The Power of Follow-Ups: Unlocking Sales Success

Neglecting the Potential: The Consequences of Ignoring Follow-Ups

In the fast-paced world of sales, it’s all too common for salespeople to overlook the importance of follow-ups. Whether it’s the fear of rejection, the complexity of sales processes, or a lack of automation, many miss out on valuable opportunities by failing to follow up with their prospects.  Let’s throw some more stats at you:

Astonishingly, when emails or phone calls go unanswered, a staggering 44% of salespeople give up after just one attempt, with a mere 8% persisting beyond five follow-ups. These numbers serve as a stark reminder of the immense impact that neglecting follow-ups can have on your sales success.

Navigating the Market: The Role of Follow-Ups in Dynamic Sales

Consider this: at any given time, only 3% of your target market is actively in a buying phase, while a whopping 56% are not yet ready to make a decision, and another 40% are still in the early stages of their buying journey. This highlights the critical need for consistent and strategic follow-ups to engage prospects throughout their decision-making process. By staying top of mind and nurturing relationships, you position yourself as a trusted advisor when the time is right for them to make a purchasing decision.

Sales Follow-Up Productivity Statistics

To develop a powerful sales follow-up process, it’s crucial to enhance your sales team’s productivity. The following statistics provide insights into ways to improve productivity within your sales organisation:

1. Time Allocation

Salespeople spend a mere 34% of their time actively selling (source). The remaining time is distributed as follows:

• Writing emails: 21%
• Data entry: 17%
• Prospecting, lead research, and contact information sourcing: 17%
• Internal meetings: 12%
• Meeting scheduling: 12%
• Training: 11%
• Reading industry news and sales research: 11%

2. Sales Development Rep Activities

Sales development representatives engage in an average of 94.4 activities per day, leading to approximately 14.1 conversations, 16.7 opportunities, and 3.7 closed deals. These activities are broken down as follows:

• Emails: 32.6
• Phone calls: 35.9
• Voicemails: 15.3
• Social media interactions: 7

2.1 Impact of Sales Onboarding Programs

Effective sales onboarding programs enable new sales hires to become productive 3.4 months sooner on average, resulting in a time-to-productivity that’s 37% faster compared to firms with low-performing programs.

3. Technological Effectiveness

Companies that effectively leverage technology are 57% more successful in sales training and development compared to those who use technology ineffectively.

Sales Channel Follow-Up Statistics

The choice of sales channel can significantly influence the success of your follow-up efforts. Let’s delve into some sales channel follow-up statistics:

Email

• Email marketing boasts a 2x higher ROI than cold calling or trade shows.
• 33% of recipients open emails based on their subject lines.
• A staggering 91.5% of outreach emails are ignored.
• It’s crucial to conduct a grammar check as 64% of workers make spelling or grammar errors in their emails.
• Personalising subject lines with the recipient’s first name can increase open rates by 29.3%.

Phone Calls

• 55% of high-growth companies consider cold calling to be a valuable approach.
• Telephone outreach out-converts emails significantly, with a conversion rate of 8.21% compared to 0.03%.
• On average, sales development reps make 52 calls per day.
• The average response rate for voicemails is 4.8%.
• Approximately 80% of calls go to voicemail, and unfortunately, 90% of first-time voicemails are never returned.

Texting

• Prospects who receive text messages have a 40% higher conversion rate compared to those who don’t.
• Texting is more effective as a follow-up method rather than an initial point of contact. Texting before having a phone conversation decreases the likelihood of the prospect becoming a lead.
• Texting after initial contact leads to a 112.6% higher lead-to-engagement conversion rate.

Social Media

• Sales reps who actively engage on social media platforms experience 45% more sales opportunities compared to those who don’t.
• Sales reps utilising social media as a sales channel are 51% more likely to meet or exceed their sales quota.
• An impressive 98% of sales reps with more than 5,000 LinkedIn connections achieve or surpass their quota.
• Salespeople who leverage social media outperform their peers in 78% of cases.

Multi-Channel Selling

• Sales development reps utilising three or more touchpoints have 28% higher MQL-to-SQL rates compared to those relying solely on phone calls or emails.
• Sending emails to leads between phone contact attempts increases the chance of contacting them by 16%.

Sales Follow-Up Cadence Statistics

Establishing an effective follow-up cadence simplifies the process for sales reps. Here are some key data points to assist you in building a successful cadence for your business:

• High-growth organisations report an average of 16 touchpoints per prospect within a 2-4 week timeframe.
• The optimal number of follow-up emails to send is between 2 and 3.
• A staggering 95% of converted leads are reached by the sixth call attempt.
• Surprisingly, 44% of salespeople give up after just one follow-up attempt.
• A discouraging 92% of salespeople abandon their efforts after no sales on the fourth call. However, it’s important to note that customers often say no four times before saying yes.
• Responding promptly is crucial, as 50% of buyers choose the vendor that responds first.

Sales Follow-Up Response Time Statistics

Prospects may take varying amounts of time to respond to follow-up efforts. Let’s explore some relevant data:

• In a test involving 433 companies, only 7% responded within the first five minutes after a form submission. Surprisingly, over 50% didn’t respond within five business days.
• Attempting to reach leads within one hour increases the likelihood of meaningful conversations with decision-makers by 7 times compared to waiting 60 minutes.
• On average, it takes eight follow-up calls to reach a prospect.
• A substantial 50% of email responses occur within 60 minutes.
• If a recipient is likely to reply to an email, it’s highly probable that it will happen within two days of the email being sent.

The verdict 

Imagine the possibilities that unfold when you wield the art of follow-ups with finesse. By implementing these strategies, you effortlessly outshine your competitors, captivating prospects at every stage of their buying journey.

Your timely and persistent engagements become the guiding force that propels them towards the desired purchase. As you navigate the intricate dance of follow-ups, you establish trust, build relationships, and position yourself as the go-to solution provider when they’re ready to take the plunge.

Want to take your sales game to the next level?  Chat to us about how our expert team can explore strategies, cutting-edge tools and proven techniques that will revolutionise your marketing processes, and in turn, lay a solid platform for your sales efforts.