Nurturing is essential for successful lead generation—both inbound and outbound. Paradoxically it’s among the most underutilized tools in the marketing arsenal. With the potential to increase lead rates from 5% to 15%, it’s a wonder only 35% of B2B companies (Marketing Sherpa) have nurturing programs in place.
An analysis of 25,000 PointClear dispositions* from the beginning of 2010 through June 30, 2014 shows that nurturing—attempting additional contact with targets using multiple touches via multiple media across multiple cycles—is well worth the time and expense. The effort needed to carefully and meaningfully make more calls, send more emails and leave more voicemails increases lead rates significantly:
- Standard lead-generation programs produce an average 5% lead rate. With the standard approach, expect 50 leads for every 1000 targets.
- Advanced lead-generation programs (which include nurturing) produce an average 15% lead rate—a whopping three times higher than the standard approach. Using the advanced approach, we deliver (and you can too) 154 leads for every 1000 targets.
*A disposition is defined as a completed conversation with a contact.
Nurturing is a lead-progression strategy that works. Engagement over time by the marketing organization to develop a raw lead into a sales-qualified one brings significant benefit to the enterprise:
Increase your marketing ROI. The cost-per-lead to generate 50 leads per 1000 targets (5% lead rate) using a standard lead-generation approach is far higher than the cost-per-lead to develop the additional 104 leads. The return on the entire campaign is 300% higher, with only incremental effort (and cost) required to get there. Milking your investment for all it’s worth is how marketing boosts its value to sales and to the organization as a whole.
Use your resources better. Advanced lead-generation means sales reps receive more sales-qualified leads. These leads are ready for productive progression by the team that was brought on to convert prospects to customers. Asking sales to sort through raw leads to determine which are qualified, or to do their own prospecting, is a misuse of expensive resources whose efforts should align with the activity they do best.
Drive more revenue at less cost. Advanced lead-generation (standard lead generation plus nurturing) offers an effective and cost-efficient way to meet the organization’s numbers and grow faster.
Our disposition analysis shows that about 5% of your target market is in a buying mode for your products and services at any given time, and we know their mode can change quickly. Taking the time to reach out multiple times, in multiple ways and over time means you’re there as targets become potential purchasers of what you have to offer.