Sales leads don’t become trustworthy customers overnight. Recent studies indicate 48% business of leads to remain in the lead-nurturing phase of the sales funnel longer than expected. It is crucial to know the correct and incorrect ways to practice lead nurturing for every company which wants to become profitable and reputable. Sometimes there needs to be a helping hand to deal with this matter. If a business wants to hire a b2b lead agency, there is Belkins to answer the call. We are ready to suggest the best solutions on the market and organically implement them in your business.
Nurturing leads is not an easy job. You’ll need to do a lot of trial and error to find out what works out well and what leads to failure. Let’s discuss the problems many sales teams face in the lead nurturing process.
Common Challenges of a Lead Nurturing Strategy
Outbound sales strategies are unimaginable without lead nurturing. As a matter of fact, this is the most difficult part to cope with. It happens like that not only because a business lead often has a slow pace in the sales funnel. You need to do a lot more planning, follow-up tactics, and trust your instincts. These are the top challenges sales teams will face when implementing a lead nurturing strategy.
Defining the Best Time to Follow up
Many sales representatives have difficulty identifying the best time to follow up with leads in their sales pipeline. You could lose a great opportunity if you delay in following up with a prospect. You risk losing the prospect and decrease the revenue for your company if you don’t reach out enough. This might happen cause b2b leads are often strongly bound to key decision-makers.
Lead nurturing can have many gray areas. There is no one right time, but there are several ways to determine the best time.
- Ask key decision-maker KDMs about their buying cycles. Asking questions and being open about your needs is the best way to get the information you are looking for. If the KDM doesn’t think it’s the right time, they can ask when they usually reevaluate contracts and analyze their budget.
- Get a good idea of the average buyer’s buying cycle. This will help you to contact prospects at the right time. If your average customer’s buying cycle takes three months to convert a lead into a sale, it is a good idea to check in every three months. This increases their chances of being ready leads for sales.
Selecting the Right Follow-Up Tactic
Some follow-up strategies are more effective depending on the industry or buyer persona. However, many sales teams have difficulty following up with leads using the right platform. Some companies prefer to stick to b2b email lead generation tactics. Thus, they prefer doing follow-ups by email.
Calling a prospect can help you get more sales appointments. If you have been in contact with the lead mostly via email, then sending them a personalized email can be a great way to set up a sales appointment. When deciding the best follow-up method, you should always consider your target audience, their stage of the sales funnel, as well as their habits.
Some managers do mistakes in sales appointments. We believe everyone would like to learn b2b appointment setting tips, just to be on the safe side.
- Consider the time zone of your client. They won’t be happy to get a business call at 3 a.m. It’s always better to find out the convenient time of the call beforehand.
- Follow the rules of business etiquette. Always introduce yourself formally first, ask your interlocutor whether he or she has time to talk over your proposal.
- Arrange all the b2b appointment setting services into a well-framed system. Know who you call, when and for what reason
Let’s also mention that some companies tend to opt for the b2b appointment setting pay per appointment model if they would like to outsource their lead generation. However, there are certain drawbacks here. The quality of incoming leads might decrease since agents worry about the number of appointments rather than their relevance. Another problem to face is underwhelming success rates. If you want to learn even more about b2b appointment setting tips, feel free to visit our website or contact our representatives.
Finally, it’s also important to communicate with leads how often you will follow up. It is important to understand the buyer’s stage and timeline so that you don’t lose them or miss out on a great business opportunity.
Lead Nurturing Content – What is it Like?
The challenge of lead nurturing involves choosing the right content to present to leads. Effective marketing collateral, also known as sales enablement material, requires knowing your target audience and understanding their interests.
Infographics and case studies are the best marketing collateral to use for lead nurturing (or consideration). Infographics are a great sales enablement material to explain complex products, services, or concepts. To better understand the needs of potential buyers, you should gather market research data before creating infographics. Infographics can effectively explain “What is”, “How to,” or “Benefits” topics.
You could make an infographic like “What does cloud migration entail?” if you work in a jargon-heavy field such as MSP. You could create other kinds of infographics such as “How to Ensure Your Network is Secure” or “Benefits Of Having an Ongoing MSP.” These data will provide a visual, detailed insight into the industry as well as answers to potential buyers’ questions. It is important to fully understand your target market’s questions, comments, and concerns so that you can provide valuable information.
