Tag Archive for: Lead Nurturing

Lead Liaison

Why Lead Nurturing is Essential to Sales

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Why Lead Nurturing is Essential to SalesNot all leads are created equal. Some are one-off sales who buy as a result of direct response marketing. Others research available options and select their choice. And there are some that require a little hand-holding in order to get them to buy. Lead nurturing provides a way to cultivate those buyers into sales-ready prospects. It’s important to understand why lead nurturing is essential to sales.

According to marketing studies, only 3% to 5% of all inquiries are sales-ready. That means 95% to 97% are not sales-ready. Moreover, 50% of qualified leads aren’t ready to purchase at the time they are first engaged through marketing content. The duration of a buyer’s decision-making process can take days, weeks, months and sometimes years and many products engender multiple marketing engagements and sales attempts before a commitment to purchase is made. This means your marketing efforts must engage leads multiple times to move a prospective buyer through the buying cycle. Experts estimate B2B buyers need approximately 7 to 9 touches before they’re ready to buy.

This is why lead nurturing is essential to a productive sales department.

Surveys show 80% of leads passed from marketing to sales gets lost, discarded or ignored. If half of that 80% were nurtured to the point of accepting a sales engagement, how many leads could be retained instead of slipping to a competitor? For example, if a marketing campaign generated 100 leads then 40 qualified prospects could be engaged to a point where they are more likely to make a purchase decision in your favor. And with a marketing automation system, it becomes easy to maintain engagement and prioritize leads as they are nurtured.

Lead nurturing doesn’t mean beating prospects over the head with promotions; it requires a thoughtful communication strategy that provides prospects with a non-intrusive way to explore your offer. Email messaging can be effective (if used appropriately). Free white papers or newsletter subscriptions are also productive lead nurturing techniques. If used effectively, the process should persuade prospects to make their own decision through their internal buying processes.

If a qualified lead is lost, a business must often work harder to regain that lead with future marketing activities. If they have already expressed interest in your offer, it makes sense to maintain a connection until they are ready to buy.

Get in touch with us to learn more about how Lead Liaison can re-invigorate your lead management and lead nurturing processes. We welcome the opportunity to further explain why lead nurturing is essential to sales.

Lead Liaison

Converting Leads through Smart Nurturing

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Smart Lead NurturingA lead has marginal value until it can be successfully converted into a sale. Businesses spend a considerable amount of time and money securing quality leads and cannot afford ineffective nurturing. Use some of these guidelines to convert leads using smart lead nurturing. If the information that is sent out is not relevant and informative to a lead’s specific interests  then the content will be of no value to them. That is why the first step is to qualify leads and segment them based on their browsing history.

Rank and Segment Leads

Qualifying and segmenting leads means breaking each one down into categories then ranking them based on buying potential. It is crucial to assess each lead individually then figure out how they fit into predetermined segmented groups. A company cannot use the same methods to target all leads, but they also cannot create a unique campaign for every potential customer. That is why it is necessary to group them based on similar interests. Once leads have been formally segmented, a company can then create informative content tailored to each unique group profile.

Create Compelling Content

Every lead expects to receive valuable content that will teach them something worthwhile or improve their life in some meaningful way. This information can be presented in the form of whitepapers, webinars, eBooks, blog posts, reports, or any other resource that will educate the reader.  It needs to peak their interest within the first few sentences or it simply won’t be read. If the lead nurturing campaign does not grab the lead’s attention, it will be jettisoned and become absolutely ineffective.

Frequency of Nurturing Matters

Another thing to consider is the frequency of lead nurturing efforts. A smart lead nurturing plan should be sent at least once a month, but never more than once each week. A good campaign needs to maintain a powerful presence without being obtrusive or overwhelming. People receive numerous emails and articles from various sources, so they can quickly be viewed as a nuisance if they take over someone’s inbox.

Converting leads into sales requires a well-thought out, strategic plan. Qualify and group each lead first and then develop an approach catered to each target market segment. Content in every smart nurturing campaign should attempt to establish a business as being an expert in their field, so potential customers feel confident turning to the company’s services when the need arises.  The image that is presented in a lead nurturing campaign is exactly what could make or break a sale.

