Lead Follow Up: 11 Tips and Best Practices to Convince Customers

As a business owner, you know turning leads into customers is challenging. Communication breaks down, engagement falls flat, competition swoops in—the list of ways you may lose your leads goes on and on. However, following up with leads is a great way to improve your conversions. And technology is the key to doing this successfully. 

Podium, an all-in-one communication solution, has developed the best communication tool to turn leads into customers, helping you get the most out of your lead generation and sales funnel. With omnichannel messaging, you can make customer communication faster and easier than ever, allowing you to convert leads quickly and consistently. 

Speed to lead is critical in today’s fast-paced market, and Podium offers an unparalleled advantage by ensuring businesses engage with leads within a couple of minutes—guaranteed. Don’t let your competition beat you to new leads. Try Podium’s AI Employee today.

What is lead follow up?

Lead follow-up is an outreach method that connects a business with potential leads from referrals or other marketing channels the business is using. Following up on a lead allows a business to establish a relationship with the lead and help them transition into a loyal, paying customer.

The way you follow up often determines whether or not your lead will become a loyal customer. Follow up constitutes the first stage of vital relationship-building, allowing you to determine what kind of customer your lead will eventually become. 

With the right tools you can make your lead feel comfortable, empowered, informed, and valued. You can also set them up for steady success with your business and give them the tools to benefit most from their engagement with you. 

What are the benefits of lead follow up?

There are many reasons why businesses should follow up with leads. Following up with leads allows you to get the most out of your marketing efforts. You’re also able to make outreach more effective and deliver better results in the long and short term. Here are some more benefits of lead follow up.

1. Builds Relationships

Lead follow up helps you build important relationships with your leads, setting the grounds for a fruitful partnership in the future. When you follow up the right way, you make your lead feel known, understood, and cared for. You also accurately communicate your brand and who you are as a business, allowing your leads to understand your vision and get to know you on a personal level.

2. Nurtures Interest

Lead follow up nurtures interest by bringing your brand and communications to the forefront of your prospects’’ minds. You’re able to reignite the interest they had in engaging with you and leave a positive impression on them. 

3. Addresses Concerns

With proper lead follow up, you’re able to address concerns your potential customers may have. This includes picking up on pain points, asking questions to determine where issues may lie, and answering any questions your leads may have. 

4. Maximizes Conversion Opportunities

Think of lead follow up as pulling in your nets while fishing—you cast the bait, and then you reel in the customers. Lead follow up helps maximize conversion opportunities by making sure that no lead slips through the cracks. It ensures every potential customer that interacts with your brand is engaged with, marketed to, and given every chance to convert. 

Podium’s AI Employee guarantees your business engages with leads within a couple of minutes; during peak hours, off hours, and every hour in between.

11 Lead Follow Up Best Practices

Here are 11 lead follow up best practices to try. Successful lead follow up requires empathy, skillful communication, a systematic approach to lead management, and a well-crafted strategy. 

1. Promptness is Key

Unsurprisingly, speed is key when following up with leads—you want to hit while the iron is hot. Research shows that the sooner you respond, the higher the chances of converting a lead. Make a plan with your marketing team and aim to reach out to leads within minutes or hours (at the most) of receiving a lead. You can also use Podium’s AI Assistant to consistently respond to your leads with personalized and conversion-oriented messaging in half the time it’d take you to do so manually.

Hi Dolly, this is Sarah from product. Like our summer selection? I’m here to answer all your questions, let me know if there’s anything I can help with! 

2. Personalization

Perhaps the most important best practice on this list, personalization is the real differentiator that can make or break your follow up game. Tailor your follow up messages to each lead’s specific needs and interests. Use their name and reference any previous interactions or information you have about them. You should also use your name and have your employees use their names as well. 

With Podium, personalizing every communication to leads is easy—with templates, industry analysis, and customer history, AI Assistant writes the right messages for your leads in seconds.

Hey Brian, Lisa from product management here. Thanks for your question about motor installation—here’s a link to our most popular tutorial on the topic. Want to join our webinar on the 27th? 

3. Provide Value

Your leads are here for a good time, not a long time. So give them exactly what they’re looking for. Provide value by examining why they’re interested in you and what they’re looking for and then give them the answers and information they want. Make sure to learn each lead’s pain points, interests, and needs. As always, try to over-deliver by giving them a bit more value than they asked for. For example, you may offer free marketing materials, tutorials, workshops, guides, and more.  

Thanks for reaching out, Katie. I can hear how concerned you are about finding the right fit for your office–here’s a guide to finding the right one, and I’m happy to jump on a video call with you to chat it through. Does now work? 

4. Multichannel Approach

Don’t rely on just one net. Your leads are all different, and your channels should be too. Use various communication channels like text messages, email, phone calls, social media, review platforms, and in-person meetings (when appropriate). Different leads have different communication preferences, and you should cater to as many as you can. 

Thanks for your message, Warner! Yes, we can definitely move this phone call to text. Will message you shortly!

5. Segmentation

Sometimes you have to break up the party to serve your customers well. Segment your leads by demographic and interests, needs, and timing. Each type of lead needs a different approach to get your communications across clearly. 

Hey Shay, want our top selection for college students? We have a special discount just for you! 🤗

6. Set Expectations

Your leads need to know what’s happening. And when you set expectations and overdeliver, they can count on you. You establish trust, credibility, and rapport that pays off. Tell your leads exactly what they can expect in terms of contact, communication, and delivery. 

