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Leads, leads, leads, every business needs them, some are actually good at generating them, but . . . there’s a really important thing you must understand about leads - not all are created equal.
Now, I’m not talking about leads that are different because your marketing is unfocused and sends mixed messages with mixed results. I’m assuming you have read and heard me stump for a narrow ideal customer focus and laser sharp message of differentiation. I’m talking about the fact that if you are marketing consistently and systematically leads will come to from different points of view, with different levels of education and in need of different solutions - and you need to intentionally address them all with differing types of follow-up.
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You need a follow-up process for leads that come to you by way of:
- referral - this is a special lead with built in trust - treat it that way
- public relations - this is a lead that has heard something about your story, there’s a connection, but little education
- workshops - this kind of lead has usually experienced a lot, move them logically to the next step quickly
- advertising - offer information of value and nurture this lead based on the actions they take (measure!)
- search - this is the new yellow pages, this lead probably has a need, but doesn’t know you - follow-up with that in mind
- trade show - speed of follow-up is key here, these leads were pretty amped up when you met them at the show, don’t let them get cold
One of the keys to understanding your follow-up approach is to understand what the customer is thinking when they find you, acknowledge where they are and how they’ve connected (tell a referred lead they are a special referred lead) and start moving them logically to the next step.
I know that follow-up, let alone the highly personalized type of follow-up I’m suggesting, is yet another thing you must do, so this is a great place to employ automation technology. Much of the follow-up you should be designing can be created ahead of time and executed with CRM like tools. Used properly, you can create email follow-ups, letter and postcard follow-ups, call lists and fulfillment requests and put your follow-up steps on autopilot
Here are some tools I would recommend for designing follow-up campaigns
Infusionsoft - Hi powered CRM and marketing automation tool that allows you to create sophisticated follow-up routines. (I use this tool in my business)
Swiftpage - Their new Drip Marketing add-on allows you to set-up letter mailing, emailing and call list creation. I love this tool for the individual sales person as it connects with ACT! or Outlook and allows you to easily determine the interest of your prospect during each follow-up step and focus your attention on the hottest prospects based on their action
Vertical Response - email marketing provider with the added integration of postcard mailing
Comments
This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at May 17, 08 | 7:05 am and is filed under Lead Generation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Thanks John, just reading this post reminded me of a lead I needed to follow-up on!
I see many organizations that drop the ball after making contacts at trade shows and conferences. The mindset has to be with all representatives at the show to create a follow-up plan and reconnect within a couple days or as you say the lead goes cold quickly. Reconnecting while they still remember who you are is of vital importance or you are essentially wasting your time being there in the first place.
Thanks John - I’m always looking here for new ideas - and tried and true ones! These suggestions correspond so well to the Lead Generation series you do - and it just keeps getting better!
Great points. I find that tailoring your follow-up approach to the type of lead also makes me very much more aware of exactly where my leads come from.
Great post, not only understand how to get yourself real, quality leads, but remember how to treat the different types of quality leads once you’ve got them..
great post John!
John, thanks for sharing your ideas. The tough thing with trade shows is understanding the nature of the visitor. Sometimes you meet a prospect at a show and they are in immediate need of your help and services and it is crtical to set a plan for follow-up before they leave the booth. There is another type that is intrigued by your product or service but they need a little time after the show to sort through the avalanche of calls, emails and brochures that will follow after the show. Sometimes it is best to be patient with those.
I like your suggestions in your book and other places to really focus on an ideal customer/client. Narrowing the field changes the energy and the voice of all communication. Trying to say “the good thing” to many different listeners result in a diluted message. I don’t care for those that I receive and I would prefer not to deliver them.
I agree - leads do come in all forms.
In the affiliate/lead gen world we see lead producers of high and low quality. Overwhelmingly the lead producers with the highest quality also have the highest quality website with real content selling the prospect on the service, product or offering.
Quality is the number one concern of any lead buyer, lead gen affiliate program manager or affiliate network. Payouts, volume and checks are all based on quality and a long term relationship only works around meeting or beating quality expectations.
Infusionsoft is my favorite - really effective.
Segmenting leads makes a huge difference - so don’t scrimp on your CRM
Has anyone thought of a way to scrimp and still get the basic job done? For instance, could I do the same basic thing with Interspire’s SendStudio?
Great post. I read an article that says that 50% of leads of a campaign dont get to the right sales person. With this being said does anyone have any ideas as to what types of products I can purchase that can help me manage my leads and that my clients can use to manage theirs.