Lead Nurturing – Converting Leads into Purchasing Customers

I came across an interesting fact about lead nurturing during a recent webinar hosted by Bulldog Solutions entitled “How Smart Marketers Are Planning Lead Generation for 2008“. (Download the PowerPoint Presentation here)

 

The webinar focused on converting leads to purchasing customers through a number of strategically targeted communications.

 ”80% of your best leads will only purchase from you next quarter“ 

A mistake many acquisition marketers (especially those facing pressure from above to make targets this quarter) have been guilty of, is expecting to the customer to accept your marriage proposal before you have had a first date. Myself included.

 

Marketing Guru Seth Godin championed the concept of turning strangers – aka leads – into customers, and customers into friends in his book Permission Marketing. You wouldn’t expect a potential mate to say yes to a long term marriage commitment on or after the first date – why would you expect anything different from your prospects or leads?

 

 Tying in with Godin’s metaphor of courting the customer, the webinar discussed three activities smart marketers should incorporate into their online efforts in order to convert leads to customers: 

• Building a community: Leveraging thought leadership
• Building conversations: Social media for BtoB
• Building trust and value: Lead lifecycle management

 

Imperative to point number three is the act of building trust between yourself and your leads before asking them to purchase. But how exactly do I do this, I hear you ask?

 

The key is to offer your leads something of value and ask virtually nothing in return. This can be done by offering a white paper, guide, or free ebook on topic of choice. These are cheap and relatively easy to produce, and can provide fantastic information and industry that  is exactly what your leads are looking for.

 

Follow up with another offer of value – this will make your lead like you even more. Offer an opportunity to attend a free webinar, or send a power point presentation containing Ten Insider Industry Tips. Again, this costs you virtually nothing and helps entrench your position as trusted friend and advisor in your leads mind.

 

 Go ahead with as many valued filled offers as you can come up with – each serves to build and strengthen the relationship with your prospect. Hopefully, if you have been effective, your leads will look forward to your emails and being contacted by you.  

Finally, construct an offer tailor-made to your prospect that will add value to your leads business or day to day activities. If you have managed to successfully build a trusting relationship with your prospect, and provided an offer of relevant value, you will be well on your way to converting your lead into a customer.  

While it might take a bit longer to date your customer, the results speak for themselves, so resist the urge to jump in with the hard sell before you’ve even made it to the movie