Most of your visitors come to your website for research and answers to specific queries, and approximately 73% of new B2B leads are not ready to purchase. Lead nurturing is a powerful method of gaining higher return for lower costs. The first contact has been made. Here’s how to make the most of those contacts and convince them to make that important first purchase.
Grab their attention
Entice newcomers to delve further into what you’re offering. Make it clear what your product is and what makes your brand stand out from the crowd. A discount code or offer to make the client feel they’re getting special treatment right from the first contact has proven to be a successful starting point.
Sign them up
Once the initial attention grab has been made, ask all new leads to opt in to receive email and text alerts. Start immediately by sending an acknowledgment email to thank the client for signing up and perhaps offer a little bonus in that first contact. A further discount, free delivery or a video, advertising an important feature of your brand. Entice them to revisit your site and seek out further information right away.
Consider automating thank-you emails to allow your busy team to concentrate on fulfilling other tasks.
Ask for more detail
By asking for more information, you can start to build the client’s profile, allowing you to decide what subjects will be most relevant. Targeted emails will receive the most clickthroughs and garner the best feedback.
Automation allows streamlined contact and encourages efficient segmentation via your CRM, meaning that people get offers directly related to who they are and what they’re looking for, based on the information they’ve given you. Automation can also align your contact and marketing targets to ensure each prospective customer receives messages that are relevant, at the most opportune times.
Request evaluation at every visit to ensure customer satisfaction. A simple “Did you find what you were looking for?” can provide an opening for direct contact to help resolve queries and problems early on, fostering a personal relationship which grows as you gently encourage them towards the sale.
Make your contact effective
Using the information your prospective client has trusted you with, work out how best to fulfill their needs. You want all communication to be appropriate to their individual interests, to resonate with them on a personal level, and to garner trust in, and loyalty to, your brand. Boost the visibility of your brand by engaging in continuous contact. Even if they’re not quite ready to make a purchase right away, you want your brand to be the one they think of when they are finally ready.
Coordinate your emails and web pages with your social media output, so customers and prospects can use any method to find what they’re looking for. Ensure there’s a knowledgeable member of the team around to answer questions whenever they arise through direct contact. Answering quickly with a friendly, conversational welcome email or social media reply is vital in this non-stop international working era.
Using the client’s name, acknowledging special anniversaries and personal invitations to special events combined with enticing emails and content all come together to encourage more opportunities for direct and personal contact.
When you personalize contact, you generate up to 6 x higher revenue over generic, non-personalized information drops.
Make it timely
Making your follow-up contact as soon as possible after requested leads to a far greater likelihood of closing the sale. The longer you leave the follow-up contact, the less likely it is to end in a sale. Immediate follow-up calls have been proven to be far more effective than cold calling.
Even with timely and regular contact, some people need a little more time to make up their minds. On average, 10 separate communications are made before a prospective client becomes a customer. Nurturing your client by addressing concerns, being knowledgeable about all aspects of the brand, answering questions succinctly, and following up on conversations all go a long way to making the transaction successful.
Know when to pass the ball
As with all teams, the ball needs to be passed between players. Knowing how to identify when marketers should pass clients to the sales team for specific need fulfillment and for closing the sale leads to significant and measurable increases in sales opportunities. Lead scoring helps you determine when to hand off to a closer.
Treating your customers right – from the start to the sale and beyond – is the answer to increased sales and a full pipeline.
At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a huge variety of verticals. Learn about Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.
