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Cheat Sheet: Lead Nurturing 

By Alessandra Ceresa

If you are a business owner, I’m guessing that your ultimate goal is increased revenue? Am I right? Chances are, absolutely. However, we live in a world where competition runs rampant, making it more important than ever to stand out from the crowd. So, how does a business truly differentiate itself, besides their product/service offerings? The customer experience, of course!

Customer service is coming back with a vengeance, and providing top-notch customer experience can make or break the sale. As customers grow savvier, businesses need to keep up, and lead nurturing proves to not only enhance the customer experience, but also drive the prospect to the finish line/ sale.

Lead scoring doesn’t have to be difficult, just consistent and actively managed.  We decided to put together a lead nurturing cheat sheet, making it easier than ever to get your strategy up and running in no time.

1. Aquire the leads you want. First and foremost, you want to make sure that you are acquiring quality leads. Quality leads are those contacts that most closely fit your target market. You want to fill your sales funnel with leads that are most likely to convert, rather than those that are ‘window shopping.’

2. Respond instantly.Once a prospect has expressed interest, whether through a signup form or support ticket, an immediate acknowledgement of this interest is crucial. This touch point can be a phone call, an auto-responder, or a manually crafted email; however you choose to connect with this lead, make sure to ask them for more information and let them know when you will be contacting them next.

4. Listen. Listening to your potential customers shows them that you are taking the time to understand their needs and pain points. This understanding ensures you get the right information, so that you are able to provide them with a solution.

5. Solidify your relationship.Make sure you have permission to keep in contact with them. You certainly do not want to annoy them with persistent emails and calls if they are not interested. Respect their privacy. This is mutually beneficial, as this keeps you from wasting too much time on someone that does not wish to be contacted.

6. Keep in touch. Not all sales are one-and-done. In fact, most sales cycles are a lot longer than one would think. There are a lot of factors that go into making the ultimate decision, which is why you, as a sales person should actively stay in contact with your lead. Stay top of mind with follow up emails and calls.

7. Provide value. Persistence is critical, but empty calls and follow-ups can be seen as plain old annoying. Instead of calling to sell, call or email giving them something they can use, something that addresses the issues and pain points they explained to you during your first interaction. Send resources like interesting articles, whitepapers, eBooks, webinars, etc.

8. Track it. Make sure you are tracking all of your interactions with these leads. If you are using a CRM (which you should be) you can easily make notes and keep track of all phone calls, presentations, messages, emails, etc that you have with that contact. This is a great way to see how your relationship is progressing, as well as organizing and managing the interactions.

9. Go in for the kill. You do not want to come on too strong, but after you have done your due diligence in your nurturing, it is time to ask for the business. This may seem aggressive, but you would be surprised how many people will give you the business if you simply just ask them for it. Try it, you’ll see.

10. Reassess the process. Not all leads are created equal; therefore it is important to adjust your lead nurturing process accordingly. If you see that some touch points aren’t working, change it up. The art of sales a lot like dating, you need to build the trust and everyone has a different way of responding to certain tactics. Get to know your lead and treat them how they would like to be treated.

This all may seem like a lot of work, and don’t get me wrong, it is. However, if you have the right systems in place, you can automate most of these features allowing you to save both time and money. A CRM and marketing automation platform easily enables a business to implement lead nurturing drip campaigns, and other automated functions geared at bringing you closer to attaining your goals.

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By Alessandra Ceresa

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