The Art
of the Follow-Up with Business Buyers
Time after Time
When it comes to following up
with a B2B buyer, your sales and marketing teams need to make sure they are
responding to leads quickly. 57% of the respondents from the Demand Gen report
ranked the timeliness of a vendor’s response to their question/inquiries as
very important and Inside Sales found that responding to a completed form
within 5 minutes versus 10 minutes led to a 900% increase in contact rate.
When conducting research, buyers
want the information they’re after without a wait. So, if a prospect has taken
the steps to fill out a form, reach out quickly with your initial follow-up
call.
Follow up with leads within 5
minutes or you could miss out on making contact. Send out a quick email and hop
on the phone.
Do some quick research on the
lead’s business and position. Be ready to provide relevant information for the
buyer, no matter who they are or where they are in the buying cycle.
On Repeat
One phone call or an email isn’t
enough. Marketers need to be prepared to send out multiple emails and your sales
team needs to be prepared to make more than a couple of phone calls. 35% of
respondents reported at least four contacts (via sales calls, emails or other
methods) with the winning vendor and 31% said they had eight or more contacts
(Demand Gen). This does n’t mean sending eight emails in a single week. It does
indicate that as business buyers are conducting more research and comparing
vendors, you need to be prepared to reconnect with your prospect on a basis
that aligns with their buying process.
Use your CRM or sales software to
collect data to develop an accurate timeline of your ideal and typical
customer’s buying process.
With each follow up, tailor the
information to your prospect’s industry, role in the company and phase of the
buying cycle.
Relevance is King
Again, relevance to B2B buyers is
important. While the phrase “Content is King” resonates with many B2B, it isn’t
the only thing. Content needs to be relevant at every touch point. One
Genius.com study found that 66% of buyers indicate that “consistent and
relevant communication provided by both sales and marketing organizations” is a
key influence in choosing a solution provider. Be consistent and relevant with
the information you provide each prospect.
After looking at your data and
timeline, gear content to each stage in the buying cycle, such as whitepapers,
case studies, live demos and free trials.
Ask your contact how and when
they prefer to be reached. Whether email or phone - make sure you are reaching
them how and when they want.
Following up and converting a
lead isn’t always easy. More and more, business buyers are conducting research
before making a purchase. As a sales and marketing team, your employees need to
be quick to follow up and ready with relevant information. This means doing
some background research and having relevant contact on hand when following up,
whether it’s an email or a phone call.
How does your sales team manage
follow-up calls and emails with leads?
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