The quick response advantage: how to convert your leads effectively

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the consumer for a minute.  

They’re looking for a financial adviser and submitted an enquiry through Unbiased to find one.  

They’re expecting to be contacted quickly, not in two days or next week. They want to start working on a solution to their issue now.  

That’s why, when it comes to converting your leads, speed is your most important asset.   

How quickly should I contact my lead? 

Contact your lead as soon as possible. It’s that simple. 

We recommend reaching out to them within the first 30 minutes to an hour after they’ve submitted their enquiry.    

Nowadays, consumers are hard-wired to expect speedy results, on-demand services, and immediate gratification.  

Think about food delivery and streaming services, or even Amazon Prime. You can have instant access to food, movies, and even electronics, tools, books, and clothes.  

Countless research from outlets, such as HubSpot and Forbes, backs this up.  

They show that the majority of consumers expect a response within 10 minutes, and a small percentage will even spend more money than planned when a brand responds quicker than expected.  

How do quick responses impact your AUM? 

From speaking to our biggest and best-performing advisory firms, advisers who contact an accepted enquiry on the same day are likely to get an 80% lead to first appointment rate. For those who wait 24 hours, it reduces to 25%.  

So, obviously, this conversion rate has a direct effect on the amount of assets under management (AUM) you bring into your business.  

Let’s take a look at the scenarios below. Taking the number of leads, the first appointment rate, the conversion rate that generates a number of clients, and then the clients leading you to AUM into account.

Let’s say you accept 100 leads. With an 80% appointment rate, you convert 25% and gain 20 new clients. If we say the average AUM per client is £1 million, this gives you an AUM of £20 million. 

However, using the same number of leads and conversion rate but waiting 24 hours to contact gives you an AUM of just £6.3 million.  

This means those who sent a same-day response achieved a 3.4x higher AUM.  

How often should I follow up with my lead? 

If you can’t reach the lead immediately, it doesn’t mean all hope is lost.  

Unless the lead explicitly says they’re not interested, don’t stop reaching out.   

You need to contact the lead multiple times. At the end of the day, consistency is key.  

We always recommend aiming for at least 10 contact points in the first 10 days.  

On top of that, you should also contact them across several touchpoints, emails, phone calls, and texts. That way, you’re covering all bases.  

Unfortunately, a lot of advisers aren’t currently doing this. We found that 43% of advisers only attempt to contact a lead up to three times. 

Yes, we know you’re busy, but however busy you may be, maintaining a steady contact cadence can make a huge difference in terms of the number of new clients you bring on board.  

If you’re not sure about how to create a good cadence, take a look at our best practice cadence guide below, which shows you what channel to use at what time.  

Or, download our best practice cadence guide here.  

One of our clients at Unbiased champions this technique.  

The Private Office (TPO) reaches out to its leads within the first hour and implements an effective contact cadence within the first five days. So far, it has achieved a first appointment rate of over 70%.   

At Unbiased, we’ve also done our best to make creating a contact cadence as easy as possible. Our new Zapier integration allows you to link this to your account and simplify your outreach.  

How do I nail my sales pitch? 

That first call with your enquiry is make or break.   

So, if you’re wondering what to say, you can look at our suggested ‘first call script' here.  

It might sound simple, but you need to hit your key points. Yes, you’ve been through this process countless times, but for your enquiry, this might be their first interaction with an adviser.  

75% of enquiries through Unbiased are from people who have never received financial advice, so it’s hardly surprising they need an extra bit of time and reassurance.   

Introduce yourself, tell them how you got their information and why you’re contacting them, answer all their questions, gently requalify their information, and lay out the next steps.  

It’s your job to make sure they feel reassured, comfortable, and committed to their first official meeting.  

Achieve industry-leading conversion rates  

At Unbiased, we drive quality leads for your business, giving you time to focus on providing expert financial advice.    

Since we launched over 10 years ago, we’ve helped 10 million people find expert financial advice. Last year alone, referrals from Unbiased brought approximately £15 billion worth of AUM into the industry.  

Unbiased is bringing financial advice to new audiences and offering more business opportunities for the advisers we work with. We’re more committed than ever to helping close the advice gap and connecting advisers to more consumers seeking qualified, tailored financial advice.