Following up on online leads? Why you should call three times in one minute!

You don’t have to, of course, but sometimes it can be useful…

Did you know that you need to follow up on leads quickly? Of course, if you read my articles regularly, you know that the best approach is to call immediately once the request comes in. After all, the customer wants information, and the faster you call, the better! The chance of making contact is much higher after 1 minute than after 10 minutes. See below the chart from Calldrip, based on thousands of calls we monitor monthly. You go from 75% connections to below 40% in just 10 minutes. That means you need to call, email, and message much more often to even get in touch with the customer. Call after 10 minutes, and you’ll have much more work!

Speed is key!

Do Not Disturb!

But what if the customer has their phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’? Intentionally, because they don’t want to take calls except from their contacts? These are settings easily activated on the phone. However, the customer often ‘forgets’ to turn this mode off, even though they do want contact. How should you handle this as a salesperson?

So you call, your phone rings as usual, but the potential customer doesn’t notice it. What should you do? Simply call again immediately afterward. That means: call, no answer, hang up, and call again immediately. On Android devices, you need to do this three times, and on Apple devices only twice. After that, the phone will ring. At least in the standard settings.

Apple and Android settings

You can also set your phone so it never rings, but because most users have the default settings, this tactic works in many cases. This way, you can still reach more people directly, even if it’s only on the second or third call attempt within the same minute.

What does this mean?

It’s so simple! Speed of follow-up ‘sells’ the connection—the actual conversation with the potential customer. At the moment someone submits a request, they are most willing to pick up a call from an unknown number (as long as it’s not anonymous). Our data shows the connection rate drops from 75% to below 40% in just 10 minutes.

Therefore, never call just once—always call two to three times in a row. Not to spam, but simply because it’s a waste to stop at one attempt. Leads are too expensive to wait… and not make a second or third call attempt.