The Funnelholic

The “pounce controversy” lives on! I noticed one thing about the commentary on the article; I’m not sure we’re thinking about the role of the phone in the right way. Let’s be clear: the single most effective conversion method to date is the phone. Period.

Look, everyone knows I am as much into lead nurturing and sales 2.0 as anyone else. I believe there is a completely fresh narrative underway for how we engage customers - but you can’t forget one thing: everything you’re doing (marketing automation, nurturing, email, value-added research) is aiming to accomplish one thing: get the right people to TALK to you. I agree that the lead nurturing movement makes us smarter and more efficient, but in all the posts out there on the Web today, there is little if any mention of the phone’s continued role in the conversion process. If you can get the right contact on the phone, you do it, because all your goals (buyer-vendor relationships, conversion, etc.) are still met by phone today.

So I ask the question:  When you consider conversion, are you thinking of how your programs increased “phone connects?”

When it comes to the pounce controversy, there is a nice use case. A prospect responds to a relevant offer and hits your Web site. That is the perfect opportunity to connect. Of course you can use chat, email, etc. to pounce, but for the sake of this article I just want to walk through the pluses and minuses of calling that person right away. Keep in mind why I think getting to the prospect right away is critical: the person is currently on your Web site, thus, technically already engaged with you and your likelihood to connect is high (yes, you can actually call with your company name appearing on caller ID). That’s good. Ask your lead follow-up team how many darn calls it takes to get a buyer engaged, if ever.

Now, here are your possible outcomes:

1. They are ready to talk and work with sales: win.
2. They have a great conversation with you where you actually frame your value prop and send them some value-added information. A lasting first impression is made. They aren’t ready to work with you so you put them in the nurture campaign: win.
3. They tell you to go to hell. They would have told you that anyway: lose.

The downside is not that painful considering the upside.

Please remember:

1. The phone still works.
2. For it to work, we need to get our phone resources connected with the right people (NOTE: if you sent an email to someone, I hope you sent it to a targeted list).
3. New technologies should increase our connect rates, NOT keep us from talking to people.
4. The phone is your best weapon in the lead-conversion rate war.

I know it’s dorky, but I can’t help it: I get excited about great blog posts. My boy Mike Damphousse (@damhpoux) wrote a post yesterday: “Webleads: Pounce, pause, nurture or wait?” The post addressed the question of what the best step to take is after a prospect responds to an email or blog post and hits your Web site. Mike is tracking this activity with a product called Leadlander.

He posed this question to 7 experts and categorized their answers as follows:

• Pounce: Call immediately.
• Pause: Give it 15-30 minutes, then call.
• Nurture: Let visitors keep educating themselves, and educate them softly if you can identify them.
• Wait: Wait a day or two, then casually call.

Out of the seven people who answered, I was the only one to vote for the “pounce” approach. Now that is interesting! I guess I’m a rebel. Let me explain where I’m coming from. First, let me take a quote from Jill Konrath (@jillkonrath): “I hate being pounced upon … (but) … I know there is research that supports getting in touch with a person immediately after they visit your site. Strike when they’re hot. The key to success is in the how.”

So Jill is basically saying, I hate being pounced on, but technically the right thing to do is pounce. And she’s right — the key to success is “how.”

Why pounce?

The numbers tell you to. The sales and marketing blogosphere is obsessed with nurturing (and I am one of those bloggers). But remember, our goal in life is to CONVERT. And conversion implies connecting — one of the hardest things to control in the overall conversion process.

Here are some Funnel points to consider about the pounce approach:

1. You got them where you want them. Mike’s case works here: He sent prospects an email or wrote a blog post which lead the person to start cruising his company’s Web site. If you contact the prospect immediately, you have them with their browser open and YOUR site up. Attention is HIGH.

2. Don’t kid yourself — they won’t come back for awhile. Nurturing rules, but it takes time. You’ll have to send leads emails or other means of contact for the next couple months to get them back. No bueno.

3. “Who are you again?” See 1 and 2 for more on this. Prospects are on your site NOW and will not have to go back to their busy lives for the next 10 minutes. Contact them when you know they’ll recognize your name and brand.

4. Connect and you will convert. I am being redundant here, but ConnectAndSell is one of the hottest businesses out there and its ultimate goal is to have you pay the company to help you connect. Your connect rates are highest on impact.

5. Messaging is the key to life. I love it — people who teach people how to cold call are voting against “pouncing.” You’d rather cold-call? Forget it.

Take Jill’s quote: “The key to success is how.” What you say is always half the battle. If you call prospects to mention that you see them on your site and start qualifying them, you will fail. Instead, add value on the call. You know they clicked through an offer or post, leverage that knowledge to offer them research or data that follows their information trail. Go even softer and invite them to a Webinar, I don’t care. So pounce, but pounce with class.

6. Your biggest conversion rate “hit.” You get the most “bang for your buck” within the first 24 hours of receiving a lead. Nurturing helps those numbers over time, but your biggest day is the first. See chart below. The y axis is time and the x axis is your likelihood to convert.

As you may have noticed, I have become slightly addicted to Thought Leadership interviews. In the meantime, I have been jotting down ideas for posts and have come up with some great stuff. Nevertheless, my Funnelholic posts are driven by what’s happening in my life and as such, I have to revisit a topic I have written and talked about a million times: sending raw leads directly to sales.

The Funnelholic tip of the day, or even the century, is: Don’t do it.

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I am really excited about the launch of Focus.com. Yes, it is owned and operated by my company, Tippit. But no, this is not a gratuitous plug.  I believe in what Focus.com is trying to achieve and how it will change the business Internet.

But first, a couple things :

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