We can all agree that finding one small needle in a giant haystack is 99.9% nearly impossible to do. The same is true for leads. What do I mean exactly? Once you have a good lead, rather than immediately responding to it, you place that lead among the other hundreds of possible leads found on your radar screen. Thus, the lead can easily become lost in the ‘prospect haystack.’ This can happen for a number of reasons, including inadequate support, poor lead response strategy, or bad marketing procedures. In fact, studies show that up to 71% of the leads your company generates could even be wasted because of it! Stop missing out on great lead opportunities by applying the following six strategies to your lead management efforts. Keep your leads from ever hitting that haystack of prospects!
With a variety of customer types in your database, using a single lead generation tool would be detrimental to the overall growth and demographics of your company. Why? Because not all leads are created equal. By using a variety of lead generation tools you are better able to catch the eye of your prospects. Tailoring an offer to what each potential lead is looking for, you will also get a better ROI and conversion rate.
In sales there is something called The Golden Window, which basically states that the first five minutes after a customer submits a web form represents a ‘golden window’ for making contact and establishing rapport with that potential customer. Studies show the business that calls a consumer back very first will most likely be the business that consumers choose to go with. Companies calling within this narrow space of time have an enormous advantage over their competitors simply because they are the first to respond. Remember the lead by responding quickly.
Make sure you either already have, or newly install, an effective customer relationship management (CRM) tool where employees are able to manage and analyze customer interactions throughout the business life cycle. This ensures that all employees are up-to-date on relevant information and therefore anyone at the company would be able to effectively answer questions from a prospect.
Selling takes time, lots of it. Most prospects will not buy from you based on your first interaction with each other, though first impressions do matter. You are responsible for continuously nurturing a lead through the sales cycle until they are ready to purchase from you. Do not bombard them with information or marketing, which can be a real turnoff, but rather follow their lead. Take small steps and offer appropriate content, such as sending offers or information that is related to something they have already downloaded or appear to be interested in. By personalizing your nurturing efforts, prospects will feel valued and understood rather than bombarded and marginalized.
Once you have gained, kept track of, and nurtured a lead, it is important to research exactly how they came into your view in the first place. Doing so will give you a better idea of which marketing strategies are really working and which ones are just wasted time and energy. What was it about your company that caught their eye? Was it a customer referral, an ad on a specific webpage, or some other form of advertising? In addition, you will be able to determine things like how many times you need to interact with a customer or what order of contact works best. If you do not discover the source you will not be able to effectively direct your marketing efforts in the right direction to continue to build your stack of leads.
Sales and Marketing are not supposed to be two entirely separate entities, which means communication between the two is a key component to your business’s success. Both teams must be equally invested in order to effectively convert inbound leads. If Marketing has a promotion planned, Sales can support that effort by pumping up that promotion. If Sales has a particular campaign going on, Marketing can amplify it via social media. Or, have the Sales team send prospects relevant blog articles. Get the idea? In order to begin such an alignment, several questions will need to be addressed, such as: Who will handle lead scoring?, How are leads handed off from the Marketing team to the Sales team?, How will your leads be classified and by whom?
It is so frustrating for salespeople to know that a fresh inbound lead is getting lost in the mix due to poor marketing processes, bad messaging, or inadequate support. By using these six steps as a guideline, your leads will assuredly be kept from out of the prospect haystack.
If this feels overwhelming, know that software solutions like Calldrip exist to help assign leads, kick off that call and connect your sales team accurately and automatically. At Calldrip, we're here for you every step of the way - Book a free 30 minute demo today.