Introducing Lead Reply (Episode 15)

Harris introduces Lead Reply. With this offering, our virtual sales assistants handle incoming messages to your team (from a web form, social media, cold emails, etc.), make sure they’re a good fit, and book a meeting.

⚠️ Please note: This is an old episode of the Pipeline Meeting podcast. In August 2022, the show relaunched in a new format. For the most recent episodes, please visit the podcast page. 

Show Notes

Show Description

Pipeline Meeting is a sales podcast for founders and sales leaders. If you are looking for actionable steps to close high-ticket deals, you’re in the right place. Tune in for help with things like cold outreach and qualifying inbound leads. We regularly feature guests and experts to take our business to the next level. Pipeline Meeting is hosted by Harris Kenny, the founder of Intro, a company that provides sales as a service.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Castro, Deezer, Google Podcasts, Overcast, PlayerFM, Pocket Casts, Podcast Index, RSS, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, or Twitter.

Overview

[00:00:20] I’m excited to be giving you a preview of our next offering at Intro CRM. Now this offering is called Lead Reply. And let me just tell you that we are already offering it to customers today. I think this is probably the highest value activity that we’re doing for customers right now.

What is Lead Reply

[00:00:38] We are helping customers handle replies to leads that can come from any number of sources. We reply quickly. We help develop the messaging and we ensure a very clear call to action. And that that is followed through. In most cases, that call to action is scheduling the call, taking that lead and getting them on your calendar.

[00:01:00] This means that you can focus on your product, focus on closing deals, focus on, maybe taking some time off, we free you up and take some of these sales activities off of your plate. The low value activities that you know, in aggregate. Yeah. They could be important for your business, but you don’t know which conversations are worth it.

[00:01:22] That’s how we help.

[00:01:25] Oh, and the cool part is that we use performance-based pricing. So we align our incentives with your incentives. We have the motivation to get these leads through the process and onto your calendar.

Who Lead Reply is For

[00:01:39] Three things need to be true, in order for this product to be useful for you. And let me get that out of the way first, because if this doesn’t apply to you, You may want to stop listening or maybe finish it out and share with someone else.

[00:01:55] First, the product needs to be a high ticket item, which is to say there needs to be a single time, large expense associated with buying this thing. Now there may be future ongoing or recurring costs, but it’s a large expense that requires a large decision whether or not to move forward.

[00:02:16] Second, there has to be a degree of complexity. Uh, complexity about how it works, how to apply it or how the offering might come together. I think of a manufacturer that has made to order equipment that are provided to customers on an individual basis.

[00:02:32] Third, there has to be mutual value seen in having a conversation. In other words, Both the buyer and the seller see value in connecting to discuss. How the product works, how they might be able to use it. What to include. Maybe payment terms, delivery, things like that.

[00:02:55] Overall, if you think about these three things, these three things are really all required in order to have an effective sales motion. If you have salespeople who can add value to prospects who can consult and proactively make decisions that are going to affect the ability to close deals or not.

[00:03:16] The opposite end of the spectrum would be low price software or e-commerce products where the goal is not to have a conversation at all, but to have the customer make the decision to purchase themselves and go through that purchasing process without talking to anybody.

The Value of Lead Reply

[00:03:30] If you are focused on growth, and we’ve had so many conversations about how do I get new leads, that is one thing. But it is important to remember that if you were also generating leads, that those leads need to be handled. And if they are not all totally qualified. In other words, a perfect fit for you from the get-go.

[00:03:49] Honestly, some of them might just be junk leads. Now we’re talking to at all, and they’re distracting you pulling you out of your workflow for the day.

[00:03:59] It might make sense to get some help managing them so that you can focus on the ones that are the most valuable. So you don’t waste time and you free yourself up.

[00:04:07] Let’s dig into how this works specifically.

How Lead Reply Works

[00:04:11] When you receive an inbound lead. And this could be from anywhere, this could be from social media, this could be through a contact form on your website—the clock starts ticking.

[00:04:23] The time is approaching in which you need to reply to that person and then figure out. The level of interest and the fit between them and your company.

