Do you have experience in filling a bucket with holes? Or a leaky bucket? It’s a frustrating experience. Unfortunately, marketers often face a similar experience when they are eager to fill their sales pipeline with new leads. Undoubtedly, there is a ton of pressure on marketers to generate new leads with innovative tactics and retain those new leads at the top of the funnel to generate more sales activity.
Nowadays, company owners or salespersons are always busy getting more sales leads, whether it is through online lead generation-SEO, email marketing, social media platforms, advertisement, Etc. Or through the traditional outbound lead generation strategies- direct mail or calling the people.
The significance of generating leads is ingrained in the mind of all modern marketers today-the excessive and high-quality leads you bring in, the better it is.
Undoubtedly, your company requires an influx of new and modern business leads to survive in this demanding and challenging business world. Leads are a valuable commodity as a company spends a lot of time and money to find new sales leads and lay the groundwork for future sales.
Be it due to poor organization or inadequate follow-ups, the sales lead of many companies falls into the cracks. Many sales lead never result in a deal, and it’s often due to the sales team or the ineffectiveness of company management in managing sales leads.
Have you ever experienced working hard on something and losing it due to a bit of carelessness? If yes, then losing leads also gives you the same feeling. Therefore, working on and nurturing effective lead plans is essential for your company to generate and retain leads.
Before moving forward to the tips to prevent leads from falling into the cracks, it would be unfair not to know its reasons first. So, let’s first learn why any lead falls into the cracks.
Reasons Your Lead Is Falling into the Cracks
Even though we all agree that sales leads are essential and crucial for a business’s survival, why do many companies treat their sales leads carelessly? Unfortunately, there are countless reasons for that!
Remember, mismanaging leads is not only the salesperson’s problem!
Let’s explore some of the reasons which let the lead fall into the cracks:
No Response on Time
In the business world, time is money. Your lead might have a tiny window of interest in your product or services, and if you do not respond to their queries timely- we bet your competitor will. Not responding on time reduces the chances of closing tenfold. For a company, time is highly valuable-if. You do not focus on promptly replying and interacting with leads; you lose time.
Lack of Need Nurturing
Many companies lack the basic yet essential tactics for leads. They do not work on lead nurturing deeply; instead, they are too keen to follow up only with good sales leads that will get quick results and are urgently ready to buy. As a result, the well-developed and long-term sales leads that would benefit from more extensive follow-up and relationship-building receives no attention, and all go in vain.
Not Understanding a Lead’s Needs
This might surprise marketers or salespeople, but they do not understand the lead’s needs or queries. Therefore, there is no definite way to guarantee sales loss other than by not understanding what your lead is looking for and what problem they need to resolve. Unfortunately, many companies fail to understand this factor and don’t plan their lead tactics accordingly.
Not Keeping Your Promises
Not keeping promises makes a highly negative impact, even in relationships; then how does your company expect it won’t affect your leads? Promising or saying something and then not doing it sends a negative message to your leads. Most companies don’t consider it as something big; trust us, it leaves a terrible impression on any lead.
Tips and Techniques to Prevent Your Leads from Falling Into the Cracks -Sealing the Cracks!
A Well-developed Lead Nurturing Plan
You can not go on a battlefield without knowing how to fight. Similarly, you can not just jump into the business world not knowing some great lead tactics. You should have a well-prepared and good lead nurturing plan to generate high-quality leads. Do not rush and work on half-cooked lead plans, as they might fail or lose sales leads.
Plan a strong lead plan for sales leads that could nurture for months until they’re ready to buy. Don’t only focus on low-hanging fruit – be prepared to invest in building a longer-term nurturing plan with sales leads.
Understand the Lead’s Needs
One of the foremost factors that will not lead to any fall into the cracks is understanding your lead-their needs and expectations. Don’t work harder; instead, work smarter. Try to communicate with them and know what they expect from your company.
For all companies, here is a tip- communication is a practical key. In the business world, make a habit of listening before you speak. When you hear out the questions and queries of your leads, they feel valued and secure. They feel that someone is listening to them and understanding their needs and expectations.
Fulfill your Promises
It is a significant factor that being firm in your promises matters a lot for your leads. When your company promises or announces anything, such as discount coupons, any new launch, or sales, and it doesn’t take place on time, it highly disappoints your leads.
You have to keep your word. Be it any commitment to make a call or follow-up an email to provide the requested information promptly, the leads highly appreciate it and value the company.
Provide Limited and Required Information Only
You may not believe this, but bombarding your lead with unnecessary or too much information or questions at the wrong times sends a terrible signal to them. Instead, climb the ladder by taking one step at a time. Provide relevant and required information at the right and also answer the queries of your lead whenever they need it.
Stop Sending the Same Generic Email to Everyone
Stop if you are sending the same email to everyone on your list! It’s the right time to change. There are plenty of targeting tools available to create powerful and personalized emails. These emails mainly resonate with your leads based on demographics, personal profiles, and preferences.
Having automation services by your side that do your work for you, you don’t have any excuse not to do so.
Final Thoughts
Leads sometimes fall into the cracks, whether a company knows it or not. For any business, attracting leads isn’t easy. It’s all about being more intelligent and active than your competitors.
Learn the rights lead-generating tactics and strategies and win customers for a lifetime!
