Got Leads? Part 4: After They are "Got" Who Do I Give Them to?
Now that you’ve converted new leads into your database…what’s next?
First things first, we need to determine how qualified they are. Just because they converted doesn’t mean they are ready for a sales conversation. This is how we decide who these fancy new leads should go to. Use automation to identify the prospect’s level of qualification, and stage in the purchasing lifecycle.
Once we know where they are in their buying process we can decide what to do with them next. You may want to brush up on the lead funnel before you read on.
Leads: Keep These Bad Boys with Marketing
This group is of unknown qualification. This is usually the largest group in your database, and the segment that needs the most nurturing love. Maybe you got them from an event list, or they converted on a very top of funnel social media ad. At this stage our goal is to qualify them up to a marketing qualified lead. We want to know a) if they are interested at all in what we have to say and b) if so, what topics are they interested in. Content is always king—but it’s especially important at this stage of the funnel.
Here’s some ideas of what to do with these leads:
Send them monthly newsletters with both gated and un-gated value adding content, if they look at un-gated content like blogs and articles we can re-target them with synergistic gated content to try to nurture them up.
Use high-value pieces of content like webinars and ebooks with this group.
Retarget them with high-value content on social media.
Marketing Qualified Leads: A Marketing and Inside Sales Collaboration
These leads have expressed interest through content engagement. They may have downloaded an ebook or watched a webinar, whatever it is they’ve done something that proves they are browsing around. The goal with these leads is to contact them quickly and provide them with the information they need to prepare for a sales conversation.
Key content used to nurture MQLs up to SQLs includes:
Case studies that show how your product solves their problem. These should present the entire business case for why a prospect would want to consider your product.
Retargeting ads on social media can keep your brand top of mind for this group.
Automated nurturing sequences with more in-depth content can support the educational process. Make sure you understand your buyer’s journey before you deploy these tactics.
Inside sales teams play an important role in the MQL status. They should reach out via phone to offer supportive resources (not to go straight for the sale!). This is an important rapport and trust-building stage and inside sales can lock in a personal relationship before competition gets involved.
Sales Qualified Leads: High Ho, High Ho, it’s Off to Outside Sales we Go!
Get these leads right to the sales team! At this phase the goal of marketing is to provide sales with the sales enablement tools they need to close that hot lead into a sale. And to hound them relentlessly about making sure they are tracking their sales pipelines in your CRM so you can be supportive…but…more on this topic later.
Thanks for reading! Up next we’ll take a look at how to track what happens to these leads after you’ve handed them off. Happy nurturing!