Here’s how to make your prospecting a lot more productive.
Marketing’s job is to spin gold from straw. The problem is, there’s less gold coming out of the loom than any of us would like, especially Sales. Good straw = gold. Mediocre straw = fool’s gold. Qualified leads = sales. No qualified leads = no sales.
Here’s the grim reality. At any given time, only about 5% of your market is interested and ready to buy. For every 100 companies in your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), only 5 are deciding who should get the RFP.
If you’re in an industry of high customer churn, the percentage might be slightly higher. If there’s a longer consideration cycle, it might be even lower than 5%.
For this discussion, the potential yield is 5 qualified leads. This assumes that you know who the decision makers are and can reach them, that they find value in your product or service, and they decide to engage. It also assumes that the pesky competition doesn’t have a vastly superior solution.
Let’s say that marketing has two goals: The first, of course, is qualified leads. The second, I’m suggesting, is to measurably increase penetration of the ICP. To find the companies who are not yet ready to engage and nurture them, create preference, and uncover opportunities. In our experience, this stone is often unturned.
Not Wider, Just Deeper
Remember, these nurturing tactics concentrate on your ICP, because that’s where the real money is. You’re not casting the prospecting net wider, just deeper.
Here’s an easy example:
Company A is an ice cream wholesaler. Their sweet spot is Mom & Pop stores in mid-sized cities, so they concentrate all their prospecting to look for these long-term relationships.
The marketing message is why Company A is better, faster, tastier, more reliable. Just sign on and we’ll take care of the rest.
Those who bite are screened and qualified, and the Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) sent on their way. Often, the rest of the leads are laid to rest. Sure, you’ll send your “more information,” but as there’s no immediate opportunity, everyone moves on pretty quickly.
The Baby and The Bath Water
Without introducing any other variables, let’s take this chaff, the information dead-beats, and reach out to them – put our arm around them. Let’s educate them about the way we do ice cream. Let’s share the tips and tricks that will help them increase their competitiveness, do more business, and make more money.
Once a month we deliver to the opt-ins:
- A research report on what ice cream customers are looking for.
- A case study of a Mom & Pop store that doubled sales.
- A “guided tour” of how we make ice cream.
I made these deliverables up! However, you should have similar pieces already developed which can be repurposed. If you don’t have this level of content, there’s other areas of prospecting that are dragging you down.
With each communication we ask one more question to better understand our MQL’s needs and always offer a conversation. These questions might include:
- What is your primary area of responsibility?
- What’s the one area that you feel is holding your company back?
- Do you have a short-term need (non-contract) that we can help with?
- Is there information you need that isn’t covered here?
- Would you like to talk to an expert (not sales)?
- When would be a good time for sales to schedule a meeting?
At the end of the series, we then follow-up with why they should want to talk with a salesperson.
10% to 20% More Gold
This is a generic example. We can put a lot of bells and whistles on this, but the bottom line is that you are building preference for your brand among your ICP, and that immediately increases your yield of MQLs by at least 10%, up to 20%.
- Uncover opportunities you didn’t know about
- Build executive preference
- Generate more qualified leads, over time
- Increase the yield from marketing investment
- Gain greater penetration of your ICP
- Get more sales
How about if we get together and change from grim to grin. Nurturing is a tactic we’ve deployed for many clients, and we’d like to do it for you. Schedule a quick call today.
More articles from Scott Hornstein:
- The whole world is changing. B2B marketing, not so much. Here’s a swift kick in the pants to get us going.
- Profitability Starts with Identifying Your Ideal Customer Profile – ICP
- This Would be a Great Business if it Weren’t for all Those Annoying Customers
- AI’s Competitive Advantage is Not What You Think
- Marketing L&D isn’t funny. But should it be?
About the Author
International author, lecturer and consultant, Scott Hornstein has worked with clients in all phases of marketing strategy, research, and implementation. He has worked with companies large and small to build profitability, by improving marketing performance, and reengineering the customer experience to boost satisfaction, referrals, and customer lifetime value.