Are there
more than six ways to prove the ROI for inquiries?
Probably, but these basic six ways to prove the ROI will
start you off.
1.
Salespeople report: The best way.
In this
instance, salespeople report on the disposition of every
inquiry through your CRM system, SFA contact management
program or ASP vendor. If you sell direct you have the
control to make this happen. If you sell indirectly,
you’ll probably use one of the following methods.
2. Compare
invoices to inquiries: The most accurate way.
If you sell
direct and have the names of people who buy from you, you
can compare the name with the person who inquired. If the
sale is made after the inquiry date, you can claim a
connection and take credit. Isn’t that wonderful?
3. Did You
Buy Studies by telephone: A statistically significant way
to take snap shots of buying activity for a single
product.
Take a list
of inquirers that are six months old and call them. Get at
least 100 completed questionnaires from a single product
and a single point in time (typically a month) and you
have a report that is significant. You will know what
percentage buy in six months from you or your competitor.
Any outbound telemarketing company can do this for you.
Ask questions such as:
-
Did you get
the literature you requested?
-
Did a
salesperson from our company contact you?
-
Have you
bought a product?
-
What did
you buy?
-
Who did you
buy from?
-
Are you
still in the market?
4. Did You
Buy Studies by Mail.
Similar to
Did You Buy Studies by phone, this method is attractive
because it can generate the greatest number of responses
at the lowest cost. For every inquiry that comes into the
company, send them a self-mailer six months later. Make
sure the self-mailer can be refolded and it becomes a
return mailer to you. The response you get can be 10-25%
over time. Make sure the name is coded so you can compare
like sources to like sources within a specific timeframe
and you have the most inexpensive study possible.
5. Did You
Buy Studies Using email.
This is an
attractive method, although with the email opening rate
continuing to drop, you may have a difficult time getting
at least 100 responses for a single product and source at
a specific time (month). Try it. It is cheap, fast and
sometimes very efficient. If you get many thousands of
inquiries in a month for a limited product set, you may
have a winner here.
6. Comparing
warranty registrations to inquiries will give you reliable
and statistically significant information.
Compare
warranty registrations with the inquiry database and you
have a statistically significant report if the date of
purchase is after the inquiry date.
