DataLink Services Blog Are You Ignoring Your Potential Customers?

Why You Need a Lead Nurturing ProgramIf you have ever marketed your products or services, chances are you uncovered potential customers. These are leads that weren't ready to buy but were good candidates for your pipeline. What did you do with them? Did they become tiny scraps of paper when a report got shredded? Or are they sitting in someone's sales folder completely forgotten? Unfortunately, if they do not hear from you again (and again, and again), they will end up buying from your competitor. A rule of thumb is they need to hear from your company at least seven times before they are ready to buy from you.Up to 80% of leads generated by marketing are ignored by sales teams. The sales team is charged with driving sales for that month or that quarter, so leads that are not ready to buy are not that high on their list of priorities. This is why it is important to have a lead nurturing program:Don't waste your money. Leads generated by your marketing efforts are wasted if they aren't contacted multiple times until they are ready to engage. That's like throwing away 80% of your marketing budgetPotential customers need to be reminded that you are there. Your efforts will eventually pay off when they are ready to buy. They've been contacted four times already? Call them again!Lead nurturing increases sales. It's that simple. If there is a constant flow of leads coming out of your nurturing program, your sales will increaseLower your costs to get great leads. A Forrester Research study showed that a good lead nurturing program will generate 50% more sales ready leads for two-thirds the costMany companies think they don't have the resources to tend to a lead nurturing program. They can't afford not to. If it is not done in-house, then outsource it.Datalink provides outsourced solutions for customer service, inside sales and marketing. If you would like to know more about how we can help, please contact us.