Lead Liaison

Five Steps to Building an Effective Lead Nurturing Program

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Five Steps to Building an Effective Lead Nurturing ProgramThere are five fundamental steps to building an effective and productive lead nurturing campaign. A solid lead nurturing program needs to consist of finding worthy leads by utilizing lead qualifying and scoring methods then segmenting leads based on their personal interests. It also involves developing a compelling content strategy, optimizing landing pages and tracking results. The more thought and planning put into developing a compelling lead nurturing program, the more likely it will secure new customers.

Here are more details on those five factors and how they can help convert more leads into revenue.

1.       Lead scoring

Leading scoring is a process that ranks each potential visitor based on their likelihood of purchasing a company’s product or service. It searches for clues in their online profile that coincide with their typical customer and then it ranks them on importance or relevance. A company can discover significant information on a lead simple by examining their browser history. Also consider using Lead Grading, a feature of Lead Liaison’s platform, to identify how well a prospect matches your ideal buyer profile.

2.       List segmentation

After you have qualified each lead as being valuable, the next step is segmenting them into distinct groups. By using demographics and their personal interests to segment leads into designated categories, efforts can be targeted by group instead of on an individual basis. Use Lead Liaison’s Dynamic Target Lists to “set it and forget it”. Dynamic Target Lists enable marketers to establish list building rules that always run resulting in an always-updated list of targeted contacts.

3.       Developing a content strategy

A content strategy is the key to the success of any lead nurturing program. A company must first determine what type of content you want to send and how frequently you should send it.  Every piece of information sent needs to be relevant information and grab the reader’s attention.  If the content fails to impress then the entire campaign fails.

4.       Landing page optimization

The first page that a lead sees is a crucial element in whether or not they convert into a sale. Start by reviewing the intended customer flow to determine where each segmented lead will most likely end up. Then create a dynamic landing page designed to convert a lead into a sale.

5.       Tracking results

There is no point in creating an effective lead nurturing campaign if a company is not able to track and review the results. Businesses need to know what works and what didn’t so they can plan future campaigns accordingly. An effective lead nurturing program has to evaluate each attempt and how easily it was able to convert leads into sales.

Following these five factors will help your company build an effective lead nurturing program. Your business will have the ability to tap into each potential customer, group them by interests, and then develop content that appeals to them. It will also direct them to a powerful landing page to seal the deal and track the results of each successful conversion.

Lead Liaison

8 Metrics Of Precise Business Lead Qualification And Nurturing

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8 Metrics Of Precise Business Lead Qualification And NurturingBusinesses that directly cater to other businesses often times lack precision in quantification, scoring and proactively nurturing leads.  This lackluster approach, not purposely taken, could cost potential sales to fly away permanently, drastically diminishing your marketing ROI until another path must be devised to pick up the slack.  Today we examine the eight metrics of precise business lead qualification, what’s involved in each process and how each step takes exacting effort to properly grade each lead that comes across your desk.  Our intent is to save businesses time, money and frustration when gathering leads relevant to other businesses they wish to furnish services or products to.

1.       Identify Contact Methodology

In order to accurately mark your lead as plausible for engaging, tracing the source of where the lead found you is an imminent necessity.  Since every business marketing team desires to understand where their marketing dollars are being ostensibly spent, tracking where the lead came from through a simple questionnaire, customer service inquiry or even direct email contact will help keep your marketing efforts tracked.

2.       Review Request Reasoning

This is where the adage of selling ice to an Eskimo comes into play.  Step two in our process is identifying the needs of your inquiring business to match those needs with your service or product offerings.  Should your business misalign with their needs, the lead needs to be File 13’d since it will do little good to keep it in your database, unless you foresee drastic shifts in business offerings in the near future.

3.       Separate Levels Of Seriousness

In business, you have askers, doers and some which remain on the fence when making purchasing decisions.  Your database or spreadsheet needs to clearly mark your leads’ level of seriousness for your sales closers to move in and seal the deal, or at least rescore the lead as probable. Taking this step is vital for marketing professionals who want specific reasoning to target future lead possibilities.

