The Best Practices for
Lead Response Management
As published in
Based on the research of James Oldroyd, PHD, visiting research fellow at M.I.T. & David Elkington, C.E.O. of InsideSales.com
3
Across many companies
that respond to
web-generated leads
Years of Data
15,000 100,000
Call attempts
Unique leads
The focus
Mission
For the best results, how should
companies respond to their leads?
(1) Maximize results, (2) minimize effort. Many of the results in this study are based
on first call attempts, indicating how to get the job done right the first time.
1
2
Best days to make contact
Best times to make contact
QUALIFYING RATES
Early afternoon vs. Late afternoon
CONTACTS MADE FROM FIRST DIALS
CONTACTS MADE FROM FIRST DIALS
TUESDAY VS. THURSDAY
3000
3,500
Best time
to call
2.5
Mon
1,640
3,000
2.0
Tue
1,590
49%
1.5
Wed
2,260
Thu
Best days
to make
contact
2,340
Fri
2nd best
time to call
2,500
Difference
2500
2000
Difference
1500
2,000
1.0
1000
1,500
0.5
1,000
0.0
500
1,980
Tue
500
0
7 AM
Thu
The best days to qualify* leads are Wednesdays and Thursdays.
164%
8 AM
9 AM 10 AM 11 AM 12 PM
1 PM
2 PM
3 PM
4 PM
5 PM
6 PM
1 - 2 PM
4 - 5 PM
The best time to qualify leads is between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm
*Qualification - the stage in the lead nurturing process where the lead is willing to enter the sales process.
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4
Response time
CONTACTS MADE FROM FIRST DIALS
5 MINUTES VS. 10 MINUTES
Persistence
Over 30% of leads are
CHANCE OF MAKING CONTACT
100%
10,000
400%
6,000
6,000
Decrease in
odds of
qualifying
4,000
Chance
8,000
8,000
Contacts
Always make
at least 6
call attempts
80%
Best time to respond:
within 5 minutes
never contacted at all.
90%
10,000
60%
more call attempts, sales
reps can experience up
40%
to a 70% increase in
contact rates.
20%
1st
2,000
4,000
10x decrease
after the first
5 minutes
By just making a few
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
Calls
0.0
5 Min
10 Min
2,000
AVERAGE CALL ATTEMPTS BY REPS
40%
RESPONSE TIME:
0
10 Min
15 Min
20 Min
25 Min
Response Time
30 Min
lead completes a web form
until a sales representative
contacts them.
Contact and qualification rates drop dramatically in just
minutes and continue to decrease over the next few hours.
Sales Reps
5 Min
Most reps give
up on leads
too soon
30%
The moment an interested
20%
10%
0%
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
Call Attempts
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