If your only priority is lead generation, you’re going to lose out on a lot of leads. Ironic, we know.
But rather than constantly scramble around for new opportunities, you should instead turn your attention to the contacts with a longer lead life cycle – it’s the only way to stop around 73% of them from falling off your radar.
As a business, you need to be following up with those who didn’t convert immediately. It takes time, yes. And it’s for this reason that too many companies prefer to chase untouched contacts. But it’s crucial. Here, we explain why.
Not everyone buys right away
The customers who buy from you right away usually have a problem. They’re looking for a solution and they found you at the perfect time. The likelihood of this happening to everyone within your target market is, obviously, slim. And that’s why following up makes so much sense.
By repeatedly checking in with those who understand your value but aren’t necessarily ready to use your service, you’ll be the first port of call should the need arise. If you leave them to forget who you are, then there’s nothing stopping a competitor from swooping in and stealing them from you.
It might just be that your lead has a series of stakeholders they need to brief before engaging in your services. They could be part of a large company, and will likely generate larger deal sizes with more opportunities for upselling. Do all you can to continue offering genuinely useful content throughout their life cycle, and you’ll give them the encouragement they need to convert.
Current clients might not be your most valuable leads
Speaking of higher value deals, your current clients might not be the ones generating you the most profit. Sure, they agreed to your services right away. But if that’s because they had a problem and you were the solution, then the cost of their conversion might actually be higher than you think.
If they need urgent assistance and demand a large chunk of your resources, for example, over time their deal value might pale in comparison to their use of your service. Leads who are interested in your support but not entirely sure how much they’ll engage with it, on the other hand, are less likely to cost you resources or demand more from your services than you can give them.
It’s only by following up with these leads that you’ll refine your target audience and build a better understanding of your cost per client.
Nurturing leads creates a stable pipeline
When you shift your focus to nurturing leads, your team will never again have to scour directories to win business. Instead, they’ll have a wealth of contacts readily available who they can score based on their interactions with you.
Once you identify where leads are falling out of your pipeline, you can start sending targeted messaging to prompt them to revisit your site. If you have any downloadable guides or webinars, use these to reignite interest and restart conversations. This will take time if you’re doing it manually, and there are sales and marketing automation software solutions that can streamline the process.
But even without software, the benefit of following up on opportunities is that you steadily increase their engagement with you, making the sale easier and potentially increasing the value of the deal. As a result, your pipeline becomes rich and your team can better predict where their next sales will come from.
Automate and enhance your processes
Of course, if you want to really see a difference to the number of leads that convert, marketing automation is the answer.
At Airbase, we pair you with platforms that complement your processes. Our experts ensure that you not only embrace the technology, but maximise its potential. We’ll provide you with lead-capturing facilities that simplify the role of your team, and automate a series of timely follow-ups so that everyone who engages with you stays engaged.
Ready to adopt automation? Get in touch with a member of our team today.
Or, you can join our panel of business leaders as they share their insights and experience on what it means to build a business designed to get more sales with less work, check out the virtual More Sales Less Work Summit.
