If you’re in sales, you’ve heard the phrase: "The fortune is in the follow-up." But here’s the reality—most sales reps aren’t following up. In fact, research shows that 80% of sales are closed after the fifth contact, yet the overwhelming majority of salespeople give up after just one follow-up.

In real estate, the journey from an initial inquiry to a closed deal is often fast and competitive. Prospective buyers and sellers are making significant decisions, and they expect timely responses from agents and agencies. This is why speed to lead—the practice of quickly responding to inquiries—is crucial in the real estate industry.

Speed to lead is more than just a buzzword. It's a crucial tactic for improving sales performance.  By understanding and optimizing your speed to lead, you can increase your chances of converting leads into customers and ultimately drive revenue growth. In today's competitive business landscape, where every minute counts, being prompt and efficient in responding to leads can make all the difference.

Better lead qualification. Faster sales velocity. Improved relationships. These are just a few of the benefits of lead management.

Recently, CarEdge reported a mind-blowing fact about the automobile industry that has big implications for auto dealer marketing. For complete clarity, I'll quote the entire statement here:

Today's sales teams face unique challenges in a very competitive global marketplace. If you’re in sales, you know how hard it is to communicate your differentiation, especially when  technological advances and shifts in consumer behavior move at the speed of light. For example, 67% of the B2B buyer's journey is digital. Research shows that 35% to 50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first.

This post is brought to you by a guest contributor Susan Gaytan, Director of Dealer Engagement and Training  with Alan Ram's Proactive Training Solutions. Susan brings over twenty years of automotive experience and dealership management expertise.  She is responsible for integrating training solutions and helping dealerships maximize the effectiveness of training.  You can learn more about Alan Ram's Proactive Training Solutions here.

The sales landscape has never changed more rapidly than it is right now, fueled by the adoption of AI, remote and hybrid work, and buyer empowerment.

In the automotive industry, there's a giant ticking clock that OEMs use to rate every  dealership. This clock starts the moment a customer indicates interest or asks for assistance. OEMs are looking for their dealerships to act on that interest as quickly as possible The phrase "time is of the essence" rings true here. 

Sales technology can transform your business. Today, we’ll be looking at one that may be new to you: lead to call automation. Lead to call automation is a unique lead response strategy that automatically converts inbound leads into a phone call, almost instantaneously. This technology can unlock speed-to-lead. Plus, sparking a real conversation at the peak moment of interest can build strong relationships and dramatically improve sales.