Lead nurturing is all about building touch points and relationships with individuals who are not currently ready to buy but could lead to a conversion further down the pipeline. A lead nurturing strategy means that a prospect will opt for your product or service when it’s time to buy. The goals along the way to this outcome include:
1. Educate the target market segment
2. Develop awareness of your brand and products
3. Grow trust
4. Generate interest
Lead nurturing strategies can significantly grow the number sales appointments your organization generates. As part of the sales funnel, consistent and intentional touchpoints and check-ins will be needed to ensure that the lead remains engaged. This is no mean feat and we'd encourage you to search the CPSA resources for the oodles of content written on that.
But once you've got the mechanics of a lead nurturing engine firing on all cylinders, the benefits to your bottom line can be big!
In this CPSA post we’ll consider reasons why your team would benefit from a lead nurturing system and the sales technology that goes with it.
Response Times
Through integrating triggers and automated processes into your marketing activities, you’ll be able to response in a timely manner. Establishing contact quickly is vital to connecting with your leads and maintaining their interest.
Engagement
Triggered campaigns, automated CRM messages, new valuable content and real interaction are all great ways to maintain interest with leads. The best sales teams are able to repurpose sales assets and proprietary content so they can be used up and down the sales funnel and across multiple communication channels.
Thought Leadership
People do business with businesses they know and trust. Lead nurturing is an opportunity to show that you are an expert in your field.
Automation
Through lead nurturing strategies sales and marketing teams help expedite the sales cycle and filter more qualified leads through the funnel.
Referrals
By adding social media and forwarding options to your online marketing materials, you’re more likely to receive extra interest from referrals and 2nd or 3rd level connections.