Responding to your leads quickly and effectively is essential to improving your conversions. By improving your front-end conversions, you will not only increase your new patients, but also take some of the pressure of your front-end lead generation, giving you the confidence and ability to spend more on your advertising. ‘’The business that is willing and able to spend the most to acquire a new patient wins’’ so increasing you lead conversion will go a long way to growing your clinic and to dominating your competition.
It’s easy to slip into the mindset that your competitors are great at following up with their leads, however this is not the case. A study from the Harvard Business Review showed that only 37% of business respond to their leads within 1 hour.
In Chiropractic, this stat will be much lower, with very few Chiropractors understanding the importance of lead generation and quick response times. To achieve fast lead follow up requires either a team or the ability to outsource, both of witch are difficult, hence why 95% of Chiropractors never reach this stage.
This shows that 63% of the businesses surveyed are taking too long to respond to their leads. As you’ll see in the rest of this article, even waiting an hour can have huge negative consequences.
The average business is incredibly slow when it comes to lead response times, this means there is huge opportunity for business that can increase their speed.
Competition has never been higher, and people’s attention has become a steadily more valuable commodity. So, if you want to acquire new customers consistently you must act quickly and improve your lead response time. With the systems and technology available to us, there is no excuse not to be great at follow up.
Here are my 12 key stats and quick tips about response time and how you can improve your conversions over the phone:
- You must reply to your leads within 5 minutes (The sooner the better)
I know 5 minutes may sound crazy, but by utilising your CRM system and Zapier, it is more than attainable. Speed-to-call is the single largest contributing factor to increasing your lead conversion and making contact within 5 minutes is regarded at the ‘golden window’ of opportunity.
- Calling within the golden window is 21x more effective than calling after 30 minutes
This stat might be hard to believe, but the numbers don’t lie. Prioritising calling your leads within 5 minutes is a must if you want to convert. Some of your leads will come in outside of office hours where you will not be able to contact them immediately. In these instances, make sure you have a CRM system in place to send an automated email straight away, reassuring your lead that you will be in contact as soon as possible.
Ninja Move: Try and extend your phone operation hours as much as possible. In our done for you telephones service, we have someone operating the phones from 8am – 8pm, 7-days a week to ensure we are contacting as many leads as possible, as quickly as possible.
- After 5 minutes, the odds of converting a lead drop by 80%
Just to hit home the importance of contacting your leads within 5 minutes, here is one more terrifying statistic. Data from Vendasta shows that by narrowly missing the ‘Golden 5-minute Window’ your chances of qualifying and converting your lead drop by a huge 80%.
This data covers a wide range of industries, in some this stat will be higher in some this stat will be lower. In Chiropractic, competition is only growing, so nailing your lead follow up time before your competition is paramount to having a successful clinic. Contacting leads instantly will give yourself the greatest chance, but at the very least, don’t wait longer than 5 minutes!
- 64% of all leads will pick the business that responds first.
If someone shows interest in your product (Becomes a lead), the likelihood is, they have also shown an interest in your competitors. One of the dangers of a slow response time is that your competitors may get to your lead before you do.
‘’If you’re not first, you’re last’’ – This saying definitely rings true here as 64% of leads will buy from the first business that responds. In the modern market we operate in, consumers attention spans are short, and they have little patience. Therefore, they expect instant service and often the business that can supply this will win.
30% of the leads you do not respond quickly to will choose one of your competitors.
- The Average response time on digital leads is 17 hours
Believe it or not, even with all the data available, the average response time on digital leads (Website, Facebook etc.) is a huge 17 hours!
Just to put that into context, within 17 hours you can watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy and still have time to walk a marathon! Or fit in a night’s sleep, a full workday and one episode of line of duty.
If I am your lead, at that point you have likely lost me. I have had plenty of time to research/be contacted by your competition. I have had time to talk to friends or family about my decision. I have had time to think about my decision and let buyer’s remorse set in. I have likely consumed 100’s of other pieces of content and have probably long forgotten the reason why I opted in or the great Facebook advert that originally got me interested. Basically, my interest in your product has dramatically decreased.
Analise your lead follow up time and if you are one of the businesses averaging around about the 17 hour mark, then you need to look at your systems and dramatically improve your lead follow up time.
- Many Businesses don’t make contact with the majority of their leads
Due to messy systems, broken forms and slow follow up times, many businesses don’t end up every contacting a lot of their leads. Some studies suggest that up to 73% of leads are never contacted. The truth is, if you are not contacting 100% of your leads you are doing something wrong and are burning through new patients.
