The American philosopher Deepak Chopra once said: ‘It takes a little bit of mindfulness and a little bit of attention to others to be a good listener, which helps cultivate emotional nurturing and engagement…’ Without wishing to go too deep, I think it’s a great quote which demonstrates relationship creation very well.
I know many of you will be wondering what all of this has to do with lead generation. Well, as generating leads is a key part of sales, building relationships is part and parcel of it. In our business we meet many clients who would like to find a shortcut which will bypass all of the relationship stuff and get them straight to a sale. I am sorry to say that in all the years I have been selling, I am yet to find this type of shortcut. I am afraid that if you want to develop new business, you need to put in the time for creating a relationship first. This is particularly true when it comes to B2B high value sales.
So now that we have all agreed that relationship creation is essential to a successful sale, let’s spend some time talking about lead nurturing;
- What is it then? It’s an overall term covering the numerous times you will need to follow up in order to turn a suspect into a prospect and then a client
- Why is it important? I have written before about buying styles and how they affect decision making. It transpires that only 15% of the population can make decisions fast, which means that you have to follow up a lot before you get an answer. If you are doing it right, you will be nurturing the relationship in the process, thus making a sale more likely.
- Where does it fit in your sales process? A business colleague of mine once told me that in his opinion, in between an enquiry coming in and a sale being made, a whole desert exists… I could not agree more, so, lead nurturing fits all the way through from when the lead is generated, to when a sale is made.
- Who should be charged with nurturing leads? Normally this is done by your sales function, be it you or your team. In my opinion, long term lead nurturing is better off being assigned to a skilled telemarketing team either in-house or outsourced. This will free up sales to deal with hot opportunities whilst ensuring that leads are not forgotten.
I hope you found this helpful. If you are one of those people who understand better through pictures, check out this infographic. You can also check out our lead nurturing service here. Do get in touch if you wish to discuss this further.