One of the key reasons small business owners look for new marketing strategies is they feel the solution to sagging sales is more leads. However, I have a shocker for you. According to a recent study, more than 80% of all leads generated by small businesses are never followed up with by a sales person. Ouch!  I went hunting for these statistics (Lead Life Cycle Optimization: 2008) a few weeks back because I knew this had to be a problem.

1. My wife and I went house shopping a few months back. We looked at 7 new builds, and 5 existing homes. Out of these homes, and despite the fact we filled out the info cards and requested a follow up a - Only 1 sales person with 1 company bothered picking up the phone or sending an email. Housing crunch in your area? Tip for you builders and realtors: FOLLOW UP!

2. In March of last year, we went car shopping as I begged my at that time, soon to be wife to get rid of her horribly unreliable “boringmobile.” She agreed, and off we went to the car dealerships. 4 test-drives over 4 days, and we bought 2 weeks later. In that time frame, only 1 salesperson bothered following up. To make matters worse, we were looking for a specific color combination and feature package that we were willing to pay extra for.

After letting one of the dealers know we wanted this combo, and leaving our contact info, 5 days later as I was driving by, I saw the exact car we were looking for at the dealership! This is the car we had been looking for, and they promised to follow up when one came in. Not a peep!

I could go on giving plenty of live examples here, but I’m sure you already get the point. But the real question here is not whether or not a problem exists, but rather, why is it happening to begin with? I have a theory on this… After training what seems to be an unlimited number of sales people, I have seen this pattern over and over again.Take your pick:

A. You get too busy and intend to follow up, but forget

B. You value the freshest leads most

C. After the lead gets dated by days or weeks, you assume it’s too old

D. You’re not comfortable with your follow up plan or script

E. Your days are too hectic for a structured follow up regimen

Any of these sound about right? If so, it’s nothing to be ashamed of! Business is an unrelenting task master, and requires constant dilligence to master all the evolving variables.Here’s some good news for you! Automated follow up solutions do exist! Even something as seemingly insignificant as a follow-up email can mean the difference between a wasted lead or not. I recommend an auto-responder series coupled with a lead capture form. Toss in some great customized copywriting and promotional offers (With genuine usable information) and you have yourself a winner!