Use Podium to send automatic and tailored responses to your leads to keep them warm, even when you’re “out of office.” Once you’re available, respond via the mobile app or desktop.

Hi Jason, thanks so much for your message. You’ve reached us outside our business hours (8am-5pm), but we’ll be happy to get back to you first thing tomorrow morning via text. Chat soon! ☺️ 

7. Persist, Don’t Pester

No one wants to feel like they’re being hounded for their business. Avoid being overly “salesy” and focus on helping your customers consistently, looking for ways you can deliver value and subtly direct them rather than manhandling them. 

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8. Use Social Proof

The best type of marketing doesn’t tell your leads how great you are—it shows them. Use social proof via reviews, testimonials, and more to show your leads how many people trust you and use your services. Social proof can go a long way in building confidence with your leads and helping them get to a place where they trust you enough to do business with you. 

Collecting reviews is a huge part of this process. One of the best ways to collect reviews is by generating a link customers can click to review and send it via text. By using this method, you can collect thousands of reviews and display them on your website, Google Business Profile, and other pages. 

Thanks for coming in, Kim. We loved working with you! Please leave us a review at [link] and get 10% off your next consultation. 🥰

9. Provide Limited-time Offers

It’s that simple—you ask for information or an opt-in, and you give them a discount or reward in return. It’s one of the most effective marketing strategies out there. Take the time to get to know your customers and provide limited-time offers they’ll be interested in.

Want 20% off your first purchase? Sign up for our personalized marketing texts to get a free coupon for you and your best friend. ♥️

10. CRM 

Remember—you can’t do it all on your own. You need a little help from tech. Utilize your CRM software to track and manage your leads effectively. The right CRM, like Podium’s small business CRM—or it’s integrations with other CRMs like HubSpot— can help you automate follow-up tasks, set reminders, and maintain an effective record of all your interactions. 

Pro-tip: Use Podium to access Lead Drive which automatically brings all of your leads that enter your email inbox—from various sources and channels—into a consolidated and centralized Inbox. This means your contacts data in your CRM will always be accurate, up to date, and easily accessible.

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11. Webchat

Don’t underestimate the power of an amazing live chat solution to turn your leads into customers in a flash. With a feature such as Webchat, you can quickly collect information about your leads and start a conversation that has the ability to move from desktop to mobile and back again without any breaks in communication.

Thanks for contacting us, Fay! We’ll text you shortly. Chat soon. 📲

Turn Leads Into Customers With Podium

Ready to turn your leads into customers? Over 150,000 local businesses rely on Podium to turn leads into customers every day. Podium offers the best tools for reviews, live chat, payments, and more—it’s also an effective and easy way to improve your response times. 

Podium’s CRM is specifically built to help small businesses succeed, regardless of the size of their marketing team. With the right tools, you can turn your customer calls into revenue and send texts that will tip leads into customers for life. Automation can help you decrease the load on your sales team, empowering your salespeople to improve conversion rates and follow-up strategy without breaking their backs. 

It’s time to improve your customer relationship management and the way you collect contact information. No more cold calling or cold email. Get your marketing campaigns on track, and improve your lead scoring of potential clients for huge returns. Try Podium for free today. 

Podium’s conversational AI is outcome-driven – it doesn’t just respond to inbound leads it guides conversations toward a specific goal, such as a sale or booking. Unlike other AI systems that focus on providing correct responses, Podium aims to drive specific customer actions to grow your business.

Lead Follow Up FAQs

Have questions? Want to know the best way to follow up with leads? We’ve got answers. 

Q: What do you say when following up with a lead?

A: Every lead is different, and the way you approach each lead should be different too. However, in general, you should always introduce yourself and your brand. You should express gratitude for the lead’s interest, address issues or concerns, and then offer resources and ask the lead to commit to a specific action with your business. 

Q: How do you follow up on a new lead?

A: Don’t worry—your follow up with leads only takes a few steps. Whether your lead comes from social media, an email, a phone call, or anywhere else, there are a few things you can do to decisively capture your prospect’s attention and improve your response rates. 

1. Initiate contact: Initial contact is vital. Contact the lead as soon as possible after they express interest in your product, brand, or service. You should initiate contact within minutes of their contacting you.
2. Personalize: Craft a personalized message that addresses your lead by name. Mention the source of the lead (website form submission, referral, event) to establish context and build trust. Transparency is always key. 
3. Express gratitude: Always thank leads for their interest in your brand and for taking the time to contact you. This is an important part of lead nurturing. 
4. Introduce yourself: Briefly introduce yourself as well as your role in the company. If relevant, provide a concise overview of your brand’s mission, values, and what makes you different from other companies offering similar products.
5. Acknowledge needs: Reference specific information or inquiries the lead has made, showing that you’ve paid attention to their needs and concerns. 
6. Offer value: Share the information or resources that they’re looking for, or what you *think* they’re looking for. Don’t be too salesy—be straightforward, helpful, and honest. 
7. Prompt action: This is the CTA—the icing on the cake. Ask them to click a link, subscribe, or do business with you in some fashion. Don’t hesitate here. If you’ve done a good job on steps one through six, this last one should be a cinch. 

Q: What is the best tool to follow up with a lead?

A: Now that you know how to follow up with leads, which tool should you use to optimize your lead follow up process? The best tool to follow up with a lead is Podium–an all-in-one messaging and lead-tracking platform. Podium gives you all the tools you need to personalize your SMS messages, track interactions with leads, and follow up effectively including templates and tips for email marketing, timeframe strategy, workflow, case studies, and more.