Speed to lead: why it matters

Timing is one critical factor in B2B sales interactions that can either facilitate or hinder a successful conversion. As in brick and mortar businesses, digital clientele don’t like to be kept waiting, and may take their business to another site if left standing too long with no attention from an organizational representative. 

No matter if you have the best version of what you offer on the market: you still need to back that product up with attentive and prompt service, even before the contact becomes a client.

What is the speed to lead?

Simply put, the speed to lead is how long it takes marketing and sales representatives to reach out to a prospective customer or client after initial contact has been made. For example, if an interested party fills out a request for your organization’s whitepaper on your website and a rep responds to the request one hour later, that defines a speed to lead time of one hour. 

In order to support better conversion possibilities, your average speed to lead time should be as short as possible. Especially if a client is shopping around for the solution you offer, they may decide to go with another provider if your reps take too long to respond to their outreach. 

One study from 2015 demonstrated that the optimum speed to lead time is less than a minute, with conversion becoming steadily less likely over the next 24 hours. 78 percent of clients will ultimately choose to go with the first responder, rather than their favorite product. So, if a lead contacts you, it is in the best interest of your business to act as though that lead is ready to buy. 

How prospects show interest

Your organization needs to be on the lookout for a variety of first contact points between the business and prospective clients. This includes a multitude of direct outreach methods, as well as other, explicit browsing behaviors. These points of contact may include:

• Newsletter signups - Your lead may not yet be ready to buy, but signing onto your mailing list is at the very least a demonstration of interest in your product, and must be followed up promptly for the best chance of nurturing a conversion.
  
  
• Quote requests - This is an indicator that the lead is actively shopping for a solution and is likely comparing price tags between a number of different products. In this case, your representative needs to respond as quickly as possible to ensure that your company gets in ahead of the competition. If your solution is not the cheapest, then at least your speed to lead should be the fastest.
  
  
• Trial signups - This is a step beyond active shopping, and shows that the lead is willing to spend time getting to know your product before they make their final decision. It is critical at this stage to maintain quick, consistent communication and promptly address any questions or concerns which the contact may have during their initial experience.
  
  
• Demo scheduling - Again, the lead wants to get to know your product and is going to be combing through the finer details to ensure your solution is right for their business. Follow up their schedule request as quickly as possible and keep up consistent communication for the duration of the interaction.
  
  
• And more - Other indications of interest on the part of a prospect include downloading gated content, interacting with your social media pages, clicking through previously sent email outreach materials, etc. 

Conversion optimization speed

Let’s take a closer look at a couple of the stats we mentioned earlier.

One minute response times may seem a little overenthusiastic at first, but they offer a 391 percent increase in the likelihood of conversion. While not quite so high, your conversion potential remains promising if a response is made within the first 5 minutes. 

At 5:01, however, the chances of your organization making a sale plummets by about 80 percent. This is why your speed to lead is such an important number to track. 

If your company can’t quite crack that whiplash turnaround time, however, you’ll still be in the lead: 55 percent of companies today wait a full 5 days to make their response. 

Data behind speed to lead

Data gathering can help you to shrink your speed to lead time and optimize your sales conversion strategy overall. 

One of the factors that slows speed to lead time, and ultimately causes irreparable conversion loss, is inefficient lead processing. This is the practice of researching, analyzing, and routing leads to the right sales reps. And if it takes too long, it can seriously damage your speed to lead. 

But understanding your lead ahead of time can help you avoid this particular traffic jam, and route your prospects to the right rep, right away. 

Firmographic/technographic data for increased sales speed

In B2B sales interactions, firmographic data is used most often to understand the business problems being faced by your potential client so you can offer them the correct solution. It also functions to help route them to the correct representative with the right experience and understanding to interact with a business at their level. 

Technographic data indicates your lead’s relationship to technology, as well as how likely they are to purchase and integrate your product being offered. 

In tandem, these datasets can inform lead response systems that automatically and correctly route the lead the first time, and offer them only relevant content which will better support their conversion. 

How Intricately can help

Intricately offers unparalleled data insights into a lead that give you the information you need to understand their buying habits and company identity. This will allow your representatives to quickly respond to client contacts, and nurture a better conversion rate for your sales team. Sign up for a free demo today to see what else Intricately has to offer. 

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Learn more about getting leads to the right rep right away in our other insight: Automated Lead Routing.