Do fresh leads convert better than aged leads and callbacks, and which should a sales floor call first?

The short answer

There is no rule that holds on every floor. In our experience some telesales floors find their newly eligible customers close best: people who have just qualified for a loan, an upgrade or a renewal. Others find that callbacks from earlier weeks close better than the leads that arrived today. Both can be true, on different floors, with different products.

That is why the useful answer is a test, not a rule. Split your leads by kind, check which ones you are still allowed to call, and try different call orders on your own list.

Why each kind of lead behaves differently

• Fresh leads. Someone who has just asked to be contacted is thinking about the purchase now. But in our view many have not decided yet, and some are shopping around. In our view a fast call matters most here. Does calling a lead within minutes raise conversion?
• Newly eligible customers. In our experience a customer who has just qualified for an offer, often from a company they already deal with, can close at a high rate, because the offer is new and the relationship already exists.
• Callbacks. A callback is often someone who said "call me back", which in our view is already a step towards a yes. In our experience callbacks can close better than fresh leads, as long as the call comes when it was promised.
• Aged leads. In our view an aged lead may have bought elsewhere, lost interest or changed number. In our experience some still sell, especially if they were worked badly the first time, but each one usually takes more calls.
• First-time and repeat customers. In our experience these can close very differently too, in either direction, depending on the product. Keep them apart when you measure.

In our view the mix of these kinds of lead is also one of the main reasons a floor’s conversion swings from month to month. Why sales conversion swings.

Check which leads you may still call

Older leads raise a rules question as well as a sales one. In the United States, the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule defines an "established business relationship" as one based on a purchase, rental, lease or financial transaction within the 540 days before the call, or an inquiry or application within the 90 days before it (16 CFR 310.2). Without the person’s express written agreement, or an established business relationship where the person has not asked not to be called, the rule bars sales calls to numbers on the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry (16 CFR 310.4).

So a lead that was fine to call last month may not be this month. Other federal and state rules, and your own consent records, apply on top. Which leads you may call is for your compliance team; BestPair does not provide legal or compliance advice.

How to test which to call first

1. Label every lead by kind. Fresh, newly eligible, callback, aged, first-time, repeat: whatever kinds your floor has, recorded on the lead before anyone calls it.
2. Measure each kind on its own. Sales per lead and sales per contact for each kind, over several weeks. That tells you which kinds sell, not yet which order is best.
3. Split leads at random. Put half the day’s leads in today’s call order and half in the order you want to try, such as callbacks first or newly eligible first. Same weeks, same agents, same scripts.
4. Score on sales per lead, across all kinds. Calling one kind first can delay the others, so judge the whole list, not just the kind you moved up.
5. Wait for sales to settle, including cancellations, before reading the result. How to prove a lead routing change worked.

Where agent matching fits

Call order decides which leads are worked first. Agent matching decides who works each one, which is a separate question. A score or your own rule can set the order while matching picks the agent inside it. Lead scoring vs agent matching. BestPair decides which agent works each lead from the floor’s own call and sales history. People make every call, and scripts and offers stay yours. Any gain is measured against a control group run in the same weeks.

Sources

• 16 CFR 310.2, Definitions: the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule’s definition of an established business relationship, on the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations.
• 16 CFR 310.4, Abusive telemarketing acts or practices: the rule on calls to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry, and the exceptions for written agreement and an established business relationship.