1. Follow Up With 100% of Inbound Sales Leads

Every inbound sales lead is like a scratch-off lottery ticket. You don't know what you have until you scratch the wax off the face of it and see what you have won. How many people buy a lottery ticket and then wait until the next day to see if they're a winner? None. Inbound sales leads should be treated the same way.

What this means is that every sales lead needs to be followed up. Make sure that all inbound sales leads are entered into your CRM software as soon as they are received and that each one is assigned to a salesperson for immediate follow-up. Use your CRM system on a daily basis to check and make sure that 100% of your sales leads are being followed up. If you aren't checking, it isn't happening.

2. Be Speedy

How much time should it take to follow up with a lead? Less than you think. According to the Harvard Business Review, companies that try to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving queries are nearly 7 times as likely to have meaningful conversations with key decision makers as firms that try to contact prospects even an hour later.

Every minute that passes by while you wait to follow up with a lead is time that a competitor will use to swoop in and talk to the prospect before you. If they respond to the customer with the answers to their questions first, then you are suddenly fighting for 2nd place.

3. Provide Complete Answers Quickly

As discussed above, an inbound sales lead is nothing more than a question. Being responsive to prospects means you are providing complete answers to their question(s) in the least time possible. The best way to do this is to position your deepest product knowledge closest to the customer. It is not enough to be the first to respond to the customer. You must also be the first to answer their questions. The first seller to respond to an inbound sales lead with the complete answer in zero time will build trust, credibility, and dramatically increase their chances of winning the customer.

4. Measure, Improve, and Measure Again

You must continually work to improve your sales lead follow-up process. As the old saying goes, "you can't improve what you don't measure." So keep it simple to start with, and measure the following:

• How many sales leads do you receive each week?

• How long does it take to respond to each sales lead? (the time between when the lead is received until a sales person talks to them for the first time)

• What percentage of your inbound sales leads are converted into qualified prospects?

• What percentage of your inbound sales leads are converted into customers?

Set goals for these metrics, and then check each month to see if you are achieving them. If you are, set more aggressive goals and fine-tune each element of your lead follow-up process to achieve those new goals. If you aren't meeting your goals, examine each element of your process in detail, and implement steps you can take to improve those elements. Then check your performance again in a month.