A lead is great, but only if it turns into a customer. So why
do some leads turn into long term customers while others die on the vine? The Marketing group blames the low conversion rate on the sales team’s failure to close the deals – Sales, on the other hand, claims they were given lousy leads to begin with.

The “blame game” never solves anything, but determining why a prospect chose not to purchase is vital. The best way to do this? Ask! Just because they didn’t buy from you doesn’t mean a prospective customer’s level of satisfaction with their experience isn’t important. In fact, it’s equally as important as the experience of customers who actually did buy. A satisfaction survey that follows up with all leads can prevent those that didn’t convert from slipping through the cracks and provides invaluable information as to where and how you can improve. Here are 6 key steps to developing an effective lead follow-up mechanism to track opportunities, re-engage those that didn’t convert and lay a foundation for continuous improvement for both marketing and sales:

• Step 1:  Compare Apples-to-Apples
  Be sure to ask questions that provide standard responses, so you can develop a comprehensive database of information that can be compared from year to year. Structure your questions in such a way so they trigger appropriate responses, such as “What are the reasons you didn’t buy?” or “How likely are you to buy in the future?” and provide ranking options, such as “Very likely”, “Likely”, “Unlikely” “Not at all likely” or “Unsure”. Limit surveys to no more than 15 questions. Surveys that take longer than five minutes to complete are less likely to get answered.
• Step 2:  Zero In on Intent to Purchase
  Your survey should include an intent to purchase question (i.e. 30 days, 3 months, etc.). This will provide an opening for the sales team to follow up with the prospect if they haven’t completed a purchase within the specified timeline. If your lead isn’t ready to provide a purchase timeline, your sales team should still follow up (in 30 days, for instance, as the lead may now be ready to buy!)
• Step 3:  Give Them a Reason to Respond
  Increase your response rate by providing an incentive that will compel the lead to complete the survey. The incentive doesn’t need to be extravagant – something as simple as a $5.00 coupon, a 10% discount on a future purchase, a donation to charity etc. can have a wonderful effect on response rates depending on your market.
• Step 4:  Follow-Up, Follow-Up, Follow-Up
  Having prospects complete a survey is only part of the process. Follow up on the data received so you can act on the issues that affected attempts to close business the first time around. Then, pull it back into the sales cycle with appropriate marketing and sales activity to nurture the lead.
• Step 5:  Monitor and Measure
  Use your lead survey responses to generate weekly reports that focus on KPI’s such as:
  • Sales representatives’ performance
  • Average marketing conversion rates
  • Approximate total revenue produced by each marketing touchpoint
  • Comparisons of conversion data on a quarter-to-quarter basis
  • List of products/services purchased
• Step 6:  Stay Current!
  If you don’t already have one, it’s critical to develop a computerized database of prospects that includes name, title, company name, address, phone number, email, product interest, buying time frame and industry information. To be useful, this database must be updated continually.

Now that your lead tracking process is ready to go, you need to keep filling the funnel with new prospects, and nurturing appropriate leads that didn’t convert into customers by addressing their needs and issues to create the right buying environment for them.