4.       Identify The ‘Why’

Eventually, you’ll meet an impasse where the business which contacted you will either cordially accept your business based off cost, level of return and customer service, or simply turn their cheek.  Taking the time to converse with your lead will render why they felt inclined to invest in your services or why declination was given.  Careful documentation for internal usage will allow your HR, VP and other business officials to make necessary product or service adjustments and get more “yes’s”.

5.       Follow The Lead’s Interactions

This step is vital should your lead capture efforts render leads for service offerings.  Once your lead has converted to a sale, every interaction needs to be recorded and documented to assure top levels of service have been given, carefully detailing the interactivity of customer service, techies, and other business officials who discuss business with the other business representative.  May seem mundane to some, yet this step is for basic quality control and internal training of customer support personnel while also important for future sales potential to this lead.

6.       Exit Survey

Once your product or service has been amply delivered to the business, it’s time to take an exit survey to grade your delivery, knowledge and overall handling of this business lead.  This doesn’t have to be an exhaustive two-hour affair; a few simple yet succinctly written questions could capture loads of information.  For example, asking the business lead to “Describe your overall business experience with us” could capture vital information used to improve services delivered to future leads while also deciphering whether your benefits are meeting or exceeding the costs.

7.       Save and Document

Once you’ve closed the lead from your exit survey, you can save this lead in your database and document the overall experience your company delivered to the business client.  This documentation can be a singular paragraph or two-sentence statement put into a ‘comments’ section of your CRM.  This statement can immediately be recalled when future interaction is made.  You now have one lead in your database that has been properly acquired and needs only to be nurtured.

8.       Follow-Up

Notwithstanding to your normally aggressive sales approach, contacting the representative of the business you did business with after one week of the lead being closed will not only show you’re truly interested in delivering quality goods or services, it proves your sales department has more than altruistic commission figures in their heads when dealing with business leads.  Don’t offer sales coupons, pitches or pander other products similar to the one sold; simply approach as you would an old friend.

Conclusive Thoughts

Each step in our lead qualification and nurturing piece carries the highest vitality since you’re dealing directly with other businesses and corporations.  The way you treat your leads is a reflection of business efficacy, strong standards of practice and ability to handle leads which your marketing teams assist in capturing.  Keep everything outside of status quo when your business collects every lead, and treat every lead like it was your biggest – it just may actually be one day.

Lead Liaison

Five Effective Lead Nurturing Tools

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Five Effective Lead Nurturing ToolsLead nurturing is a strategy of maintaining contact. An effective campaign should build a relationship that turns marketing leads into qualified prospects. In order to change a lead to a prospect, it usually takes multiple communication channels used during different buying phases. There are several digital and customer-facing options that are effective in building relationships. Let’s look at five lead nurturing tools that can transition leads into sales opportunities:

Web Content Articles

Publishing articles that interest your markets is a good way to connect with leads. Companies maintain contact by providing knowledge, ideas, advice or reviews to their audiences. Selecting topics and creating articles that are relevant to both your business and the interests of your markets is critical to success. Links to a landing page or squeeze page connect the reader with your company or product. Content articles can be effective when they’re posted on the company website, but are more effective through distribution via content publishers and directories.

Webinars

Hosting or participating in webinars provides a vivid impression on leads. The practice of using webinars to attract leads has been used in B2B commerce for years. Shared knowledge and engagement through Q & A and post-event information requests provide a connection that builds trust. Webinars are often most effective within a tiered exposure strategy, where touch points are introduced during advanced stages of the decision cycle. Most hosting software vendors provide reports about attendance duration, IP addresses, and other valuable data.

Trade Shows & Conferences

Attendance at trade shows and conferences allows businesses to connect with their markets, partners, vendors and competitors. Lead nurturing can be achieved through presentations or exhibits. Presenters are seen as industry authorities, which boosts company credibility. Q & A sessions and social events provide great opportunities to establish deeper connections with leads.

