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How to Help Prospects Become Customers

Lead Nurture ServicesLead Nurture ServicesLead nurture services help keep prospects front and center until they’re ready to buy. Because prospects and sales reps aren’t always in sync on timing issues, a strong lead nurturing program can help both parties accomplish their goals. Another reason for lead nurture services involves marketing’s lead generation efforts. For example, the marketing department will allocate valuable resources to generating qualified leads. However, once these leads make it into the pipeline, sales reps may drop the ball for a number of reasons. In this situation, lead nurturing will keep the leads “alive” and aware of your company and products.

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Unfortunately, a significant disconnect exists between sales and marketing when it comes to defining what constitutes a qualified lead. Sales may not find the leads as qualified for a number of reasons, including: • The purchase horizon is extended out well into the future.• The opportunity won’t yield the desired financial outcome.• The geographic location may be inconvenient.• The required support is expected to be extensive.• Any other number of reasons can disqualify a lead from a sales rep’s perspective.

Lead Nurture ServicesLead Nurture ServicesThe danger of eliminating leads, regardless of whether the reasons appear justified, is the prospect will buy from someone else when they’re ready. These lost opportunities can have a detrimental effect on an organization’s revenues. Plus, more money will be spent to generate more leads when qualified prospects might already exist in the pipeline.

If an opportunity is not sales-ready, it should remain in the pipeline and targeted for lead nurture services. An ongoing nurturing program will keep prospects engaged until they’re ready to buy.

Lead Nurture ServicesLead Nurture ServicesLead nurturing should begin in conjunction with your demand generation programs. New prospects require the most attention so they can move efficiently through the sales pipeline. The goal is to mature prospects into qualified leads with a short-term purchase horizon.

When a lead is nurtured throughout the pipeline, the sales organization is more inclined to work it. This aspect of your lead management program has the most potential for increasing revenue. Fully managing existing leads is by far less costly than constantly investing in the generation of new leads.

Lead Nurture ServicesLead Nurture ServicesBased on prospect behavior, the appropriate frequency of “touches” can be established in lead nurture services. You also need to determine what messages to send and what information you want to collect.

Marketing automation helps lead nurture services monitor, score and accelerate prospects as they move through the pipeline. Automation helps you know where your prospects are at any given time. It will also identify what lead nurturing activities have been used with each prospect.

Lead Nurture ServicesLead Nurture ServicesLead nurture services need to be targeted to each audience. For example, qualified leads not sales-ready will be handled in a different manner than a current customer who might be a candidate for up-selling or cross-selling.

Valuable content should be developed and distributed to prospects strategically. Marketing tools should be aligned with each prospect touch point. Examples of useful content include white papers, case studies, data sheets, articles, reports, webinars and more.

Lead Nurture ServicesLead Nurture ServicesLead nurture services integrate many activities to help turn prospects into customers. Using defined processes and measurements, nurturing can improve the quality of your existing leads and complement lead generation programs. Most importantly, you’ll eliminate discarding leads that may end up viable and manage opportunities in a way that improves closing.

About the AuthorAbout the AuthorLarry Fleischman is Director of Marketing for Televerde, a leading B2B provider of sales pipeline development solutions. For more information about Lead Nurture Services, visit:http://www.televerde.com/solutions/lead-nurture-services/