The Wrong Way to Nurture Leads

Lead nurturing is only effective if it is done with a leads best interests in mind. A company cannot persuade a potential lead if they do not understand the prospect’s interests and their specific needs. They also cannot secure leads if they fall through the crack or leak out of the sales funnel.  A lost lead means a lost sale and no business can afford to give away revenue. Companies cannot take the chance of turning off a lead due to poor lead nurturing. That is why it is necessary to examine the wrong way to nurture a lead.

The most obvious wrong way to nurture a lead is to ignore them all together.

If a potential customer crosses your company’s path and there is no automated response generated to entice them, then it is a missed opportunity. A company cannot effectively nurture a lead if they do  nothing to promote their expertise. A stagnant website, no matter how intriguing or creative, is not an effective sales tool by itself without interactive processes like automated responses driving it. Leads need to have a compelling reason to pay attention to what is being offered.

Another common mistake made is not sending relevant content.

If information a company sends out is not interesting or appealing to the reader, then it will be completely ineffective. Content has to educate and inform a lead in a way that will increase credibility. Too often companies end up offending a lead because the information they send is viewed as useless or an insult to their intelligence.

Over-nurturing is also an ineffective approach to nurturing.

Content also needs to be sent in a timely manner without overwhelming a prospect.  If content is sent too often then it can quickly become a nuisance. Sellers could end up smothering buyers instead of inspiring them to make a purchase. As a rule of thumb, content should never be sent more than twice per week unless someone has specifically requested additional information.

Quality leads are a company’s greatest asset if they have the means to use them to generate future revenue. If a lead is ignored, insulted or overwhelmed by a company’s nurturing efforts then it will weaken relationships. By understanding the wrong way to nurture leads, a business can create a strategic plan to avoid mistakes that could possibly turn away a lead for good.