Every organization accumulates a graveyard of interest driven leads that were abandoned over a period, prospects who once showed interest through form, conversations, etc. However, manually following up with these hundreds or thousands, of leads takes a lot of time and is usually on hold due to new lead acquisition being prioritized over them. As a result, significant revenue remains untapped within these unstable lead graveyards and sales teams continue to pursue new leads, starting from zero.

However, AI calling agents are changing the entire paradigm by enabling businesses to effectively re-engage dormant leads and unlock new revenue opportunities.

The Hidden Cost of Cold Leads

It costs a lot to acquire a new lead than it does to re-engage with a current lead. Research shows that prospects who have engaged previously with your brand have a greater likelihood of converting compared to cold contacts, they may just need the nudge at the right time. The challenge is scaling, since human reps can realistically make between 50 – 80 calls, while an AI phone agent can engage with thousands of prospects.

It significantly improves productivity and also provides a different business model for re-engaging outbound leads.

What AI Phone Agents Actually Do

Today’s AI sales agents have evolved from old-fashioned, bad quality robocalls to natural conversations with prospects and dynamic conversations in real-time with an automated objection response capability. These agents identify prospects with qualifying questions and based upon the responses will adjust their tone and style. They can contact a lead that has not responded in over six months, positively acknowledge the six-month gap, and introduce, in a friendly, non-robotic manner.

AI sales agents execute 3 main tasks:

1. Contacts potential leads without overwhelming or burning out your staff

2. Accurately qualify a potential lead’s level of interest and sends verified leads to various groups such as, likely to buy now, perhaps later and not interested

3. Schedule callback or demo directly into your calendar and reduces time spent in back-and-forth emails

The Re-engagement Playbook

AI-generated campaigns aimed at re-engaging prospects to start from previous data and set a context for communication to stay relevant to the prospect. They offer multiple campaign options including product launch offer, reduction in price, or checking in with the prospect to see how they are doing etc.

Based on the last interaction, these campaigns can eventually reconnect with prospects who are ready to respond.

While maintaining communication history, insights, and context without the need for further input from the user, AI agents keep the entire context of the lead across the entire contact list. It results in obtaining high-quality leads as there is no rush to call or skip following up after receiving a initial “no” response.

Real Sales Impact

Businesses using AI agents to re-engage with inactive leads usually have good conversion rates, if not better than new leads coming in from other sources. Given the fact that the prospects are familiar with your brand, you have a strong economic argument for re-engaging those leads because of the lower cost, shorter sales cycles, and a higher return on investment for your existing customer list.

In addition to the above numbers, you create a strategic advantage with your business because by regularly working on your inactive leads, you create a direct pipeline that no longer relies solely on the unpredictable flow of new leads. If your business has a slow month for inbound opportunities, then your AI will continue to provide you with opportunities in the backend.

It’s Not Replacing Your Team, It’s Amplifying It

AI calling agents are designed to replace sales reps instead of making them spend time on tedious activities like initial outreach activities and doing qualification of leads. By spending their time on warm, pre-qualified conversations, your team will achieve higher closing deals.

You have all the leads in your CRM system and the opportunity to close leads also exists. The only question that remains is: will you allow an AI phone agent to help convert them?

Want to demo an AI Sales Agent? Check out Olivia, an AI voice agent focused to help you re-engage with cold leads and enable live conversations on autopilot mode.

FAQs

1. What type of inactive leads are most appropriate for re-engagement using AI agents?

The best inactive leads for re-engagement for AI agents is who have expressed interest in purchasing or have taken actions such as filling out an inquiry form, requesting a demo, or stopping a sales conversation.

2. How does an AI phone agent deal with unexpected responses?

AI sales agents have been programmed or trained on thousands of genuine sales conversations, therefore are able to dynamically respond to objections rather than revert to a predetermined structure or script. If a AI agent does find itself engaged in a conversation which exceeds its predefined level of experience or/business rule, it automatically raises a flag to indicate that the lead will need to be followed by a human.

3. Will prospects be annoyed by talking to an AI agent?

Very unlikely, provided the conversation is smooth and relevant. Transparency has become the norm for many industries, and what’s much more frustrating to a prospect is irrelevant, pushy outreach versus the technology itself (AI agent) used to facilitate their outreach to the prospect.

4. When can results be expected with AI sales agents?

Most teams will see booked calls and pipeline movement within one to two weeks of the first successful AI outreach, with an anticipated overall revenue contribution of within 30-60 days.