Trade show exhibition should be used to nurture leads that are almost prepared to buy. The level of personal engagement that trade show exhibition can provide surpasses many other lead nurturing tools. It is a great way to announce new products, perform market testing and engage new markets.

Email

Email marketing can be effective at the start and throughout the lead nurturing process. Email drip campaigns provide continual contact; companies connect through news, offers, references, advice, and other helpful information. Email is effective for lead nurturing because of its message reinforcement capabilities, allowing you to review previous messages while adding new information. One strategy is to set up auto responders that provide solutions to questions or issues that are raised through other channels or previous messages.

Press Releases

Press releases provide occasional opportunities to connect with leads. Announcements that are newsworthy – such as events, releases, achievements and company activities (such as executive appointments) – allow leads to become familiar, and comfortable, with your company. It is important to note that press releases should be used to announce significant news that may be interesting to your audience; saturating readers with insignificant news will likely turn leads cold in a hurry.

Many of today’s lead nurturing tools not only connect companies with their markets, they provide detailed reporting on campaign effectiveness. This allows marketers to be nimble. The trick is to use each tool at the appropriate stage of the sales cycle.

To find out more about how Lead Liaison’s Revenue Generation Software™ can provide your organization with professional-grade, effective lead nurturing contact us.

Lead Liaison

Creating an Effective Lead Nurturing Program

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Creating an Effective Lead Nurturing ProgramIt may not seem that complex to set up a solid lead nurturing program; however, it requires more than just planning email campaigns, importing contact lists, and sending prospects down automated marketing flows.  There are so many important things to consider for your efforts to be effective and well received.

Know your flow!

Businesses need to map out the direct path each potential lead should take to reach their website’s intended landing page.  Companies need to identify the starting and ending points of their flow, so they can guide each lead in the right direction.  Successful lead nurturing comes from knowing where you want each prospect to end up and then making sure that they get there with the least chance of interruptions or distractions.

Know where to collect data!

Every person online is leaving a trail of their personal interests based on the sites they are visiting, the products they are buying and their own unique comments or posts.  It is important that every company has a system that can pinpoint specific areas where data can be collected on the prospect and then analysed to determine whether or not the lead has any real potential.

Know your weaknesses!

Part of creating an effective lead nurturing program is finding potential problem areas where prospects may fall out of the flow.  Anytime a potential customer is within reach of your marketing efforts, it is important to grab their attention and hold on.  By identifying weaknesses in advance, specific plans can be developed to capture every valuable lead.

Know your lead’s expectations!

Today’s business-to-business buyer is highly educated and has easy access to an abundance of information, including articles and blogs posted by competitors.  To effectively nurture a lead, every message a company sends need to be relevant, informative and regularly updated.  Consumers have high expectations and lead nurturing campaigns need to meet or exceed them to stand out.

The better method you have for collecting information on leads, the easier it will be to direct them to content that will obtain and maintain their interest.  By understanding potential leads and their expectations, lead nurturing campaigns will have a higher rate of conversion.  Follow these steps to ensure that no valuable lead is lost along the way.

Lead Liaison

The Real Value in Lead Nurturing

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The Real Value in Lead NurturingInterested in knowing the real value in lead nurturing? Your business needs quality leads in order for it to generate revenue and stay competitive.  There needs to be a constant flow of new potential customers in order to survive.  By using modern marketing automation software, it will give you a greater advantage when it comes to generating leads and making the most out of each new prospect.  The secret to successful lead generation and effective marketing starts with an accurate scoring process.  The scoring process assesses the potential in each online inquiry to determine which leads are qualified and worth it for your sales team to pursue.  The next and most valuable step in the process is turning the qualified leads into actual sales.  This happens by using a process called lead nurturing.

Lead nurturing will score leads based on inherent buying signals and it will assess how well they match your ideal customer profile.  By scoring the lead based on their personal compatibility to your company, you can then determine which leads are worthy of more effort and which are not worth your time at all.  If you are using marketing automation for your lead generation then you can also program the software that you are using to send automatic alerts to your sales reps based on the ones that have the highest potential for conversion.

