Inbound leads: who they are and how sales teams can turn them into customers

Leads are usually divided into several types according to the degree of interest. Each type requires a separate approach. This article will discuss inbound leads, i.e., potential buyers who contact the company themselves. Find their inherent features and how to bring them to a purchase as quickly as possible. The approaches we will share have been used by the Ringostat team for a long time in our practice.

What are inbound leads, and what features do they have?

Inbound leads are potential buyers who come to a brand independently, having become interested in its product or service. Such leads are conditionally “hot”, i.e., sufficiently motivated.

Useful statistics about inbound leads

1. Inbound leads have the highest conversion rate of all lead types, averaging 14.6%. 
2. Inbound leads tend to pay off more. According to HubSpot, inbound marketing strategies cost 61% less per lead than traditional outbound marketing methods.
3. Inbound leads tend to have a shorter sales cycle because they are already interested in a product or service.
4. Such leads are often of higher quality because they have already interacted with brand content and are more likely to convert.

We also recommend the article “Outbound leads: who are they, what are their characteristics, and how to sell to them”.

What to consider when processing inbound leads

Adjust the response speed and the number of attempts to contact

Even a hot lead can cool down if you take too long to respond to its requests. Therefore, it is better to clearly regulate how many minutes a manager should contact a client who has left their contact information. Such clarity is also needed so that the concept of “fast” or “slow” cannot be interpreted subjectively.

For example, at Ringostat, we have approved the following response times for different communication channels:

As you can see from the last point on the screenshot, separate rules for processing leads have been applied outside of business hours. It’s better to process all such requests before 10:30 a.m. next business day.

It is also worth considering how many attempts to contact the client should be made. 

1. Try it at least 7 times. Many studies have shown that this is the right number of touches — even if you’re approached by an interested client.
2. Use multiple communication channels. Try to contact a potential client not only by mail and phone but also via LinkedIn, Facebook, or messengers. 
3. Gradually reduce the intensity. During the first few days, make more attempts and then fewer. Emailing every day is a surefire way to drive a potential customer away. The customer should have a positive impression until they are ready for further interaction.
4. Plan the next contact. After each unsuccessful attempt to establish contact, create a task to make a future call.

Control the processing of inbound leads

First, set an SLA goal.

An SLA (service level agreement) defines the standards and expectations for how the sales team will interact with prospects. It usually contains specific metrics and timeframes that the sales team must meet.

The SLA target may vary depending on the source of the lead. For example, you can use a timeframe like the one in the screenshot above. However, the goal should not only be “in your mind” or on paper — it should be added to the KPIs of the salesperson and his or her manager. Only then will the SLA work. 

You also need to set up the calculation of this indicator in CRM. That is, it should record how much time has passed from the moment the lead is created to the moment it is closed: 

• call; 
• chat replies; 
• an email sent;
• or any other action that amounts to contact with the lead.

Next, you need to create a report or dashboard that shows the percentage of processed and unprocessed leads that are on time. Ideally, such statistics should be updated in real time. This will be useful not only for the manager but also to motivate salespeople so that their performance is not worse than that of other team members.

Below is an example of a CRM dashboard showing each sales rep’s average SLA, median, and percentage of unprocessed leads. The data can be viewed by month, week, and day:

Constantly monitor the indicators in such dashboards. The manager should provide feedback to salespeople, and team leads on the speed of lead processing. Analyze the reasons for not meeting the SLA, eliminate the causes, track the results again, etc, because you should always strive for perfection in this process. 

In addition, you need to set up a notification when a lead arrives — it should be sent to the most popular channel among salespeople. You can also use pop-up notifications in CRM. It’s also helpful to automatically notify in a working chat about a missed call. For example, we have the following notification in Ringostat, as shown below. Any free employee can quickly take the lead and process it in time before it goes to a competitor: 

It’s also essential to ensure you have the correct number of employees to meet your SLA goals and the total number of inbound leads. 

It is also important to create schedules based on the hourly flow of leads and the team’s workload. Ringostat’s report on the distribution of calls by day of the week and time of day will help you with this. During times of increased activity, you can involve other employees, such as team leads or salespeople who are temporarily busy with other tasks, to meet SLAs.