[00:04:32] This is where we come in.

[00:04:34] We act as a member of your team. So we have had our customers create a dedicated email for us. This email address is under their domain, and it’s essentially the portal through which our team is going to interact with these prospects and get back to them quickly.

[00:04:50] What we do is, we handle the replies for you.

[00:04:54] We qualify those leads according to the criteria that you set out. Using, generally speaking, messaging that you’ve approved. Now there’s going to be some personalization depending on the inquiries and things like that. But mostly it’s the messaging that you want. And then we’re going to fall through with the call to action of scheduling the meeting, basically moving that conversation. To the point where either a founder or a sales engineer or a person who just understands the details of it will take the conversation forward from there.

[00:05:24] And along the way, we’re syncing our replies to your CRM or your customer relationship management software. If you’ve got one.

Alternatives to Lead Reply

[00:05:33] You may be wondering why would you provide this as a service? Couldn’t I hire someone full-time to do this. Now, this is going to be for smaller teams. Or for teams that want their salespeople to focus on closing specifically.

[00:05:49] This is not going to be for everybody. We’ve already established that it has to be for companies that have a high price item. Where there is complexity and value in having a conversation.

[00:06:03] It’s also not true that everybody’s going to want to bring this service on fractionally. You know, you may not have enough lead volume yet now. Assuming you do, this is basically an alternative to hiring an entry level sales person.

[00:06:18] I believe that what we’re doing is different here because we have a global team so we can have rapid response times.

[00:06:25] We also have a sophisticated set of rules and automations on the backend to ensure that things are being handled and covered. It’s not just one of a million notifications that are going through a busy person’s inbox.

[00:06:38] And finally we bring best practices to companies that can’t afford big sales teams. So. The number of follow-ups the type of messaging we’re going to coach you on that and work through that to get the right. Persuasive elements in there. To have those prospects convert to conversations.

[00:06:57] So if you feel like you want to be talking to more of your prospective customers, this offering can help you with that.

Higher Value Use of Time

[00:07:04] If you want to spend more time doing that customer development, work, asking questions, figuring out maybe where to go next with your product roadmap. Trying to understand what features people are really going to be interested in. Maybe you’ve got some ideas you want to test out. We set you, or your closer, up to have those high value conversations.

[00:07:26] We have some customers who say, Hey, I just want to spend less time on sales. Great. We help with that. We have other customers who say, I want to spend just as much or even more time on sales. I just want it to be valuable time spent. Well, we can help with that too.

[00:07:41] We’re going to be sharing a lot more about how this works, but I do want to leave you with a final closing thought, which is that not all lead replies are created equal. It matters how quickly you get back to your leads. It matters how clear the path forward is for them. And if you can do these things well, and you are really securing some of the most valuable new opportunities for your business.

[00:08:06] If you want to grow your business, if you want net new opportunities, you are going to have to land these types of deals and opportunities that come into your business. It’s that simple. And if you are busy doing other things, delivering on existing promises, you’ve made, these are going to slip. And if they’re slipping, it means that you are basically jeopardizing your potential future growth, and it just puts more pressure on you.

[00:08:31] It puts more pressure on the current delivery they have to do in the. What we’ve found and we’ve found this because we’ve booked some very high profile conversations with governmental agencies, higher education, Fortune 500 companies, very difficult companies to pin down a time to meet with and get all the stakeholders on the phone.

Closing Remarks

[00:08:53] We found that when you do these practices, well, it makes a difference. We have had customers that went from getting ghosted and not getting replies back, to having their calendars filling up with meetings. I don’t think there’s anything magic about it. I just think that we are doing it very well. And I think we’re doing it much better than how our customers were doing it before.

[00:09:17] There’s a ton of value in getting back to people quickly. And there’s a ton of value in having a clear message for those leads about what comes next. They found you some way somehow. And they, at that point, need your help moving through the buying process to understand whether or not your product is going to be a fit for them.

[00:09:38] It’s been going incredibly well and we’re going to be sharing more about it on our YouTube channel, on our website, but I wanted to just get the concept out there and I appreciate your interest in what we’re building here.