Lead nurturing through marketing automation will also set up auto-response emails and
marketing campaigns directly to potential customers.  Typically, a lead nurturing program includes a variation of informative letters, emails, articles, voicemails, case studies, success stories, events, white papers and webcasts strategically planned to target specific qualified leads.  The greater variety in the approach, the more likely there will be a positive response.

A key aspect of effective lead nurturing is the ability to provide valuable education and information to prospects at no charge to them, so that you are first establishing yourself as a trusted advisor.  You will then become the perceived expert in your respective field and they will turn to you with their future questions or concerns.  You don’t need to have a strong sales pitch or an outrageous gimmick to grab their attention.  Instead, simply provide insights and solutions on your area of expertise to build your reputation in the potential customer’s eyes.  Then the odds are that you will be the first company they will call on when there is a need for your services.

Your business cannot grow without a stream of quality leads coming in on a regular basis.  Your business needs to continue to secure new customers and now the process of obtaining and converting those leads into sales is more efficient.  Through a solid lead nurturing strategy and a productive sales team, the possibilities are endless!

Lead Liaison

Free Lead Nurturing Software

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Free Lead Nurturing SoftwareThere are a few free lead nurturing software packages out there; however, don’t be fooled. My momma always said, “son, there’s no such thing as free”. Free usually comes with a cost. Whether its license limitations, an underperforming product or poor support/backing – nothing is free. If it doesn’t cost now then it will cost later. In my professional experience I’ve seen companies opt for free or less expensive solutions over slightly more expensive solutions that are higher quality. They implemented alternative solutions just to save a few thousand dollars. These companies got so deep into the implementation that they couldn’t back out. A poor performing, feature-limited and license right-limited product ended up costing them more money in the long run. What people don’t realize is it’s not all about cost. It’s about value, quality, direction and a partnership you (hopefully) get from a vendor. Seek out a partnership, not a vendor-customer relationship. Seek out an investment, not a low cost solution.

Lead nurturing is such a critical part of any B2B operation – don’t sell it short. Bringing a “freemium” or free lead nurturing solution into your organization could introduce serious ramifications. Go with lead nurturing software that’s easy to use, modular, and extensible with no limitations. I’ve seen some solutions in the marketing automation space that limit the number of emails that can be sent or the number of users than can create and/or deliver nurturing. There are also some scary, difficult to use user interfaces to build lead nurturing campaigns but we won’t go there. If you stumbled across this article for free lead nurturing software then you’re probably looking for a lead nurturing solution. If so, here are a few things to look out for:

• Free attracts the wrong crowd that you don’t want to be involved with. Companies/individuals inundating a system, overloading it and/or taking advantage of it for purposes different than what it was intended for. That could have adverse effects on your business and implementation such as performance hits.
• If you need help with your lead nurturing strategy you probably won’t get much attention from a vendor if you’re not paying them. Consider the whole solution necessary to drive results. Usually, the whole solution is product plus people.
• What’s next after the free version? How much do you have to pay? What are the boundaries of the free license?

Fill out the form on the top right if we’ve convinced you to stay away from free. We’re not free, but we’re worth every penny. Don’t look at lead nurturing as an added cost to your business, think about it as an investment in your business. Learn more about Lead Liaison’s lead nurturing software today!

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Similarities between Lead Nurturing and the Holiday Season

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Similarities between Lead Nurturing and the Holiday SeasonWith the holiday season coming up it gets most people thinking about vacations, good food and time with our families. For some of us, it’s hard to clear our mind from work and focus on relaxing during this time of the year. For me, I’ve got personal and professional events melding together in my mind; I couldn’t help but draw similarities between lead nurturing and the holiday season.

Lead nurturing systems help businesses start, as well as grow relationships with prospects and clients. These systems use technology to send personalized messages on behalf of individuals. We’re not talking company to company email blasts (what businesses did 10 years ago); we’re talking about tailored, targeted and personalized messages from sales to prospects/clients. The holiday season caused me to think about how sending holiday cards and gifts are similar to lead nurturing. In my situation, I’m fortunate enough to have a wife who helps me out during these buys times of the year. She’s the main reason why I’ve got strong relationships with my personal and professional network.

