The most important element in converting inbound leads to customers is how effectively you transition your digital relationship to a real human relationship with your sales team. A recent study by software consulting firm Software Advice gave some insight into how to best make this transition. Software Advice helps businesses choose the right software for their specific needs and relies heavily on inbound lead generation to fill their pipeline. Their 2013 B2B Online Buyer Behavior Report looked at data from 6 million unique website visitors to determine the most successful tactics to convert inbound leads to sales. Keep in mind that this report focused on buyers of B2B software - while the conclusions are broadly applicable to software product purchases, they may not apply directly to more complex sales cycle such as the purchase of professional services.

Don't hesitate to contact your inbound leads

B2B Sales and Marketing Analyst Derek Singleton found that it's a good idea not to let the grass grow under your feet with qualified inbound leads, "Our report shows that when a buyer contacts us directly for information—requesting a price quote or product demo, for instance—there is a significant benefit to calling that buyer right away. It was amazing to see that if we call a buyer within 5 seconds of converting, we qualify that buyer at a rate 30 percent higher than our average qualification rate."

The study found that contacting a lead that request information within 5 seconds of converting increases the chance of qualifying that buyer by 150 percent, in comparison to calling within 1 minute. Meanwhile, it only takes 10 minutes for qualification rates to drop below average, and 60 minutes for qualification rates to drop 13 percent below their average qualification rate.

Here is a summary of increase in qualification rates relative to the average by reponse time.

For more complex sales processes like professional services sales, we also recommend contacting inbound leads quickly. We recommend a soft approach to determine if the lead has an immediate need or just wants to learn more about the topic covered in the content that they accessed via your website.

Use marketing automation to nurture leads that aren't yet qualified

Singleton recommended a slower approach to inbound leads that haven't been qualified, "Of course, it’s also important to understand that not every buyer deserves a call right away. If a buyer contacts you indirectly—by completing a form to download a whitepaper, access video content, or view other gated material—then you should consider nurturing, rather than calling, the lead. As inside sales and marketing professionals continue to compete for the attention of B2B buyers on the Web, understanding their online behavior will be critical to success."

We agree with Singleton's statement completely. It's important to use lifecycle marketing automation to understand your buyers' digital behavior and interact with them according to where they are in their buying process (or not.) This is particularly important when you consider that 50% of qualified leads are not ready to buy immediately when they first convert on your website, according to Gleanster. An aggressive sales outreach to these qualified leads is more likely to hurt your chances than to help them.

Software Advice data shows the best times to call qualified leads

Here are some interesting insights from the Software Advice data on the best times contact leads.

• Lead conversions are higher at the beginning of the year. This is likely because businesses have finalized budgets and have funds available to purchase software.

• Lead qualifications are highest in the summer months. Software Advice theorizes that this is because they have fewer leads in the summer months and their sales team can focus on qualifying existing leads.

• Lead qualification rates are highest between Tuesday and Thursday. Software Advice suggests holding sales meetings and other non-production activities on Monday or Friday to ensure that you maximize your efforts on the productive part of the week.

• Not surprisingly, Software Advice found that website visits peaked during work hours, with a concentation in the first half of the day.

Summary

While this data is most relatable to software sales, it illustrates the importance of having a data-based sales process for your business that takes into account your unique sales cycle. When a lead is qualified, it's important to contact them as soon as possible. If you don't, you can bet your competition will.