The January sales push well on it's way and most B2B marketers I know are looking more ways to generate leads faster. But here's a question to ponder...
Do you have a process have a process for handing leads (from sales) back to marketing when they are not sales ready? If not, I recommend you consider at re-engaging the leads you already have in your database and pay special attention to the leads your sales team didn't convert last year.
I'd like to share what we learned from a lead re-engagement test we just completed for a large communications company. We tested a lead nurturing program to re-engage the following types of "old" leads:
1. Leads that were "open" but not touched by a sales person in 90+ days
2. Leads worked by sales but marked as "closed - lost" meaning they didn't buy
We started with a simple multi-touch lead nurturing program that included: a 3 touch email track, the emails connected to educational articles, and our teleprospecting team made follow-up calls (based on email engagement replies, clicks and opens).
The teleprospecting team was also equipped with one-to-one emails and relevant articles designed to progress and continue the conversation. Our strategy was pretty simple: be a resource for that prospect and offering relevant ideas—and not being a pest, and asking over and over, "Are you ready to buy yet?" If there was a need, we qualified them sales ready leads according to their universal lead definition.
After the 10-week test, we found the old leads (some were over two years old actually) had a 10% higher conversion rate than the more recent leads that were a few months old. Our client expected the more recent leads would have a higher conversion rate but it was actually the older leads that performed better.
What do you think about this idea of lead re-engagement? Is it something you do or would do in your company?
Related Posts:
Steps for creating a true lead nurturing program
A multi-modal approach to lead nurturing
What IS and ISN’T Lead Nurturing
On Inbound lead nurturing
5 Lead nurturing tips to create relevant and engaging emails
Lead Nurturing is Walking the Buying Path with Your Customers
Lead Nurturing - Ripening the Right Bananas