Lead nurturing, when done correctly, is all about identifying and developing a dialog with qualified prospects. Using the right lead nurturing techniques, your sales company can attract the attention of interested prospects, and then begin the process of turning them into customers. Once an interested prospect is identified, automated processes are used to provide them with valuable content, and direct them to materials that can help develop their interest in your products and services. Proper lead nurturing gets the right prospects into the sales funnel, and moves them quickly through the purchase-end of the funnel. After that, the lead nurturing continues, encouraging the customer to re-enter the sales funnel to purchase additional products and services. If your sales company isn’t converting a high number of prospects, maybe it’s time for better lead nurturing.

Narrowing the Funnel

It seems contradictory, but better lead nurturing involves narrowing your sales funnel. You want only highly qualified prospects moving past marketing and into sales. Marketing is heavily automated and inexpensive. Sales is one-on-one and has a high overhead. By the time a prospect meets with a salesperson, you want to be sure they’re interested in making a purchase. With the right lead nurturing, prospects only move farther into the sales funnel after they become “hot” and ready to buy.

Prevent Deep Bounce

The farther a prospect moves into the funnel, the more money it’s costing you to keep them engaged. That makes it more important to prevent bounce in the later stages of the sales funnel. As the prospect moves farther into the funnel, the lead nurturing must become more directed toward their lifestyle and particular interests. If they’re still getting generic emails and landing pages at this stage, there’s a good chance your lead nurturing isn’t set up to maximize conversions.

Lowering Overhead

As was mentioned earlier, sales is more expensive than marketing. The right lead nurturing system will be set up to weed out non-starters long before they ever interact with a salesperson. Prospects who are on the fence can be kept in the marketing stages of the funnel for as long as possible to build up their interest. Sending them automated emails and links to items of interest is costing your sales company next to nothing. It’s when they move into the bottom of the funnel that the overhead rises dramatically. Before they get there, a well-executed lead nurturing system will make sure that there are highly qualified prospects, interested in making a purchase.

Improving Conversions

It all boils down to making more sales. Some companies take the wrong approach, and try to pack as many prospects into the sales funnel as possible. If your salespeople are going through hundreds of prospects to make a single sale, your lead nurturing is failing badly. Some sales companies are afraid of a high bounce rate. Don’t be. If you’re bouncing prospects who will never buy your products to make room for ones who will, then your lead nurturing is working perfectly. Every dollar spent on a non-starter is a dollar not spent attracting a sure thing.

Long-Term Customers

Lead nurturing should continue long after the sale is finalized. You’ve absolutely identified a prospect who is interested in your products-they’ve already purchased some of them. Why would you stop attracting their interest after you’ve already done all of this work? Lead nurturing should pay special attention to your past customers. They should be receiving personalized attention at regular intervals, offering them added value for their purchase. When they need new products or services, your sales company will be at the top of their list.