Here’s why; she keeps a list of friends, family members and co-workers I need to send gifts and cards to. She types out a message with personalized content. For example, “Grandpa – Thanks for sending our daughter the Scholastic book, she really loves it. I wanted to wish you a happy holiday season!” Then, I sign the letter and drop it in the mail. Almost systematically, she does this for holidays, birthdays and other important events. From my perspective, it’s great – there’s not much I have to do and messages look like they’re coming directly from me.

B2B marketers and sales people have a similar opportunity to nurture prospects and clients using lead nurturing technology. Lead nurturing technology runs in the background monitoring activity, looking for important events – just like my wife looks for holidays and birthdays. When nurturing technology detects an important event, it automatically sends a tailor-made message. With my Grandpa in the example above, we thanked him for the Scholastic book. You could tell your prospects thanks for watching our webinar on XYZ or thanks for learning more about our latest widget. Your sales people will save time and build bonds by responding to important events, as defined by your processes. Finally, nurture messages are personalized. It would look strange if my wife signed all the letters – my family and friends would think I do nothing (boy, if they only knew). Instead, I sign the letters so it appears it came from me. Similarly, lead nurturing messages are sent from the lead owner.

Thanks to my wife’s efforts, I’ve built stronger relationships with family, friends and colleagues. I’ve received more from them in return than I ever could imagine. Think about the impact of building better relations with clients and prospects and what that will do for your business. Sales automation, shorter sales cycle, better operational efficiency and more revenue are just a few benefits. Hopefully you can draw parallels from your own personal situations to lead nurturing to better understand how effective this technology can be in a business environment. Good luck to you (or your significant other) sending letters and gifts this holiday season!

What personal situations remind you of lead nurturing?

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Lead Liaison

How to Get More Customers by Staying in Touch

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Staying in TouchEarlier this week we posted an article on how to get more customers. This post follows up that article adding an additional suggestion on how to get more customers. Once you know who your customers are, focus on inbound marketing and adopt a revenue generation software platform such as Lead Liaison’s, you’ll be in great position to execute on another critical piece – staying in touch. Let’s highlight how to do that.

Staying in Touch Using Lead Nurturing

Some marketers call it drip marketing, others call it lead nurturing. Both are very different. Lead nurturing is aware of a prospects online activity whereas drip marketing is ignorant to a prospects online activity. Regardless of the differences, they both share a common underlying benefit – allowing businesses to stay in touch with their prospects and customers.

Let’s take an example of how important this is from one of our own recent experiences. We’ve been looking for a new IT-related solution for deployment mid-2012. About three months ago I told the sales person we’re about 12 months out from making a decision. I haven’t heard from him since. As a result, both the sales person and their company is losing my mind share. I’ve since looked at other solutions.

If lead follow up is poor, it makes me wonder what kind of service I’ll get if I become a customer. So, why does this happen? It’s simple. Sales people are paid to do what?…sell! If they don’t smell a sale, most often they’ll forget about you as they’ve got “more important things to focus on”. Unfortunately, the sales person and the company is losing out on a great opportunity to stay in touch with me. It doesn’t mean they’ve got to call me every week or email me every day bugging me to make a decision. They could focus on educating me; sharing use cases similar to mine, providing me with getting started material, sending me references and more. If their communication was brief, friendly and helpful I’d welcome their messages and most likely keep them top-of-mind. I’d probably also convince myself I don’t need to look elsewhere and this company has what I need, from great service to a great product. The bottom line is that lead nurturing helps businesses stay in touch with their prospects by “recycling” leads into nurture marketing campaigns until they’re ready to buy.

Furthermore, nurturing allows clients to receive personalized communications. In the example above, I’d probably think the sales guy is doing his best to keep me updated since the communications looks like it’s coming from him…and if I replied to the email he’d get my response. To sum it up, lead nurturing is a simple way to satisfy “The Golden Rule of Networking” – as Ivan Misner puts it.

To better understand how Lead Liaison’s revenue generation software can help you stay in touch with your prospects and customers contact us today.

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