Nurture Your Prospects. Don’t Drown Them. ……or Starve Them.

Your prospects are like plants. Give them the proper attention and they’ll grow (into clients). On the other hand, you can “drown” them with too much attention or “starve” them with too little.

Determining the right amount of attention is tricky. It depends upon the stage in the sales cycle.

The Right Touch

A prospect ready to buy deserves a lot of attention. You know who they are and are probably all over them.

A prospect who is interested but not yet ready deserves less attention. If you bombard him with weekly calls and emails, you’ll scare him off. You’ve “drowned” him.

 At the same time, a not-yet-active prospect needs to hear from you on a regular basis. Otherwise, she’ll forget about you and do business with someone else. You’ve “starved” her.

The first step is to segment your prospects into categories with the appropriate level of contact.  Consider setting up an “A” “B” “C” “D” system.

• “A”s -  Hot prospects - Weekly or biweekly contacts with phone calls and emails
• “B”s – Interested and serious – Monthly contact via phone or email
• “C”s –   Possibly interested – Every two-three months via phone or email
• “D” -  All other contacts – Possibly via quarterly newsletter

Treat your top referral sources like your “B” prospects. Contact them monthly.

Educate…Consistently

Remember, in professional services, you don’t sell. You educate.

Brian Carroll in Lead Nurturing: Ripening the Right Bananas points out

“Lead nurturing is all about having consistent and meaningful dialog with viable prospects, regardless of their timeframe to buy.  It’s about building trusted relationships with the right people.  In the end, it’s the act of maintaining mind share and building solid relationships with economic buyers.  It’s not a sales person calling up every few months to find out if a prospect is “ready to buy yet………………………….

A key aspect of lead nurturing is the ability to provide valuable education and information to your prospects up front, to become a trusted advisor.  Your potential client then perceives you to be an expert.  You don’t sell, you don’t make pitches.  Instead, you provide insights and solutions, all within the realm of your expertise and thus become the first they call when there’s a need.” 

Use Your Toolkit

As Brian’s chart below illustrates, you have numerous communication tools available. These include:

• Phone
• E-mail
• Events, including webinars
• Social media
• Direct mail

These tools are really delivery vehicles for your message and your content. Your content is what adds value and showcases your expertise.

Drip, Drip, Drip……

Below is one of Brian’s lead nurturing scenarios. The lead, in this case, came from a web inquiry. But you could follow the same process for a “B” prospect whom you met via referral or at a networking meeting.

Notice that you’re contacting the person, on the average, every 20 days over for almost six months. You’re “dripping” attention on the prospect in a very systematic way.

• Day 1: Make introductory phone call and send follow-up email.
• Day 28: Send e-newsletter with voicemail alert that it’s there.
• Day 42: E-mail recent customer success story, in related industry if possible.
• Day 60: Send personal invitation from selling professional to forthcoming seminar.
• Day 80: Mail case study and personalized letter of transmittal.
• Day 100: E-mail recent article of interest on Internet.
• Day 120: E-mail “touching base” note.
• Day 140: Mail follow-up letter with free report.
• Day 160: Prospect calls you: now a qualified lead!

 Get out the watering can and start cultivating your garden. And, remember, the seedlings need only a little water and the large bushes need a lot.