Develop a lead qualification system

Qualification is a preliminary assessment of a lead’s quality from a business perspective. If dozens or hundreds of customers contact you simultaneously, it is critical to understand which you should consult first and which can wait. Otherwise, you’ll waste resources on unpromising leads, and the really valuable ones will eventually “cool off” without waiting for a response.

There are many lead qualification systems. Let’s briefly describe just one of them.

1. Information Qualified Lead (IQL) or NQL (non-qualified lead). A lead who has left information about themselves in exchange for helpful information: white paper, research, free lesson. 
2. MQL (Marketing Qualified Leads). Leads received through channels that are the responsibility of marketing: contextual advertising, organic search, etc.
3. SAL (Sales Accepted Leads). This is an MQL that has been recognized as a potential buyer. For example, they were contacted for the first time and convinced that they needed the product.
4. SQL (Sales Qualified Leads). A lead that has the potential to make a purchase, for example, if they are a decision-maker. The sales department is already working closely with such a client and trying to close the deal.

By categorizing leads, you can save time for users and your salespeople. For example, you can divide a department into two parts:

• employees who conduct preliminary consultations — they can find out from leads whether they really need the product, how soon they plan to buy it, and whether they have a sufficient budget for it;
• sales reps who close deals, i.e., negotiate with customers who are already committed to buying, draft commercial offers, attend meetings, etc.

An example of questions for lead qualification 

After getting to know each other, start with open-ended questions so that the lead leads the bulk of the dialog. 

1. Tell us more about what your company does. 
2. What tasks do you plan to use our solution for?
3. Perhaps you already know what functionality you’re interested in, or maybe you’re looking for advice.

It is convenient to have a virtual PBX that records conversations. In this case, you can attach the recordings of the most successful dialogs during the qualification.

At Ringostat, we also use lead scoring. It allows us to assess the priority of working with a client, such as the volume of goods the customer plans to buy and the budget they have for promotion. This affects the score assigned to the lead.

Prepare for communication with an inbound lead

Let’s say you only have basic information about the client from the online application: name, phone number, email, and website address if you work in B2B. Spending 10–15 minutes on preparation will save you and the client time.

Check for spam

Signs of spam may include:

• a broken website or a website that duplicates the addresses of Google, YouTube, etc.;
• a website, name, or email that contains random characters;
• a person’s name that is obviously not real: for example, characters from movies, games, etc.;
• a message during the call that the number is not in service, not working, or does not exist — this does not include “disconnected,” “out of range,” or voicemail;
• the number contains more than five identical digits in a row;
• an advertisement is played during the call.

Study of customer information

If you have a link to a website, research what the company does. Similarly, if you have an email that contains a domain, such as [email protected]. Go to the “Contact Us” or “About Us” section and see if the employee who wrote to you is listed there. This way, you can find out their position in advance. You can also simply Google the email address.

After that, think about it:

• what challenges and pains such businesses usually face;
• what products you offer can be helpful to the specialist who contacted you, for example, a marketer, technologist, call center manager, etc.;
• what problems and pains they may have;
• how your product can solve them.

This way, you can start a meaningful conversation immediately without asking the client about their job title, business niche, tasks, etc.

Summary: 5 principles for high inbound lead conversion 

1. Speed. Respond to inbound leads as quickly as possible. Even if the company has a large workload, don’t make a person wait for more than a day — this is the maximum. The faster you contact a potential customer, the more likely they will purchase.
2. Speed control. Implement SLAs to understand how quickly the team responds to new leads. Analyze the reasons that prevent a quick response and eliminate them. Also, ensure you have enough employees to match the volume of leads and workload during peak days and hours.
3. Personalization. Study a potential customer’s needs and interests before contacting them. This will not only impress them but also save time for both of you.
4. Qualifications. Don’t waste time on unpromising clients. Evaluate your leads’ quality to ensure they’re really interested in your product or service.
5. Provide value. Prepare and share helpful information with potential customers to help solve their needs. This way, the customer will not only see the benefits of your products and services but also feel that you care about them.