Step 3 Leading them to water: Nurturing your prospects with an organized follow-up campaign
This is the third in an eight-step series about lifecycle marketing. Previously, we looked at how to attract traffic to your website and the various tools you can use to generate valuable sales leads.
Now that you have the attention of your potential customers, it’s time to nurture them towards a sale.
It’s all about following up on potential leads. Since everyone is different, there are as many possible ways to follow up a lead as there are customers. There are no limits to your creativity here. That’s why it’s so important to not only generate leads, but to generate quality leads. The more you know about a potential customer, the more you can tailor your follow-up efforts to their situation.
There are a several tried-and-true methods you can use in your follow-up campaigns.
- Traditional e-mail marketing has been around since the dawn of the internet age, and can still be effective. It works even better when you can customize your message to your potential customer’s profile. Remember to respect their preferences however, and make sure you’re only sending mail they’ve agreed to receive. No one wants their inbox full of unsolicited messages. Using a system that makes automation easy, such as Infusionsoft, allows you to create the message once and use it ongoing, hands-free.
- The telephone can be a valuable tool as well. A friendly voice on the other end of the line can often add an invaluable personal touch you don’t get with an e-mail.
- You don’t always have to attempt to sell them something either. Offering premium content to select customers can make them feel valued and special, increasing your chances at an eventual sale. Make use of video, free reports, webinars and other media designed to educate your leads on how your company’s products and services can meet their needs.
- Direct mail may seem old fashioned, but when combined with great content, it can be extremely effective. For an extra touch, include an offer for a free gift or a no-strings attached offer that stirs them to take action.
Whatever media or copy you use to nurture your prospects or customers, if there’s not call to action, there’s no way to measure response or ROI.
Another thing you can do is reverse engineer your sales process. Take a look at your best customers. What methods did you use to attract them? What questions did they ask? Examine every interaction you had with them including email, phone contacts and their website visits. If what you did worked once, there’s a good chance it may work again.
It’s always important to remember that your potential customers are busy people with their own lives and their own concerns. Be respectful of their time and their privacy. Give them the ability to manage the types of follow-up contacts they receive from you and the ability to opt out if they choose. Offering these options can make you seem less like a pushy salesperson and more like a long-term partner they can do business with.
You’ve lead them to the water, but can you make them drink? In the next step of our series on Lifecycle Marketing, we’ll discuss converting leads into customers.