Case Studies can be used as sales tools during the lead nurturing stage. They encourage prospects to imagine themselves in your shoes. To add visual elements to success stories, many businesses create promotional videos.
It is important to highlight customers with similar problems to your prospects when creating case studies. Let’s say, for example, that you want to hire more loan officers at your mortgage company. Market research shows that many loan officer prospects feel their companies don’t support them. You could create a case study to show how you helped a loan officer who was not getting the support that they required. They’ve received all the support and growth they needed after they transferred to your mortgage company.
Measuring Lead Nurturing Success
It is crucial to measure the success of your lead nurturing strategy. Many sales teams have difficulty figuring out what metrics they should be using. Consider the following metrics when you’re analyzing your lead nurturing strategy:
- Lead nurturing prospects account for a large number of sales appointments
- The number of dials that were made until a prospect is referred to us for lead nurturing.
- Prospects pitched in the lead nurturing phase.
- Number of leads that are converted into sales appointments
- The number of sales appointments that result in customers
- The ratio of pitches to appointments
- Sales appointment no show rates
Integrating a customer relationship management platform in your outbound sales efforts is a great way to track and analyze these metrics. This can make it difficult for sales teams to reach out to leads and collect the data manually. Various CRM software can automatically gather this data and present it to you and your team in visual charts that are easy to understand.
It is crucial to track metrics in order to understand the success of your lead nurturing strategy. The goal of a plan for lead nurturing is to establish and maintain a relationship. Unfortunately, not all leads in the sales pipeline will sign a contract. Understanding the metrics of your lead nurturing strategy will allow you to determine if it is adequate. You can adjust your strategy if necessary.
Possible Mistakes with Lead Nurturing
It is common that even experienced teams make mistakes in lead nurturing plans. This problem can be fixed easily to improve your strategy. These are the most common mistakes sales reps make in lead nurturing.
Not Regularly Following Up
Fear of rejection is a major reason why many salespeople fear following up with leads. Although lead nurturing can seem intimidating, it is essential to establish relationships with qualified leads and secure a sales appointment. Your sales team will not be able to build a sustainable pipeline without proper follow-ups techniques.
Generic Lead Nurturing Overcomes Targeted Nurturing
There are no two leads in the pipeline that are exactly the same. Every prospective business is different and has its own challenges. Each relationship with a prospective company must be unique. Marketing materials to an ongoing maintenance lead for a roofing company would be different than those sent to a lead for a new roof installation.
Generic lead nurturing campaigns are ineffective as they don’t meet the specific needs of each prospect. It can be inauthentic and may even prove to be successful.
Research shows that targeted lead nurturing materials have six times higher transactional rates than generic lead nurturing. Targeted content helps prospects feel heard and understood by your company. Targeted content builds trust and confidence until prospects are ready to purchase.
It is a great way to target lead nurturing by creating specific email lists within your CRM platform. Email lists allow you to easily create and distribute content that is relevant to your prospects’ product or service interests, stage of the buyer’s life cycle, location, etc.
Here is an example of commercial roofing. A mailing list of leads interested in roof maintenance can be provided with marketing materials and case studies. Leads interested in new roof installation can also receive marketing materials on the best roofing systems as well as the savings benefits.
Sales Support Materials Looking Sad
Are your sales support materials looking like they have been created on the first computer? We hope they are not. It’s not enough to have marketing collateral. It is important to have high-quality marketing collateral in order to create a lead nurturing flow. This shows that you care about the way it is presented to the public. It must also be relevant and meet the needs of your target audience.
Behavioral Targeting is Neglected
Behavioral targeting is a trendy branch of marketing science that analyzes human behavior and habits in terms of their purchasing demands. This will help to create ads and lead-nurturing content that will most likely resonate with potential customers. A member of a sales team or marketing team receives a notification from CRM when a lead in their sales pipeline interacts with the content. This could be opening an email or watching a video, navigating to a landing page, reading blog posts, or simply opening an email. It becomes a clear signal to act and set the first appointment.
Only 20% of sales and marketing departments use behavioral targeting to their advantage, according to research. You’re missing hot sales opportunities if you don’t use behavioral targeting. Even if they aren’t ready to buy, your SDRs can still reach out to them, build that relationship and answer any questions.
