How to Stop Prospects Falling Through the Cracks

Prospects rarely get lost in a dramatic way. Nobody decides to ignore them. A call gets missed on a busy afternoon, someone means to ring back, and three weeks later the customer has had the work done by somebody else.

You don't need a big system to stop this. You need one rule and a few short habits.

The one rule

Every open lead has an owner and a next date.

A prospect goes missing in one of two ways: nobody thinks it's theirs, or nothing is prompting anyone to act on it. An owner fixes the first. A date fixes the second. Everything else in this guide exists to keep that rule true.

"Open" means not yet won or lost. A lead you tried once and couldn't reach is open. A customer who said "ring me after Christmas" is open. A quote you sent last week is open.

Try the random ten test

Find out how big your problem is before you fix anything. Pick ten leads at random from the last two months, and try to answer three questions about each from your records alone, with nobody relying on memory:

1. Who owns this lead?
2. What happened last?
3. What happens next, and when? If it's closed, why?

Score one point for each lead where you can answer all three. Say a plumbing firm scores 4 out of 10. That doesn't mean it lost six customers. It means six leads could have gone either way, and nobody would have known.

Run the test again in a month, using a different ten.

Clear the backlog in one sitting

Before you start any new habits, deal with what's already there. Set aside an hour.

1. List every lead that isn't won or lost.
2. For each, do one of three things: mark it won, mark it lost with a reason or give it an owner and a date.
3. Don't try to phone them all during this hour. You're only sorting.
4. For the ones that went quiet because of you, send a short, honest message over the next few days.

A message for leads you let slip: "Hi [first name], it's [your name] from [company]. I'm going back through our enquiries and I don't think we got back to you properly about [service]. Sorry about that. Do you still need a hand?"

It's a slightly awkward message to send. It's also better than silence, and the worst likely answer is "no thanks", which closes the lead.

Where prospects go missing

These are the common cracks, and what closes each one.

The crack	What it looks like	What closes it
Enquiries outside the system	A referral on your mobile, a Facebook message	A rule: log it before the next job
Shared inboxes	Everyone sees it, so nobody acts	One named owner for each part of the week
Missed calls	"I'll ring them back later"	Return it now, or set a date for it now
Tried once, no answer	The lead stays at "tried" for ever	A written follow-up cadence
Quote sent, then silence	The chase feels awkward, so it gets put off	Set the first chase date as you send the quote
"Not now"	Sounds like a no, gets dropped	One follow-up for the date they gave
Handovers	The office assumes the owner rang them	A named new owner, told directly
Holidays and leavers	Leads sit in one person's list	The handover checklist below
Contacted with no next step	A nice chat, then nothing	Agree a date before you hang up

The daily check: five minutes

Do this at a set time, perhaps with your first coffee or at lunch.

• Any new leads with no owner? Assign them.
• Any new leads with no first attempt? Do it now.
• What's overdue? Do it, or move it to a realistic date.
• What's due today? Block out the time.
• Did you speak to anyone yesterday and not set a next date? Set it.

Overdue is the number to watch. A few are normal. A growing list means you're promising more than you can do, so close the ones you won't really chase. A shorter list you trust is worth far more than a long one you don't.

The weekly sweep: 20 minutes

• Look for open leads with no next date. There should be none.
• Look at quotes older than 14 days. Has anyone spoken to the customer?
• Look at leads still at New after 48 hours. What's stopping them?
• Check that each lead source sent something this week. A form that goes quiet may be broken. Quiet weeks happen, but it's worth two minutes to check.
• Close anything that's really finished. Write a reason on each lost lead.
• Ask the team which lead they're least sure about.

That last question often finds the problem the numbers miss.

The handover checklist

Use this when someone goes on holiday, changes role or leaves. These are the moments when a lot of leads go missing at once.

• List everything they own, including anything on their own phone.
• Add one line to each lead saying where things stand, in plain words.
• Give each lead a named new owner.
• Tell the new owner directly. Don't assume they'll spot it.
• Redirect their alerts, and change where any forms or phone numbers point.
• Check after one week that nothing has been left at New.

When something still slips through

It will, now and then. Don't look for someone to blame. Ask which part failed: did the lead not have an owner, did it not have a date or did the reminder go unnoticed? Then change that one thing. If you want to see the bigger picture, why businesses lose leads shows how to count your losses across a whole month.

How LeadCentre helps

You can do all of this with a spreadsheet and some discipline. LeadCentre is built to make the rule easier to keep when you're away from a desk.

• Spotting new leads: the Android app sends a push notification for each new lead, and unread leads have a lime border and dot in the list.
• Owners: in the portal you can assign a lead, and the new assignee gets an alert (bell and email in the portal, push in the app). A User sees leads assigned to them plus unassigned ones.
• Dates: a lead can have several follow-ups, each with a date, time and note, and a push reminder goes to the assigned user when one is due.
• The daily check: the Follow-ups screen has Overdue, Today and Upcoming tabs. The Home screen shows your pipeline by status, with counts.
• Closing: marking a lead Won or Lost offers to cancel its outstanding follow-ups, and Lost can record a reason.

It reminds you and leaves the contacting to you. Automated follow-ups aren't available yet. Enquiries that reach you on your own mobile or in a Facebook message aren't connected to it, so they still need their own rule and a place to be written down. If you're a trade business and want to see how this fits your week, have a look at our page for plumbers and heating firms.