Corporate spending on digital marketing services and lead generation is soaring in both the B2B and B2C markets. However over 70% of the internet generated leads are wasted because the companies don’t respond fast enough. The question is: when a new lead comes in, how much time does a salesperson have to respond?

The Lead Response Management Study shows that “the odds of qualifying a lead in 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drop 21 times. And from 5 minutes to 10 minutes the dial to qualify odds decrease 4 times.”

Image from Lead Response Management Study

Few factors could explain this drastic drop in response rate. The most obvious one is that the potential client is still on their computer or phone. Secondly is that the company is still on clients minds. Thirdly is the so called “Wow Effect.” People are generally impressed by the speed of response and that builds trust into future efficiency.

So what are the solutions? Alignment between marketing and sales, live chat technology, and automation for tailored responses are definitely few good ideas.

However, a Harvard Business Review study that audited 2,241 U.S. companies, shows that most companies are way to slow to respond. “37% responded to their lead within an hour, and 16% responded within one to 24 hours, 24% took more than 24 hours—and 23% of the companies never responded at all. The average response time, among companies that responded within 30 days, was 42 hours.”

When is the best day to reach B2B sales leads by phone?

The lead response management study reveals that:

  • Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to make contact with a lead (Friday is the worst day)
  • Wednesdays and Thursdays are also the best days to call to qualify leads. Wednesday was the top day and was 24.9% better than the worst day, which was Friday.
  • Thursday is the best day to contact a lead in order to qualify the lead

When is the best time of the day to reach B2B sales leads by phone?

  • The worst times to contact and qualify leads are during lunch/crunch time (11am-2pm)
  • 4-6pm is the best time to make contact with a lead (114% higher than the worst time block)
  • 8-9am and 4-5pm are the best times to qualify a lead