Did the title of this post make you pause and think? I hope so – because it runs counter to what we’re normally told to believe. In the world of lead generation, we’ve always taught the need for speed when it comes to following up on leads. And while we can’t completely discount speed, we found in our recent State of B2B Lead Generation report that it may not be as critical as we previously thought.
Hear us out:
- 64% of B2B marketers we surveyed this year indicated they follow-up within an hour of receiving a lead. Compare that to the 80% who said so a year ago – and right away we’re seeing that B2B marketers aren’t following up as fast. But that doesn’t mean they’ve just gotten lazy in the past year, so something else is definitely at play.
- We dug deeper and found that of those who use a CRM or Marketing Automation platform only 34% responded to leads within an hour of receipt. Interestingly, 85% of the B2B marketers not using technology follow-up on leads within an hour. So there’s a clear difference in approach for those who have technology in place versus those who don’t.
All of this data begs the question – why does the speed of lead follow-up seem to be lessening in importance? We think it has to do with the changing nature of leads being purchased by B2B marketers – and the concept that not all leads should be treated the same. Gone are the days where all leads go directly to sales (in fact, only 50% of the B2B marketers we surveyed said sales is the first place leads are routed to). Of course, those that are ready to purchase or take an action still should be contacted right away or you risk losing out, but as leads are being generated earlier and earlier in the funnel (think top of funnel), B2B marketers seem to be realizing that those leads need a softer, potentially less invasive approach (think nurturing). Thus, quick follow-up from a salesperson isn’t necessarily the best approach.
Now, all of this isn’t to say that speed isn’t important – it absolutely is in the right context (say, if someone completes a request on your website or leaves a message) – but as follow-up approaches change based on the stage of a lead, we’re seeing B2B marketers realize that speed isn’t necessarily the most important thing.
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Stay tuned for State of B2B Takeaway #4: B2B marketers want leads and are willing to pay for them.
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