The election season is here. Early voting is taking place in most states and the main interest of voters is the economy. Unsurprisingly, the economy is a top concern for BtoB marketers as well. Many marketers are wondering if, when or how much the economy will effect their business and specifically, their marketing efforts.
There is no peeking into the future to safeguard or guarantee your marketing efforts. However, there are ways to ensure your time and energy isn't wasted ushering unqualified leads to your sales team.
Extend the full financial value of your lead management solution, which directly or indirectly impacts your company's bottom line, by doing a checklist to make sure you're maximizing your email marketing, lead scoring and lead nurturing features to the fullest. It' time to bailout your lead management capabilities to improve your ROMI.
- Automate Your Email Messages. Automated email responses are a quick, easy and cost effective way to keep prospects informed about your products/solutions. Use it and get results. Tip: Deliverability is the most important part of your email campaign. To keep from being labeled as spam by your prospects, always send what the recipient expects to receive – what they signed up for. Keep messages relevant and informative.
- Get Better Acquainted with Your Lead Scoring Feature - If you're not using your lead scoring feature to its fullest advantage, you're probably wasting your marketing and sales departments a considerable amount of tactical time. Good lead scoring models incorporate implicit and explicit data to make sure only quality leads are sent to Sales. Tip: Be sure to obtain sales agreement of your scoring methodology. With their buy-in, they're more likely to aggressively work leads identified as hot.
- Nurture Your Leads. In tight economies, sales cycles often lengthen, demanding that you carefully maintain contact with prospects. Lead nurturing is a proven lead-to-sale methodology that can move prospects through the "sales funnel" toward purchasing your product or service. According to the Sales & Marketing Institute, the percentage of inquiries/responses that will become actual sales leads is usually well below 10 percent. Yet, in 18-24 months, two studies have shown that between 20-40 percent of all inquiries will buy the product or service from somebody. Tip: Develop a series of automated, timed communications designed to build trust and keep your company top-of-mind until a prospect has received enough information and is ready to buy.
