Telemarketing Lead Generation Blog

Lead Nurturing: Three Components to a Successful Approach

Posted on Feb 19, 2008 by Jason St Onge, Senior Account Executive

In order to maximize investments in telemarketing and other lead generation programs, many marketers are taking a closer look at lead nurturing – to move their long-term leads and qualified prospects into their sales funnel. Since the definitions, strategies and tactics used in best practice lead nurturing programs can vary greatly between published case studies and the opinion of industry experts, a key challenge these marketers face is determining the elements of a lead nurturing program that will best meet their needs. Regardless of industry, target market, solution/product type or average sales cycle, the following components should be part of any marketer’s ongoing lead nurturing approach:

1.) Definition of a “Sales-Ready” Lead – The objective of any lead nurturing program is to ultimately pass a qualified lead to sales. To accomplish this, marketing teams should get direct input from their sales counterparts in establishing a clear definition for “sales-ready” leads.

Why is this important? If marketing and sales are not aligned on lead definition, then marketing runs the risk of investing in leads that their sales team will not aggressively work (otherwise known as the “Black Hole”).

2.) Prospect Profile – A prospect profile is a collection of data points that will help marketing both qualify an opportunity (i.e. budget, authority, need, etc) and gather business intelligence (i.e. current environment, pains and challenges, areas of interest, etc) that can be used in future communication.

Why is this important? – The construction of an ideal prospect profile aides marketers in making the most out of every interaction with a prospect. While not all profile information will be collected in a single phone conversation, the planned ongoing contact of a lead nurturing program allows the profile to be updated and developed over time. This data allows marketers to provide highly relevant and/or customized messaging to their prospects.

3.) Marketing Matrix – A Marketing Matrix is a chart that aligns the relevant content available for use during the nurturing process (such as whitepapers, case studies, webinars, events and even third party articles) within specific prospect segments. Typically, a Marketing Matrix will include a combination segments such as title, industry, key pains/challenges, etc.

Why is this important? – Due to the ongoing nature of lead nurturing programs, it is crucial to provide value to prospects during each interaction. From a telemarketing perspective, having a reason to call through the use of relevant information is more effective than a “check in” to call aimed solely at seeing if their situation has changed). Maintaining a Marketing Matrix can help marketers plan a content strategy with the collateral they have, and ensure that they are providing fresh content (and value) to prospects over time.

For more information on Nurturing Content, please review our article:

Show ’em the Love: How You Can Create a Content-Rich Nurturing Strategy

Tagged: lead nurturing, content, telemarketing, lead generation

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