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Savvy lead nurturing versus ‘foot in the door’ sales tactics

“The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money or find much fun in life.”

Charles Schwab.

I’ve had a lot to say just lately on the subject of lead nurturing. But judging from recent conversations with clients it’s clear that a good deal of confusion remains as to the definition of the term ‘nurture’.   

This is the dictionary definition:

1. To feed and protect: to nurture one’s offspring. 

2. To support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster: to nurture promising musicians. 

3. To bring up; train; educate.

In my experience, however, a lot of marketers claim to be ‘nurturing’ their prospects when in reality all they’re doing is sending out the latest brochure, sales letter, or puff on product launches and company announcements. But let’s be clear. Subjecting prospects to an ongoing integrated marketing campaign does not qualify as lead nurturing. While useful in varying degrees, all of these activities are predominantly self-serving, and they will do little to contribute to the development of your client or your ongoing relationship with them. The whole point of lead nurturing is to ‘give’.    

So, by definition, the only content that counts as nurturing is that which focuses on the prospect, and not on your business.

Effective lead nurturing should make your prospect feel that you regard them as an individual, and not just another record on your mailing list. It means sending highly targeted communications which contain content based on the recipient’s role in the company; it means sending well-timed information which is highly relevant to a particular niche or industry; it means sending content based on a previous conversation – which answers a question or offers more information on a subject of interest, perhaps in response to an original enquiry, etc. In short, only send information which is relevant to a prospect’s problems.

Effective lead nurturing does not involve calling prospects who are in the early stages of the buying process every couple of weeks on the pretext of ‘touching base’, which is really just another way of asking whether they’re ready to buy, and will be perceived as such – i.e. a nuisance.

A prospect should only be contacted by phone when their lead point score indicates that there is likely value in doing so. You must also have a valid business reason in mind for each call, together with a forward action beyond sending a brochure or a thinly disguised sales pitch dressed up as a white paper. 

It all comes back to the ‘quality’ question – sharing content that’s relevant and valuable to the prospect, even if they never buy from you. When you give, it must be unconditional. OK, some people will take advantage of your generosity, but a sufficient number of your prospects will be suitably impressed to engage with you. And in the end, that’s all that matters.  

The modern B2B audience is too savvy to fall for ‘foot in the door’ sales tactics. But they ARE hungrier than ever for REAL information. And, despite the hype, very few marketers are actually delivering on their promise. Take advantage of the fact.

And finally, a new must-have gadget for those who value a quieter life…

A Japanese manufacturer is producing a new silent alarm clock. That’s right, it makes no noise whatsoever. It’s for people who prefer to be woken up gently. Instead of buzzing or bleeping, it emits pulses of light which become gradually brighter and brighter until you wake up. What a good idea! In fact I almost bought one. But then it dawned on me (quite literally). I already have one of these wonderful gadgets. It’s called a window.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading. As ever, your comments and ideas are very welcome. 

And always to a higher response!

Norman

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