3 Effective Ways To Up Your Lead Generation Game
Marketers across the globe are striving to generate leads in a time where the bottom line has gained priority over arbitrary campaign numbers. But with an eye on the revenue, a lead is only half the battle won. Conversions depend on swift follow-ups, nurtured communication, personalization and dedicated efforts.
However, recent reports suggest that most marketing leads are never pursued. In fact, around 71% of the leads generated through online efforts are wasted – they either get lost, discarded or are ignored. Now that is a lot of lost revenue.
So how can you as a marketer make the most out of your leads?
Over the years, we have prioritised getting a few things done for the client which helped them immensely.
So without further ado, here’s how you can better manage your leads and improve lead to sales conversion.
1. Integrate leads coming in from multiple sources
Most organisations use multiple channels and mediums to generate leads. Major organisations work with multiple agencies across the globe. In this process, leads often are either duplicated or go unreported.
Sometimes, improper campaign set up or lack of coordination between agencies/departments can affect the leads. The leads may simply drop off, get deleted or go missing from the system.
This in return affects the organisation’s ability to delegate leads to teams or individual better equipped to handle a lead based on its type, location, etc. which in turn adversely impacts overall efficiency and conversion.
Apart from rehauling the campaign set up, improving coordination between the agencies and the organisation, restructuring the lead flow between agencies and departments, an effective inquiry or lead management system could help sort this challenge.
2. Timely engagement with the leads
Imagine going to a local car dealership on a Friday evening and making an inquiry with a sales rep, only to be told they’ll be glad to assist you next Thursday. Not a great feeling, is it? Your prospects wouldn’t like it either.
Chances are, by the time the dealership gets back to you, you perhaps would have forgotten about the inquiry or would have initiated communication with some other dealership, if not already closed the deal.
Similarly, delay in responding to a lead is akin to ceding space to competition allowing them to creep in and win over your prospect with a similar solution. Especially, in the digital world, armed with lookalike audiences, interest-based marketing, and whatnot, your competition stands a strong chance of driving your prospects into its own sales funnel.
We worked with an automobile client and we noticed that their average response time to an online lead was 4 days. By simply improving their response time to within 24 hours, they could boost their conversion rates to 7.5% from the earlier 3.2%.
3. Nurturing leads with personalized communication
A lead will rarely convert into a paying customer at the first point of contact. Depending on the nature of your business, the number of follow-ups varies. This sets up the ground for the need of effectively nurturing your leads over a period of time.
A study by Forrester indicates that marketers see an average 20% increase in sales opportunities from nurtured leads when compared to the non-nurtured ones. Also, companies that excel at lead generation do 50% more sales at 33% lower costs.
You have the name & contact details of your leads. You to an extent to the nature or reason of their inquiry. Add this to your lead nurturing strategy, and you can nurture your leads with a fair degree of personalized communication.
However, while constant follow-ups are an essential part of the lead nurture strategy, how often one must do it? It varies from business to business. Do it too frequently and you risk the annoyance of the prospect. Do it at too long intervals, and you may let a competition enter into the prospect’s journey.
Unlike a short-term quick fix, the above is essentially a sales strategy overhaul. All of it and much more is possible with an effective and efficient lead management solution.
LMS+ by Jacobsons Direct is an affordable total package solution that goes beyond a mere system or software. Our experts have done it for the past clients, and they can do it for you too. Contact us to know more on LMS+.