Long Term Lead Nurturing Needs to be a Standard Practice in Working Your Leads
Approximately only one-quarter of sales happen within the first six months, so if you quit after two or three months, you are quitting too soon.
I have read that in B2B sales it is estimated that only one-quarter of sales happen within the first six months. Another quarter of sales happen in the 13-to-18 month period, and then another quarter buy after 18 months. In B2C it is typically a shorter sales cycle, but there is still a high percentage of those who do not buy immediately.
Most salespeople hurry to close sales from the most promising and qualified short-term prospects while ignoring a large percentage of leads that are not quick closes. Why? Probably mainly because salespeople are rewarded for quick sales.
When attention is focused on the immediate sales, the leads that take time and nurturing are left to the wayside and forgotten. These forgotten leads are costing your company a lot of lost revenue.
If your focus has been on the immediate sales, just imagine the sales volume you could have if you worked on a way to foster and nurture those leads through the long term!
The time has come to put your processes in place so that you can benefit from the leads you have paid so dearly to acquire.
What can you do to make sure all leads are front and center until you either close the sale or receive a NO? What can you set up to help bring those leads to the selling point?
All of the nurturing happens through consistent communication, spoken or unspoken. Think of how you currently communicate with your prospects. Are you staying in the thoughts and minds of people you have met three months ago? Six months ago? A year ago?
Have you set up an effective communication chain so that when the time comes for them to buy your product or service, you are the first one on their minds, and your contact information is right at their fingertips?
Lead-nurturing must be a consistent part of your business if you want it to thrive, grow or even maintain itself.
P.S. Setting up a system to make it easy to follow-up and nurture your leads can make sales and life a whole lot easier!