How To Increase Lead Velocity, Minimize Lag Time and Improve Close Rate?

Read time: 3 minutes.

Welcome to the 31st edition of The Growth Elements Newsletter. Every Monday, I write an essay on growth metrics & experiments and business case studies.

Today’s piece is going to 5100+ founders, operators and leaders from businesses like Shopify, Google, Sage, Hubspot, Servcorp, Zoho, Apollo & more.

Happy Monday!

Today, with a limited user attention span, every moment counts; and enhancing your outreach approach, increasing lead velocity rate, minimising lag time, and improving close rate is massively important.

To accomplish this, LinkedIn is one of the best platforms to generate New Business (NB), especially for SaaS and B2B companies.

According to the Salesflow benchmark report, over 45% of connection requests get a nod in the first 30 days.

And with over 50% giving you a friendly wave back in the first month.

Let's dive into the LinkedIn Odyssey.

Speeding Up Lead Velocity

The lead velocity rate calculates the real-time growth of qualified leads monthly.

It’s often considered the best predictor of future revenue and can be unaffected by seasonality or team quality.

Here is a simple formula to calculate your Lead Velocity Rate:

Let’s say:

• Qualified leads in Jan: 50

• Qualified leads in Feb: 55

Formula: (55 – 50) ÷ (50 x 100) = 10%

Your LVR is 10% and improving it just by 2% MoM will take you a double-digit improvement within a year.

Here’s your map and how to boost it:

[1]. LinkedIn Outreach as a Catalyst

• LinkedIn, a hub of professionals and decision-makers, is an ideal outreach platform.

• Establishing meaningful connections, sharing valuable content, and initiating conversations can expedite the lead journey.

[2]. Personalization and Relevance

• Forget the cookie-cutter approach.

• Personalize your messages; make them feel special.

• A little effort goes a long way, and that acceptance rate will skyrocket.

[3]. Timely Follow-ups

Timing is everything.

• Utilize the campaign analytics data from Salesflow to understand the response patterns.

• Implement timely follow-ups within the first month.

• Aligning with the period where a significant portion of responses and acceptances occur.

Reducing Lag Time

Lag time, the duration between lead generation and conversion, often presents a challenge.

To shrink this time frame, consider the following strategies:

[1]. Engagement Automation

• Let automation do the hustle.

• Schedule your LinkedIn engagements and keep the conversation active.

• Ultimately keeping the leads warm and interested.

[2]. Content Drip Campaigns

• Keep leads engaged with a series of curated content pieces over time.

• Educate, entertain, and keep your brand on their minds.

[3]. Prompt Qualification

• Identify the signature leads early on using the Lead Score methodology.

• Prioritize high-intent leads for personalized attention.

• Minimize the time spent on leads with lower conversion probabilities.

Improve Close Rates

[1]. Data-Driven Decision-Making

• Leverage the insights from Salesflow to make informed decisions.

• Analyze which campaigns yield higher response rates.

• Optimise campaigns, messaging, and targeting to improve the close rate.

[2]. Multichannel Methods

• LinkedIn outreach should be part of a broader multichannel strategy.

• Integrate it with email campaigns and personalized landing pages.

• Leverage retargeting ad sequences.

[3]. Feedback Loop

• Review and adapt your strategies based on the feedback and response patterns.

Takeaways

• A well-crafted LinkedIn outreach strategy, backed by data-driven insights, can significantly contribute to:

  • Lead velocity

  • Lag time reduction

  • Improved close rates

• Embrace the dynamic nature of LinkedIn and capitalize on early response windows.

• Ensure your sales funnel is a well-oiled, responsive machine, ready to convert leads into customers.

That's it for today's article! I hope you found this essay insightful.

Wishing you a productive week ahead!

I always appreciate you reading.

Thanks,
Chintan Maisuria