Converting Inbound Leads: What to Consider

As a start-up, you’re likely not using advanced setups like lead scoring, lead routing, or nurture flows just yet—and that’s okay! There’s a time and place for those, and given your to-do list, there are likely higher-priority items demanding your attention.

That said, inbound remains a crucial channel for pipeline creation, so it’s important to handle every quality lead with care. Here are four strategies to help you optimize your MQL-to-Opportunity ratio:

Classifying Inbound Leads

Start by categorizing your inbound leads into two simple groups: High Intent and Low Intent.

• High Intent Leads: These are the hand-raisers—leads actively requesting more information about your services or pricing, or those wanting a demo. These should be converted into conversations as quickly as possible.

• Low Intent Leads: These include those engaging with your content but not ready to talk yet, such as white paper or guide downloads, webinar attendees, and newsletter signups. While it’s great they’re showing interest, they’re not ready to buy. Instead of selling, focus on nurturing and educating them until they’re ready.

When dealing with high-intent leads, your goal is to maximize the chances of converting these valuable opportunities into productive conversations. Here’s what to prioritize:

Lead Response Time

A demo request from an Ideal Client Profile (ICP) just came in—great! So let's follow up later this week, right? Wrong! Your chances of converting that lead drop significantly just 30 minutes after the request is submitted.

For high-intent leads, aim for a response time of less than 30 minutes.

Multi-Channel Follow-Up

If your follow-up involves only a few templated emails and isn’t yielding results, it’s time to level up. While converting inbound leads is easier than outbound, it still requires effort. Your follow-up sequence should AT LEAST include:

Day 1:

1. Call: Respond within 30 minutes of the request being submitted.

2. No Answer? Send an email tailored to their persona and last conversion event. Include a meeting link and bonus points for adding a personalized video.

3. LinkedIn: Connect with the lead on LinkedIn (no message needed).

4. End of Day: Call again.

Day 2:

1. If connected, send a voice note using your email’s video talk track.

2. If not, call again.

3. Follow up with another email.
   
   

Qualification

Converting inbound leads into meetings is great, but as your meeting conversion rate increases, you might notice a drop in the Meeting-to-Opportunity rate. Proper qualification ensures your team focuses on leads with the highest fit and probability of closing.

To improve qualification:

• Define a Quality Meeting: Clearly outline what constitutes a good-quality meeting.

• Equip Your Team: Provide playbooks and frameworks to help them qualify leads effectively.

Multi-Threading

Most companies focus solely on the individual who submits a request. But how often does a sales cycle involve just one person? Buying processes are often complex, especially as you move upmarket, where multiple stakeholders are involved.

Relationship-building should start early. While converting the lead into a meeting, begin multi-threading by connecting with other key stakeholders via LinkedIn. If the original requester doesn’t respond, shift your focus to these stakeholders with an outbound approach to uncover whether there’s an active project in place.

Want to learn more about how to effectively build and scale SDR teams? Follow me on LinkedIn or reach out to see if I can take you and your team to the next level!