CINCINNATI -- So, you’ve gotten your leads, followed your sales process, and now you’ve gotten to the end but some of your prospects just haven’t signed on the dotted line yet.  What should you do with them?

Hopefully, you’re already running a lead nurturing campaign, which means you’ve got a method of making sure to stay in touch with prospects after the initial sales process is done.  If you’re not, let me allow our partners at HubSpot explain why you should be:

• 50% of leads are qualified but not yet ready to buy. (Source: Gleanster Research)
• Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at 33% lower cost. (Source: Forrester Research)
• Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. (Source: The Annuitas Group) 
• Companies that excel at lead nurturing have 9% more sales reps making quota. (Source: CSO Insights)

There’s clear, hard evidence that lead nurturing is good for your bottom line.  But how do you get started? What are the keys to lead nurturing success? The number one thing to keep in mind when starting any sort of customer interaction is this: provide value. You must keep that in mind for every e-mail you write, every piece of direct mail you send, every call you make. The value you offer to your clients and prospects is what will endear you to them and help create a long-term relationship.

There are a lot of ways to create value through the content you offer on your website and through your email.  Your knowledge of your market and your customers’ needs affords you a unique vantage point on your industry, and sharing that knowledge could help solve problems.

Personalization is another key piece of the lead nurturing puzzle. Automated marketing software can help you segment your contact list better so as to reach contacts only with information that would be relevant to them. Segmentation and personalization will help you avoid being viewed as a “spammer” or annoyance to the customer.

Keeping detailed notes in your contact database can also be a huge asset to your lead nurturing campaigns. If your CRM and your salespeople are working together to track all touches with the prospect, the customer will have a better experience when they do get back in contact with you because they won’t need to re-hash the things they’ve already spoken to you about.

To help keep on track, ask yourself these questions when you are creating communication pieces for your lead nurturing campaign:

• Which of my prospects’ pain points am I addressing?
• If I’m not addressing any pain points, what would motivate the customer to read this message?
• Have I provided an easy way for the customer to get in touch with someone who knows them within my company?

Need more ideas or help applying these principles to your lead nurturing campaigns? Contact us!