What’s Your Plan for Lead Nurturing?

We spend money generating leads, but most of us do a poor job when it comes to leading them through the sales funnel since not all leads are ready to buy. I think we would all agree that if we had a process, chances are we would increase the number of leads that turn into new business.

According to Forrester Research, companies that excel in lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% of the cost. This is especially true when it comes to dealing with social media leads. How is your marketing department handing off leads?

What is Lead Nurturing?

Lead nurturing is how your business establishes a relationship with a prospect that is still in the early stages of buying. This type of campaign focuses on creating a beneficial, working relationship so that when it comes time to buy, that lead turns to your business instead of someone else. Lead nurturing is:

  • Providing high-quality content that is relevant to where the potential is in the buying cycle
  • Establishing and building trust between you and the potential customer
  • Finding the most-qualified leads from your generation efforts

Does everyone within your organization understand your different stages in the selling cycle? Most sales funnels were set up for developing traditional leads. A question you must ask yourself is whether social media leads fit into your existing process and if so where? As a rule, social media leads take longer to convert because they are engaging  you earlier in the process.
How are you moving social media leads into your sales funnel?

Nurturing social leads needs to be handled differently. This will include decision-making content designed to answer questions, overcome objections and provide opportunities that arise during the purchasing process.

So take some time to identify and implement a lead follow-up process that includes nurturing. You’ll be glad you did.

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