Thursday, October 30, 2008

Nurture Your Leads Efficiently

By David B. Ascot

1) Responding on time

Your prompt response to a qualified lead is the perfect way of winning a lead over into a successful sale. Transacting with multi-level companies or well-established corporations requires a longer negotiating period, but a punctual response and follow up will leave outstanding impact on the companies and surpass the competency of other competitors.

Timely response is even more powerful for cheaper and/or less complex products, where "convenience" forms a larger part of the purchase decision.

2) Routine communication to relay significant information

Customary communication with potential buyers and customers is essential. It may be risky but will eventually be helpful. Follow up with customers may be via newsletters, white papers, technical updates, audio interviews or video presentations, invitations to events and other important issues. The main objective is to relay principal data and information as an extra service to customers.

3) Stylistic procedures of conversion.

Your methodology for converting prospects into clients is another key leverage point. The 80/20 principle tells us that certain steps in your conversion process will produce a far greater effect than others.

Lead generation events such as a 2-hour evening workshop can be a great time to focus on the nurturing procedures. New visitors and guests are willing to spend their extra time to listen to a seminar.

Which of your conversion procedures are accountable for most of the successful sales? How would you further advance your conversion rates and accelerate the cycle of your sales?

4) Various ways of contacting customers.

If you are confident that your leads are positive, plan more ways of communicating with them. Exceed the usual newsletters and use your free time by making phone calls, emails, webinars and meetings.

Although newsletter lists and autoresponders provide huge automation benefits, they do have limitations - not the least of which is the sheer volume of emails that are competing for your prospects' inboxes and mental bandwidth.

There is just one word you need to keep in mind: VALUE. Most DM communications that I critique are professional-looking but ultimately self-serving. By focusing on providing value your communications will be enthusiastically received.

5) Approach them with different VAK learning techniques

Various people gain knowledge by utilising their VAK (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic) views.

Most of us are visual - we learn things by visual perception.

Some of us are auditory - we learn best by listening to sounds.

Others are "kinaesthetic" - they learn best by doing.

Modify your ways of communication to customers by using different learning styles appropriate for each of them to strengthen your efficiency of generating leads.

For the visual facilities, take advantage of diagrams, charts, power points, and videos.

Consider audio programs, video streams with audios, and live presentations for auditory types.

Use interactive webinars, surveys and live workshops to appeal to Kinaesthetic types.

In the past, my own lead nurturing activities have been mainly print-based (specifically, wordy newsletters and articles). While these have produced good results, there's no excuse in this day and age not to offer other delivery formats including audio and video, which is what I'm doing now.

The best way to start

Sales and marketing procedures and tactics start from a good "lead nurturing" system. If you are preparing for a more intense way of nurturing leads you may use these helpful ideas:

1) Do you have a functional CRM system that integrates your sales and marketing efforts?

Without this, you can't begin to nurture leads effectively. We use and work with Salesforce.com which offers a range of pay-per-seat solutions to suit all sizes of organisation. Many other industrial-strength CRM systems will do the same thing.

2) Have you instituted "closed loop tracking"?

Can you trace the development of your marketing system from the lead nurturing to point of sale to the lifetime satisfaction of customers? The improvement and advancement of your marketing structures depends on the size of the organisation. Closed-loop tracking of an organisation is an important tool to generate leads and convert them into sales.

3) Are you giving your sales and marketing divisions a clear and understandable designation?

Classifying the qualified leads and focusing more on them would reduce disappointments for your team and prevent additional expenditures not only on finances but also on efforts and time.

4) Have you acknowledged your powers in getting things done?

If you are aware of how you would get things done profitably, you can direct your powers and forces to focus more on the high-yielding activities.

5) Do you keep records of your customers' contact information?

Do you know all your prospects' email addresses and physical addresses? If you don't, start a database-cleaning exercise (e.g. handled by well-trained telemarketers). By making some kind of offer at the same time as cleaning the database, you can turn this into a self-liquidating exercise or even turn a profit.

6) Are you using a standard policy for nurturing leads?

Even if your sales nurturing system is one 6-monthly followup call, that's a starting point. Which one or two things could you do to add the most value to the customer experience?

Here are some suggestions:

* Forward some printed or electronic sheets.

* Share a video stream of presentations from your CEO or other executive.

* Carry out an assessment of the business and give an account of details.

* Organise an event or seminar.

7) Does your sales team apply the standard lead nurturing system?

Conformity with the standard recognised follow up system is as essential as the system itself; but efficiency of the system itself is the easiest way for the team to stick to it and to put it into operation.

About the Author:

No comments: