As businesses throughout the new home sector negotiate their place in the market amidst increasing competition and empowered consumers searching for a high standard of service, it is more evident than ever that it pays to respond to leads quickly. With builders and developers across the industry grappling with competitors it is increasingly important to respond to leads quickly to demonstrate service and convert them to sales.
Building a new home represents a life event and a considerable financial commitment for a new home buyer. The project is only carried out following extensive research and decision-making process. It’s likely that a potential client has researched your company as well as similar competitors to determine who might build the home most suited to their needs and budget.
It pays to respond to leads quickly. A Forbes study has shown that up to 71% of leads can be wasted by businesses not getting back to potential clients fast enough. Whilst it’s important to grab the attention of a prospective client, tracking and responding to leads quickly and comprehensively is invaluable in terms of customer retention. A recent Harvard study has also found that it pays to respond to leads quickly with contact rates increasing by 900% when the response time is 5 minutes and under. Yet only 37% of the companies surveyed had a response time that came in at under the one hour mark.
The question is: how can you make sure that you are responding to leads within this ideal window of time? It doesn’t have to be 5 minutes, but it should be within the hour, or if after hours first thing the next morning. This is where lead management solutions come into play. Many businesses in the start-up stage are now realising the advantages of investing in such systems, with the benefits of lead retention far outweighing the costs of the initial investment. Marketing automation tools ensure that you respond fast, create a dialogue with your customer, and can help to lock them into using your service over a competitor. With a high percentage of business going to the first to respond to the enquiry of a customer, it’s evident that the first point of contact with a customer is crucial in getting a sale, and this must be by phone.
Leads management software can be used to send out emails that help you to obtain more information about your leads and answer their enquiry more effectively. Emails can be used to ask a set of questions for better sales conversations. Better still, such questions can be used to segment customers and put them in contact with the person who can handle their enquiry most effectively. However, email should never be the primary or sole point of contact, but rather a secondary and supporting method behind a phone call.
The handling of a lead is very time-sensitive, but it’s not just how quickly you respond. It is also important to assign the enquiry the right person within the initial stages of contact. Make sure the person making the initial call has read the enquiry closely and done a little research prior to calling, ie. on the area of interest. That first call must build confidence and trust to secure the appointment and take the next step.
For more information about being listed on iBuildNew.com.au for expanding your digital reach and securing quality leads visit https://www.ibuildnew.com.au/list-as-member, or if you are interested in learning more about our house and land packaging and publishing platform, Halper, visit https://www.ibuildnew.com.au/halper.
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