Why Does Lead Response Time Matter?

Once a lead does reach out to your practice, it’s up to front desk staff to ensure the lead continues to move on down the funnel to their final destination. Response time is perhaps the most powerful determiner of successful contact and scheduling more appointments. Studies show that delayed response is detrimental when it comes to turning leads into paying patients. The longer the time gap between when a lead comes in and when that lead is called, the lower the likelihood of that lead being converted into a patient.

Call Leads in Minutes, Not Hours

You should be calling leads in minutes, not hours. According to a study that was conducted by the Harvard Business Review, the odds of calling to contact a lead decrease by over 10 times in the first hour alone. Conversely, the chances of contacting a lead if called within 5 minutes are 100 times higher when compared to calling the lead 30 minutes after it was received.

Yet, according to MyMedLeads, the average medical practice takes, on average, 9 hours to respond to form inquiries. Can you imagine walking past a shoe store, catching a glimpse of the perfect pair sneakers in the window, and heading straight in to try those babies on… only, once inside the store, there isn’t a staff member in sight. Would you wait around 9 hours for a sales rep to return? Or, would you head to the shoe store across the street to buy the exact same pair?

The same concept applies to potential patients of your aesthetic practice. When you respond to an inquiry right away, you are contacting the lead at their highest point of interest. Your practice is still top of mind and they may even still be on your website. The longer an inquiry sits in your inbox or voicemail, the higher the likelihood that they will move onto your competitor’s website and reconsider their options. They might have a specific question they want answered and being the first to do so could mean the difference between gaining a new patient or losing one to your competitor.

Even if the lead still decides to shop around and call other practices, they will have formed an important and memorable bond with your practice as the first to contact them and offer friendly customer service and useful information. Research shows that consumers are more apt to listen more attentively to the first caller, which can ultimately form a subconscious sense of loyalty that will drive the customer back to the vendor who first came to their aid.

Improve Lead Response Time with Automatic Tracking

Poor lead response time can often be magnified in the medical industry, where multitasking receptionists are busy with a host of administrative duties. Unlike many industries, the average aesthetic practice doesn’t have a finely tuned sales force fully dedicated to the growth of their business. This, of course, makes responding to leads quickly difficult. But with lead response time being such a critical, contributing factor to conversion, can you really afford to ignore it?

There’s an old adage – “what gets tracked, gets done.” MyMedLeads helps staff keep response time front and center by starting a virtual stopwatch the moment a lead is received and tracking exactly how long it takes staff to call the lead back. The system automatically generates staff performance reports showing the average lead response time per user, giving your team a clear view of how leads are being handled and helping to provide benchmarks for future improvement.

There is always a direct correlation between speed and conversion rates. Want to start improving your lead-to-patient conversion rates? Contact MyMedLeads at (866) 858-6785 today to schedule a demo!

Stay tuned for the next post in our Sales Funnel Series – First Contact.