According to most sales statistics, 95% of your prospects are merely browsing and as many as 70% of them will eventually buy what you’re selling. Only 5% of those prospects, if that, are ready to buy right now. That means most of your leads are just sitting there lying dormant. Of course, they’re not really dormant, are they? They’re each going through their own stages of the sales process, and that’s why you need to remain prominent in the lives of every lead you have. This is where lead nurturing comes in.
Lead nurturing is nothing more than building relationships and trust with your prospects, but it’s in the way you handle that relationship and trust building that makes the difference. You must remain relevant and consistent if you hope to keep your leads warm. But you must keep a delicate balance so as not to annoy your prospects or chase them away. The following five tips will help you nurture your leads so that you have a higher chance of converting them into buyers.
Tip #1: Keep Prospects Up to Date
If you want to remain relevant in your prospects’ eyes without sounding too pushy, create an “insider’s digest” with relevant tips (nobody wants to receive a “newsletter” anymore) and distribute it once a month or so. Give your prospects information they can use. Give them tips to help them increase their revenue. And give them advice on how to leverage their company above the competition. But most of all, give them the impression that you’re an authority in your field.
Tip #2: Build Authority
Your prospects should see you as someone who knows what they’re talking about. If the prospect isn’t ready to buy at this moment, he should see you as the go-to figure or brand for when he finally is ready to buy. You can establish authority by providing well-researched content that is delivered professionally and at regular intervals.
Tip #3: Maintain Permission to Contact
You must handle your prospect communications with care if you want to nurture your leads properly. Always give your prospects permission to tone down your emails or cut them out completely. However, your goal is to maintain communication, not just give them a chance to opt out of it. You can do this by always giving your prospects information and tools they can use so that they look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Tip #4: A Personal Touch
Even though most people would rather send an email or text than call these days, there are always those prospects who want to speak to a real live person. That means you should give your prospects the name of a person who they can call to answer any of their questions. A sales person or, if you’re a sole proprietor, a personal phone call may be enough to ease that prospect’s fears and that may be all you need in order to nurture that lead into an opportunity.
Tip #5: Never Get Discouraged by Leads
It’s common to get discouraged with certain leads when they don’t convert into sales immediately. But you have to realize that most sales don’t happen right away. Your prospects may only be looking for more information on your products and services. Let them download your white paper or watch a video that you’ve prepared in order to learn more about your company and keep the inactive leads on the backburner. Your leads should be kept warm at all times. Don’t ever let your leads cool or else they could end up looking to a competitor to solve their problems. Instead, treat your leads equally and have faith that eventually more will come around.
Lead nurturing is one of the most important aspects of the sales process. If only 5% or fewer of the leads you generate are ready to buy right now, that means you need to stay on top of the other 95% every chance you get. Remember that relevance is key to engagement, so be sure to leverage tools that provide excellent database segmentation abilities. Your job is to build trust and a solid bond with your prospects and customers and you now have the tools to do it. By engaging in regular contact with your prospects while giving them content they can actually use, you’ll effectively nurture your leads so that many more than 70% eventually convert as they move through your sales pipeline.
