Last Thursday, I spent a solid half hour explaining the intricacies of how we helped one organization execute a lead-nurturing campaign that generated $4.9 million in additional sales pipeline growth in eight months. Look for the replay of this MarketingExperiments webclinic later this week.
I delved into setting up lead-nurturing tracks, documenting the lead-nurturing process, measuring lead-to-opportunity conversion rates and the like. (Want clarity on what lead nurturing is? Watch this two-minute video: http://bit.ly/fvJVL6)
At the webclinic’s conclusion I was asked, “What’s the quickest, cheapest way to implement lead nurturing?”
I get that question all too often. So I thought I’d use this platform to share my barest-bones lead-nurturing strategy. I’ll do my best to resist the urge to elaborate. Volumes could be written about each bullet point. In fact, they have been.
- Set up your nurturing database. Include all of the people you could potentially sell to: people you’ve met at trade shows, who have spoken with your sales team, who have responded to your website, etc.
- Review your database. What do you know about the people in it? What industry are they in? What are their titles? Where did you get their names?
- Decide what information would be most relevant to them. Begin by asking your sales team, “What questions do your customers ask most often? What do they care about? What issues are they facing?” Find content – articles, blogs, whitepapers, and the like – that addresses these issues. Pass this content by your sales team. Ask them whether their customers would value it. As much as you can, repurpose content. For instance, whitepapers can be transformed to articles and articles to blogs.
- Email prospects this relevant content, but whatever you do, don’t pitch. These should be simple emails that are written as if you are speaking to them directly. Be genuinely helpful. Provide your sales team email templates so that they can follow up and engage in their own conversations.
- Follow up with a human touch. Make a personal connection and follow up emails with phone calls to directly gauge prospects’ interest. Never rely on email alone.
Lead nurturing can be executed without expensive marketing automation tools; there are plenty of simple, low-cost platforms to start off with. You can create databases in Excel and run mail merges from Microsoft Outlook.
I hope this quick-and-dirty rundown of lead-nurturing execution is helpful. If you want more details, look for the webclinic posting later this week. Check out my free eBook, too.
Related article: Lead Nurturing is Walking the Buying Path with Your Customers
Finally, let me know if you want me to simplify this explanation even further. After all, Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
