Leads Generated? Check! Now what? (part 2)

As promised is my last article, we will continue the thought on how to proceed once you have your leads. The first thing to do is qualify you leads, but we already discussed this. The next step is to nurture your leads. To properly nurture you leads, it is important to understand them.
Lead nurturing processes cannot be generic. You interested leads should not be receiving the same emails as you cold leads for example. Break down your leads into different categories. Once you have these categories set up. Decide which would be the best way to approach them. If you have leads that are cold, or maybe lukewarm, try an approach that is not so direct. Build your rapport with informational emails or mailers. In this way, you are not only maintaining yourself as an available option when they are ready to buy, but you are also improving your standing with them so that their chances of choosing you are increased. Birthday cards are not enough! I never went back to a dentist solely based on the fact that he sent me a birthday card. Another benefit of informational mailers and emails is the increased likelihood of their reading your message. If a cold lead know every correspondence from you is a sell, they'll never read it.
While using this strategy, however, periodically test the water with an email offer or something else which is more direct. When you notice their increased interest, switch to more aggressive strategies which may include calling. If your company is large enough, have specialized teams, and one which only uses a dialer to get through these leads. This will either convert the lead into a sale, or throw them back into one of your nurturing pools. Don't be afraid to drop someone back into one of your pools of lower interest, they may buy later. But also be sensitive of when a little nudge may help the sale go through.
For your interested leads that you have trouble getting a hold of, be more aggressive. Set up a campaign similar to a drip campaign, but where you include calling as well as email and shorten the time in between each contact. If you do not get a hold of them, someone else probably will.
Ultimately the idea is to understand all of you leads and market and sell to them at their level.
Such a process is involved and not very easy. Lead Response Management tools can help, but even then they take a lot of work. The good news is that once you set the system up, it is a lot easier to keep it going.