest are too green to pick.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And unfortunately, a \u201cgreen\u201d lead can look like a bad lead. These prospects aren\u2019t really focused yet. They don\u2019t want to set up an appointment or talk about next steps. It\u2019s easy to assume they\u2019re not really serious buyers. But they will be \u2013 once they ripen.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t throw away green leads<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The worst thing our salesperson can do with green leads is throw them out and start over with a new batch. She\u2019s already done the hardest part \u2013 making contact and establishing a connection. Now she needs to cultivate those opportunities.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But she probably won\u2019t. \u00a0Believing that the leads have gone stale, she puts them in the \u201cwhen I get to them\u201d file \u2013 and never gets to them. So she doesn\u2019t get those 45 sales opportunities. She gives up after a few months and maybe gets only 8 or 10\u2013which only reinforces her belief that the leads were lousy to begin with.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Often, this kind of scenario is exactly what happens in the real world\u2013effective follow-up only happens about 25 percent of the time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Manager\u2019s Office <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Marketing Dept<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The problem usually isn\u2019t the leads, however; it\u2019s how salespeople follow up on them.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Salespeople Don\u2019t Follow Up on Good Leads - Manager's Office<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/managersoffice.net\/el\/why-salespeople-dont-follow-up-on-good-leads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"el_GR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Salespeople Don\u2019t Follow Up on Good Leads - Manager's Office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The problem usually isn\u2019t the leads, however; it\u2019s how salespeople follow up on them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/managersoffice.net\/el\/why-salespeople-dont-follow-up-on-good-leads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Manager's Office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Managers-Office-131795126893693\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-14T10:12:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-19T08:37:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/salespeople.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"193\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ManagersOffice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ManagersOffice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u03b5\u03ba\u03c4\u03b9\u03bc\u03ce\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c7\u03c1\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03b2\u03ac\u03c3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 \u03bb\u03b5\u03c0\u03c4\u03ac\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Manager's Office\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Managers-Office-131795126893693\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ManagersOffice\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"el\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/MOFLogoSEO.jpg\",\"width\":160,\"height\":160,\"caption\":\"Manager's Office\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/\",\"name\":\"Manager's Office\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"el\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/managersoffice.net\/el\/why-salespeople-dont-follow-up-on-good-leads\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"el\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/managersoffice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/salespeople.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":193},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/managersoffice.net\/el\/why-salespeople-dont-follow-up-on-good-leads\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/managersoffice.net\/el\/why-salespeople-dont-follow-up-on-good-leads\/\",\"name\":\"Why Salespeople Don\\u2019t Follow Up on Good Leads - 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