Keep Your Prospects Engaged

In today’s challenging economy, lead nurturing is an essential aspect of any lead generation strategy, yet it’s often overlooked.  Selling, by its very nature, focuses on short-term opportunities, with time spent on those prospects most likely to buy.

So, what about the leads at the beginning of their buying cycles? I’ve seen statistics that indicate early stage leads discarded by sales represent 50% of missed sales. These prospects will very likely buy at some point – either from you or from a competitor – and having a strategy to stay engaged with them can have tremendous paybacks.

Unfortunately, most companies fall short when it comes to providing their sales teams with tools to nurture these opportunities.

Here are a few thoughts on developing your lead nurturing strategy:

- The true value of lead nurturing comes from the disciplined technique of staying in touch while providing them with the “right” information as they move through the evaluation and buying stages.
- Recognize that potential customers have important and complex decisions to make. As they move through the buying cycle, they must:

1) Understand the possible solutions to their problem

2) Identify companies offering those solutions

3) Familiarize themselves with your company

4) Perceive that you are an industry leader and expert

5) Be confident you understand their specific needs and can solve them

6) Trust you enough to want to enter into a business relationship with you

- As you create your lead nurturing touch points, make sure your complete focus is on helping the customer. If they ever sense that you are out for yourself, you lose the relationship.

Keep in mind the following:

· How can we build credibility with our prospects?
· How can we show that our services will help them solve their challenges?
· How can we differentiate ourselves from the competition?
· How can we reduce the risk in their eyes of a poor buying decision?
· How can we keep a two-way dialogue going?

Implementing a lead nurturing program can help you keep the right mix of short-term and long-term leads in your sales funnel, smooth out dips in revenue, and keep your prospects engaged.