What is Lead Nurturing?

Answering the question, “what is lead nurturing?”, is difficult for many companies especially those that think they already do lead nurturing. Lead nurturing is vitally important to lead management processes these days because of the fundamental change in the B2B buying process. B2B buyers are reluctant to engage with salespeople until they are deep into the buying cycle. In recognition of this paradigm shift, businesses should conduct a careful assessment of their lead generation processes and “get real” about what they have and what they do not have.

70% of the B2B buying cycle is complete by the time sales people engage. – SiriusDecisions

Let’s first discuss what lead nurturing is not

• Emailing periodic newsletters
• Sending out random product releases
• Sending out random company announcements
• Spending all your time creating fancy html layouts for your email marketing campaigns
• Not understanding your prospects persona
• Not running marketing segmentation on your database
• Blasting out email messages to your entire database
• Calling leads just to touch base with the intent to see if they are ready to buy

Well then, what is lead nurturing really? Lead nurturing is the process of engaging prospects or customers using relevant and timely communications to build a trusted relationship, generate interest, and raise awareness until they are ready to speak with sales. In summary, it’s the process of realigning the timing of sellers and buyers. Let’s itemize activities that help define what is lead nurturing.

Sending content after listening to your buyers

• Sending content based on timing
• Sending content based on product or solution interest
• Sending content based on a previous conversation
• Sending information that is relevant to your buyer’s problem
• Making calls based on touch point data that adds value to the interaction
• Sharing content that’s relevant and valuable even if they never buy from you

Sending content by understanding your buyers

• Sending an email that includes content based on the recipient’s role in the company
• Sending content based on your buyer’s location
• Sending content based on your buyer’s industry

Sending content that matters

• Sending content that is useful to them such as tools, calculators, or programs
• Sending content that helps your buyers expand their knowledge
• Sending content that raises your buyers awareness

By understanding what is lead nurturing and what lead nurturing is not your organization will better understand lead nurturing and you’ll be able to identify whether or not you need this critical sales and marketing technology.

Lead Liaison is pleased to extend a free consultation service to help you assess your company’s lead nurturing capabilities and needs. To speak with Lead Liaison and learn about our lead nurturing technology please contact us.

We welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions. What is lead nurturing to you?

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