Sometimes this is due to negligence. However sometimes it is unintentional and comes down to the business not being alerted properly when a lead comes in. Make it habit to test all your lead sources (Facebook ads, web forms, Zapier links etc) on a monthly basis to check they are working and that the leads are coming through to the business correctly.
- Less than a quarter of businesses call their web leads
A quite frankly unbelievable stat, less than 25% of businesses give their website leads a call. We know categorically, the best way to convert a lead is through a phone call. In our industry, we look after our clients most valuable asset, their health! Therefore, over the phone or face to face conversations are a must and are the best way for the client to ask us questions and for us to build rapport and trust.
Although communicating through email or text is better than nothing. Nothing beats a phone call and email should be used to support phone calls, not instead of phone calls.
- 24% of customers say that initial contact is critical
24% of customers think the first contact is the most important brand interaction. You only get one chance to make a first impression, so make it count!
If someone requests a call or signs up for your offer and you never follow up (or follow up after a long time), that does not make a good first impression. A prompt, professional follow up will set the standard going forward and make your business come across as quality, organised and efficient.
- Successful lead follow up calls are long
Successful ‘sales’ calls are almost twice as long as unsuccessful calls, clocking in at 5:50 and 3:14 minutes respectively. This gives you enough time to properly position and sell your product, whilst building rapport and allowing your potential client to talk through their problems and ask any questions they may have.
The longer you have someone on the phone and the more contact time you have, the more likely they are to make a purchase.
Don’t be afraid to take the lead on the call. Although you should try and get the client to talk as much as possible, many leads start of slow and need some encouragement to grow into the conversation. Successful calls are about educating your prospects and successful salespeople spend 54% of the call talking while unsuccessful sales people spend only 42% of the call talking.
- Don’t look for a reason to end the call
One of the main problems Chiropractors face is getting the right person on the phones. Many traditional CA’s do not enjoy and are not comfortable with following up calls (selling). This causes quick calls where the CA is looking for every opportunity to get out of the call as soon as possible.
One phrase that kills sales is ‘’Did I catch you at a bad time’’. When this phrase is used it makes you 40% less likely to convert. It’s difficult to get in contact with people, so when you have their attention, capitalise on it, don’t look for a way out.
- Show empathy
Ryan is the master at selling and converting new patients. So, for much more in depth information on everything sales, make sure to check out ‘’Sales & Conversions Alchemy Live’’, Ryan’s brilliant course that guarantees better conversions and retention.
One of the themes mentioned in this course is empathy. This is a very in-depth technique, but by simply starting the conversation with ‘’How are you?’’ you can increase your success rate by up to 3.4X. Using the phrase ‘’How have you been’’ in a follow up call can increase your success rate by 6.6x.
These small changes immediately show that you care for the person you are speaking to. This instantly shows empathy and builds rapport/trust.
- Communicate your intentions clearly
If you are marketing effectively, you will have many lead sources. When you contact a lead, it is important that you clearly communicate the reason for the call to alleviate confusion. People receive many phone calls from friends, family, doctors, dentists, government and salespeople, so it is important to establish who you are and why they are getting the call quickly, so they do not lose interest or assume the call isn’t important.
This will help establish trust and will jog the memory of the client. Some people will make many purchases and opt-ins in a day. This makes them prone to forgetfulness or confusion over what they have signed up for. Establishing why they are receiving the call and reminding them of the action they took to qualify for the call is essential.
Using the phrase ‘’the reason we are calling you is…’’ will increase your success rate by 2.1x. Using the pronoun ‘’We’’ instead of ‘’I’’ will also improve your success rate by up to 35%
So here is the bottom line. All these metrics and statistics point to two major factors. One being speed. It is essential that you are getting in contact with your leads as soon as possible. This is the number one factor that will increase your lead conversion. The second major factor is making the most of the calls you get on. People attention is a valuable thing, so when you get it, don’t blow it. By implementing a few small sales techniques, you will massively increase your success rate on the phones.
Statistics are one thing, but I want to end on some common-sense reasons that explain why speed to call makes such a huge difference:
Presence – 98% of your Facebook leads will come from using a mobile device. Therefore, the prospect is likely already at their phone/computer when they opt-in. Therefore, they likely have time and are on or close to the device the phone call will come in on.
Engagement – The prospect is thinking about their need and ready to mentally engage with you (or purchase) when they hit submit. The longer you leave it, the more they disengage.
Rapport – Fast responses build confidence and rapport starting things off on the right foot.
First Movers Advantage – First to contact, first to frame the conversations and get a shot at closing. If you are not first, your last and will likely lose your lead.
Love and Light,
Ry