Email Marketing Strategies Are not in Your Arsenal
You’re missing an important component to your outbound appointment-setting program if you only nurture leads via cold calling. Email marketing can be integrated into your lead nurturing flow to increase awareness and encourage recipients to visit your website, social media profiles, and marketing collateral. This gives prospects another way to reach you in case they have questions or to schedule a meeting.
B2b email lead generation can become even more effective if it’s supported by reliable computer programs. To make sure your outreach messages will hit the right spot, we advise using software for tracking and analyzing email deliverability rates, like Folderly. It also has a built-in spam checker to fight unwanted competitors who try to hit your personal mail.
Slow Response Time
SDRs who are slow to reply to leads leaving voicemails or emails can risk losing connections with prospects and potentially missing business opportunities. According to research, leads are 21 percent more likely to convert into customers if they reply within five minutes. We know that this is not always possible.
Many leads that are in the pipeline for sales remain in the lead nurturing stage for a long time. It doesn’t matter if you don’t get back to a lead within five minutes, it is important to follow up with them as soon you receive the email or hear their voicemail. You have a better chance of converting a prospect from a lead to a customer if you respond quickly.
You’re Not Scoring Leads
Lead scoring – this is how sales and marketing teams rank leads within the sales pipeline, from higher to lower close opportunities. Additionally, the greater the ROI for your company, the higher the score on the lead.
An SDR can score leads, or your CRM platform can do it automatically. CRMs can score leads based on how often they interact with content. This includes behaviors such as opening emails, directing people to websites, engaging in social media, and many more.
Lead scoring is crucial for lead nurturing. It allows SDRs to prioritize leads who are engaging with content so that they reach the lead when it’s most convenient.
Not Researching Leads before Contacting
Lead nurturing is all about researching leads before you contact them. This allows your SDRs and SDRs to make a more specific pitch. Even if you found a KDM in the prospecting phase, there is a possibility that the KDM has changed since your last contact. SDRs can use company research to find the right person to talk to about their business’s product and/or service.
Your SDRs can also research leads before they connect with you. This helps them pitch products and services that meet their needs. Let’s say you are a marketing company looking for more business from non-profit organizations. Your SDRs can provide insight into how they have helped other nonprofits improve their digital marketing strategies. This will show the lead that your industry knowledge and experience can be useful.
What Does a Good Lead Nurturing Plan Look Like?
A lead nurturing campaign can be done by any company, but is it likely to succeed? If you can demonstrate that your lead nurturing plan is working, it’s a sign that you are a successful leader.
A Clear Goal Is Established
A clear goal is essential for any marketing strategy, business, or sales strategy. A clear goal for your lead nurture flow will allow you to measure and track results better. What do you want to accomplish with your lead nurturing campaign? This will allow you to evaluate the success of your lead nurturing campaign and adjust the strategy as necessary.
Target Audience Identified
Whatever your ultimate goal, every business strategy must start with identifying the target audience. Your sales team and you can personalize every conversation with each prospect by identifying their target audience and drilling down to the people you want to sell to. Your sales reps can tailor every conversation to their needs and present products and services that are most relevant to them.
Content is Personalized
Personalizing marketing collateral and pitches are crucial in attracting potential buyers’ attention, as we have already mentioned. Personalizing content marketing materials and pitches show prospects that you care about their concerns and that you offer products and services to alleviate them.
There are Many Channels for Communication
Is it enough to only make warm calls and send follow-up emails for lead nurturing purposes? You may be missing an important step in your lead nurturing strategy. Good lead nurturing plans encourage sales reps to use multiple communication channels to reach leads in their sales pipeline and to build relationships over time. Phone calls, emails, social media, podcasts, appointments – use them all!
Align Your Marketing and Sales Strategies
Your sales strategy must always be in harmony with the marketing department’s goals. Your marketing and sales teams should align their strategies to increase leads and provide prospects with relevant content. You can target prospects across multiple platforms by integrating both the strategies of the teams and increasing top-of-mind awareness.
Final Thoughts
In business, there is no place for hesitation. Your competitors won’t be watching the grass grow. Lead – nurturing is like taking care of a toddler. Yes, he might be spoilt and naughty but you still love him and hope that one day he will become the President! Be sure that your leads are well-bred and are growing in a healthy and auspicious atmosphere.
