An Effective Lead-Nurturing Program in 3 Steps

Author:

Mike Hotz

Source:

B2B marketers are constantly being asked to generate more leads. But is it enough just to collect the leads when prospects complete a form on your website and then pass them over to sales? Probably not, as studies show that sales departments don't follow up on almost 80 percent of marketing leads.
 
The solution? Develop a lead-nurture email series to gather more information about your prospects. You can then analyze the responses to help you identify the "sales-ready" leads.
 
Follow these three steps, and your salespeople will no longer have to guess which leads are the best.
 
Step 1: Define a "Qualified Sales Lead"
 
Work with your sales and corporate management teams to agree on a definition of "qualified sales lead," those leads that are considered valuable and worthwhile to follow up on. Every company will define "qualified sales lead" differently. These are some of the criteria you should consider:

• Does the prospect have a need for your product or service?
• How quickly is the prospect looking to buy?
• What is the size of the opportunity?
• Does the prospect have a budget allocated for the project?
• Does the prospect have authority to make decisions?

 
Step 2: Develop Your Lead-Nurture Program
 
An email lead-nurturing program should build a trusted relationship with viable prospects, regardless of their timing to buy....