Introduction Experienced sales representatives have concluded that silence will sometimes be the default answer. Even when you have the most perfectly targeted list, more than half will not reply. But this does not mean that these leads have gone cold or are lost forever. Most of the time these leads present the opportunity for further business, they just require a little bit of nudging in the right direction. Therefore, here are six strategies to improve your lead generation. 1. Why Do Leads Go Dark? It is normal that most of your leads will go dark. This happens due to them being too busy to respond or they were not ready to continue their buyer’s journey the last time you connected with them. Sometimes it can take weeks to months between the awareness stage and final purchase. It also could be due to your response time being off from the beginning. In today’s world, we are so accustomed to faster and faster responses. Make sure your message is delivered with good targeting and relevant content to gain a faster response. 2. Use Preventive Measures Look at every step of your marketing and sales process to see where the cracks have formed and in what areas you can still grow. A few ways to do this are by: Taking a deeper look into your lead generation process Make sure your content is easily accessible to all users Check to see if your content is engaging and is built to hook interest Assuring our target market is aligning correctly Studies show that if you excel at lead nurturing, you can generate more sales at a lower cost. Lead nurturing is the process of developing and reinforcing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel. Having an effective lead nurturing strategy can have a huge impact on the results of your marketing strategy, customer loyalty, customer retention, revenue, and more. 3. How to Heat Up Cold Leads Just because your lead fell out of touch it does not mean they have no interest in reconnecting. It is possible they could still have a need for you, but you or their problem was pushed behind some more important tasks. When you begin to re-engage with your cold leads, let them know you miss them. Try these strategies when you begin to re-engage with your lost leads: 4. Use Trigger Events What is a trigger event? A trigger event is any occurrence that creates an opening for a marketing or sales opportunity. Sales and marketing automation workflows use trigger events to enable small organizations to scale customer interactions. If you are a B2B company, a trigger event can be a new press release, an announcement of a variety of new products, or an announcement of rebranding. This is a great time to reach out and congratulate them on their recent achievements. You will remind them that you still are out there and re-opening a window of communication. Some other sales trigger events are congratulating a cold lead who has received a new job or role in their business. An easy way to track a simple trigger event like a new job, role, or even a new executive is on LinkedIn, social media, or Google alerts. When you get wind of these trigger events, reach out to a lead that may have gone cold and remind them that you are there to support them through a change they are experiencing. 5. Start Conversations in a New Way When you are re-engaging with lost leads, try to switch up how you are approaching them. If you reached out in the beginning by email, try giving your lead a phone call or a letter to them at their workplace. If you reconnect in a new way, you may leave an impression, stay on top of your mind, and inspire them to restart the conversation process. Make sure to ask questions about what has changed since the last time you spoke, what problems they are facing, and if they are happy with the tools they are using now. 6. Survey the Leads You’ve Lost Just like all businesses, you have dealt with the loss of a customer at some point. Why not take this opportunity to survey customers to understand why they’ve taken their business elsewhere? This is a way to take the guesswork out of poor customer retention rates. It can be fairly awkward, so I have provided some examples for you: Why did you choose our company to begin with? What did you like the most about working with our brand/product/service? What caused you to lead our company? Which of our competitors did you go to? Why did you choose our competitor? Is there anything we can do to earn back your business? Remember this is research, not a pitch. Be sure to communicate well with this audience to make sure they know this is for research purposes and not a sales pitch. Conclusion Research shows that 80% of prospects say “no” four times before they say “yes”. This means that a lost lead is not a lost customer. Keep track of your pipeline with a CRM and re-engage those lost leads with the strategies above to drive conversions. Follow the strategies listed above to re-engage your lost leads.
