Case Study: Inbound Lead Follow-up

Did you know that 71% of leads are never followed up with? And worse yet, the typical lead is touched by a salesperson on average only 1.3 times.  The marketplace is spending massive amounts of money on marketing to generate leads that never even get spoken to.  

This is why ACCEL Schools came to Incept and asked for help. 

ACCEL Schools 

ACCEL Schools is a network of 25+ charter schools focused on tailoring the learning experience to each individual involved in K-12 education. With more than 750 educators and 8500 students, ACCEL Schools attracts community members with its commitment to academic excellence, individualized learning, and community partnerships. 

While ACCEL Schools attracts many leads through word-of-mouth, they also have a fantastic marketing team that drives inbound leads through multiple advertising sources to their website. They are so good at creating interest in their charter school network that they were having a hard time following up with each inbound lead in an efficient and effective way. 

In Steps Incept

ACCEL Schools chose to partner with Incept so that they could more effectively follow-up with inbound leads to increase the likelihood of converting them into enrollments. Incept used a strategic sales enablement approach, following up with each lead in less than 24 hours, and then touching unresponsive leads 7-10 more times using a multi-touch lead follow-up cadence through phone and email channels. The value of having coverage throughout the whole workday without having to pay a full-time employee to be available was another important piece of support for ACCEL Schools within this program.

Throughout 2016, ACCEL Schools produced more than 4100 inquiries, which Incept was able to convert into more than 1800 scheduled appointments with enrollment specialists.  Of those appointments, more than 40% enrolled in the ACCEL school system. 

When ACCEL Schools came to Incept, they were unable to focus on generating new leads because they were too busy following up with leads. It was holding them back from making more strategic marketing decisions because they were unsure how to dedicate more time to effectively following up with their leads. 

Partnering with Incept has allowed ACCEL Schools to not only break down unnecessary barriers to growth, but supercharge their marketing and sales efforts.

8 Motivational Quotes To Inspire Your Sales Team

Motivation is a key to coaching a sales team to success. After plugging away at endless dials, dealing wth angry gatekeepers and constant rejection, it can be hard to stay motivated.

We found that supplying our team with a motivational quote each morning really helps to set the stage for a positive day.  Here are 8 of our favorite motivational sales quotes to inspire your sales team:

What is an Account Growth Specialist?

An Account Growth Specialist (AGS) is an individual responsible for revenue growth contribution through business development and inside sales activities. Top performing AGS's are critical thinkers, creative problem solvers, and driven individuals. 

InceptGrows has a team of 20 Account Growth Specialists that business owners and sales leaders can subscribe to on a fractional basis in order to assist in growing their business.  

We call them Account Growth Specialists because they are dedicated directly to their client's account at whatever fractional allocation they are subscribe to. This means that there is consistency with the same high-caliber sales representative who has developed a deep understanding of a particular client's company, prospective customer base, and buying behaviors. 

We use the word "growth" because just like any sales representative, it is their primary objective to provide growth opportunities to their client and their sales team. They will be responsible for adapting processes and strategies to optimize sales efforts in order to drive revenue into the pipeline for their client to close. 

Our clients treat their AGS like one of their own sales staff. We sit in on weekly sales huddles, share monthly and quarterly goals, and hold each other accountable for pursuing sales opportunities. Many of our clients even choose to provide additional incentives like bonus or commission to their AGS, enhancing the alignment between our organizations and helping develop an even closer strategic relationship. 

Learn more about our Account Growth Specialists

AGS Bios Here

What's a Sales Huddle?

Sales huddles are short and frequent meetings that allow every person involved with the sales team get an understanding of what went well, what needs improvement, and any action items that must be completed by the next sales huddle. Each step of this meeting is very intentional and allows for all individuals involved to voice their excitements, disappointments, and needs moving forward. 

What Went Well

The first portion of the sales meeting is dedicated to the good stuff.  How did we win throughout the last week? Who stepped up and took a risk? Did we meet our leads per hour goal? 

It's meant to give the sales person accolades, boost their confidence, and reinforce all of the great things they are currently doing in order to help them focus on doing more of it. 

What Needs Improvement

This is where the inside sales team gets honest about improvement. It's a chance for the entire team to offer constructive criticism around the sales script, sales cadence, tone of voice, and ultimately, the results of the sales effort. 

We've learned that without being so intentional about this step in our sales huddles, some individuals don't feel as free to ask for improvement from the Account Growth Specialist (AGS) as they should. Instead, we try to make this portion of the huddle as factual and non-emotional as possible. It's also a great time for the AGS to ask for additional coaching and support to make these improvements.

Action Items

This step is self-explanatory. This is a designated time during the meeting to recap any action items necessary, for Account Growth Specialist or management, to continue the things that are working well and to improve on the things that need improvement. 

This style of meeting has worked so well for us that we've expanded it to every department at Incept as well as to our client calibration meetings.

We always recap each meeting with an email summary that includes each of the items listed above. It helps to make each discussion point more concrete and allows for more conversation if someone's interpretation of any of the topics differed from others involved. 

Download our sales huddle summary template here. 

Download Template

What do I need to get started with an inside sales partner?

To create a quality relationship between a client and inside sales partner, the first priority is to set up an introduction meeting and ensure key goals and objectives are mutually aligned.

Transparency is encouraged at this developmental stage to better understand the challenges your company is facing and your ideal timeframe to find solutions to meet your goals. This meeting is critical to scope out a lead generation framework, define your competitive advantage, and profile the customers you service the best. When entering any business partnership, this stage is a must.

The next step is to identify your target market. With a market defined, a sales approach can be scripted based on who is the right decision maker and what’s your ask. From here, your inside sales partner should have the capability to offer services at a variety of complexity levels. Inside sales partners should be willing to cater their expertise to your specific business needs.

Our Incept Grows team is happy to go out and meet your customers, ask questions, and build tailored programs from the ground up.