Colleen Perone July 30, 2021 
A simple and effective rule of 3 to consider when leading prospects through your sales funnel to the finish line.
What if I could give you a simple blueprint on how to effectively navigate a qualified lead through your sales funnel and across the finish line?
How many hours and resources could you save and invest elsewhere by sticking to the rule of 3 when it comes to sales communications?
One thing I know for certain, our B2B website contact form leads are our most promising leads to close and in most instances, they close in record time. I invite you to stick along for the ride as I reveal how to use the rule of 3 in the sales process.
3 Ways to Be Notified
When you receive a notification about your new B2B website lead, does your team have a plan to ensure this lead doesn’t fall through the cracks?
What am I asking exactly?
Does your team only have one type of notification of this lead or multiple?
One best practice is to have at least 3 ways to be notified your business is receiving a lead. We have 3 team members who receive an automatically generated email notification once a lead fills out our B2B website contact form. We also receive a notification in our sales Slack channel alerting us there is a lead. Lastly, we have a CRM that captures every lead and sends an alert advising it’s time to take action and respond swiftly.
3 Hours to Respond
Speaking of responding swiftly, my personal rule is to respond within one hour of a website contact form notification. However, I realize this may be a target response time that your team may need to work towards.
The rule of 3 applies here as the maximum number of hours for responding to a lead during business hours. This is critical: it is your duty as a member of the sales team to respond to this lead in the quickest and most professional manner possible – within 3 business hours. Pretend your job depends on it because it should.
You should also trust your marketing team as they work relentlessly at crafting the best possible outcomes for you to convert leads. So, remember to respond to this lead immediately if possible, and not only will the lead be impressed but your boss and team members will be as well.
3 Links in Your Initial Email
Your initial email should be short, sweet, and to the point. It must include 3 resources for the lead that help answer and address their specific needs. Two is too few and four is too many, 3 once again is the best practice.
These links to resources must go back to your website as your B2B website will contain all your helpful resources. Make it easy for the lead to click these links. Consider highlighting the links in bold with the exact wording as the content piece on your B2B website.
3 Emails to Engage
Send a maximum of 3 emails to engage with a lead. For example, I send my initial email within 3 hours of the form submission, the second email approximately 24 hours later, and the 3rd email no later than the 3rd day from the date the contact form was filled out.
My initial email includes the specifics of our B2B capabilities, so I don’t need to be redundant with my ask in the next two emails. I also include starting prices for our service offerings in an effort to prequalify leads and set expectations.
The second email is me checking to ensure they received my initial email. Remember, some spam filters can be tougher than others.
The 3rd email is typically me wishing them all the best as a way to let them know this is my last email communication. It’s as simple as you want to move forward with a call our you don’t, so I stick to 3 emails when appealing to leads.
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