When a new Internet Sales Manager is hired there are usually too few leads in his queue. Mostly he gets a few "fresh" leads and then gets the last guy's old stuff--the dregs. But if he goes through the old leads a few might come to life. A few turn into deals--maybe 1-2%. How did that happen? It happened because the last guy "cherry picked" his leads; he concentrated on the few instead of the many. The last guy had a weekly strategy rather than a thirty to sixty day plan.  

Here's an example. ISM #1 gets ten leads on Monday, 8 leads on Tuesday, three more leads on Wednesday etc. By Friday ISM #1 has 40 leads and he's called each twice and emailed two or three times. By the weekend he has six appointments and two sell. He figures he will get a phone pop or two each week so he is right at 3 deals a week and in no danger of getting fired. Each week brings thirty to fifty leads that turn into two or three deals and everyone goes home happy--except the General Sales Manager who has to pay several lead providers, print advertisers, and the dealer web master. The GSM sees the money go out but doesn't see the return on his investment.

What's the problem? The ISM #1 is selling cars but he's not getting to the deals that his GSM knows are out there. To answer the question let's go back to the recently hired ISM who is slogging through the old leads and surprisingly gets a few. Think of all those leads when they were fresh. Some will buy right away, they will be so anxious in fact that they will actually call ISM #1 and set an appoinment. But what about the other customers? Those customers who may not be exactly ready but know they have to buy--eventually. Some are too busy, they're serious, but it's tough to schedule a time given their schedule. A few may be waiting on a check from a job, an insurance company, or a relative. These are the buyers ISM #1 is missing.

The best way to describe the total leads ISM #1 gets is the Normal Curve above. The horizontal line represents difficulty. Where difficulty is defined as how many attempts it takes before a customer response. The vertical line represents total number of leads. The leads that ISM #1 is missing comprise 95% of the area under the curve! Those leads that aren't so easy to get. How to get to them?

Follow up, follow up, and follow up. Let's say that ISM #1 gets between 40-50 leads per week. He calls them twice sends two emails and waits for next week's fresh leads. ISM #1 calls his leads 80 times and emails 80 times in a week. How do you get to them? Call them. Instead of 80 calls it needs to be 240 calls and 240 emails. Most Internet Directors will--when they are being absolutely honest--tell you that they are lucky to get 20 calls per day--very lucky.

That's the problem and the solution. My next blog will talk about follow up strategies and the Internet customer. Special thanks to the University of Hawaii Mathematics Department for the Normal Curve image.