Lead nurturing has become the hot topic in sales CRM.
The problem is most sales processes equate this term with drip email marketing.
Let me tell you the secret distinction between these two concepts: lead nurturing produces sales leads, email drip campaigns yields irritated people.
I am going to quickly walk you through how lead nurturing can help you close more sales leads.
Start with a Lead The moment you get a new sales opportunity or lead you need to think about lead nurturing.
Sadly, the term lead nurturing caught on.
The flaw in the term is the word lead.
Leads make us think of things--cold, unimportant, things.
Leads are actually people and people respond best to good conversations, not email or marketing blasts.
So, think of lead nurturing as a process of getting to know the customer and building trust.
Start this process from the moment you get a customer inquiry.
Respect them and attempt to contact them immediately.
Evaluate the Opportunity As you work through your sales pipeline evaluate each opportunity.
This should include some lead tracking that sorts your leads into ranges of probability to close.
This tracking does not have to be sophisticated, but it must quickly help prioritize your sales activities.
Tracking opportunity level also allows you to quickly move declining opportunities into lead nurturing channels--taking you and the customer out of the sales blender.
Status Every Lead Regardless of whether you make contact with the sales lead or not--status the lead on every touch.
This can be in the form of a status, note, or tag.
If done correctly you will be building a very organized sales pipeline.
This active sales queue will be filled with actionable markers.
The nice thing about tracking leads in this way is that they become neatly categorized by propensity, probability, and/or time to close.
Theses tracking categories can be readily used for lead nurturing--triggering phone calls, mailings, product updates, even emails.
The difference is there will be logical context to each nurturing touch.
Build a Relationship Lead nurturing is about building a relationship, not dripping into someone's email inbox.
Structure your campaign as such.
A good mix of email, mail, and phone calls with help build more natural communication.
Also attempt to build you process such that is triggers from logical events and behaviors.
For example, if the borrower emails a question or calls in for service maybe that triggers a mailing from their sales rep.
Or, perhaps the customer has not been talked to in months and you just release a new product--time for a call or email.