No Lead Left Behind!

If you ask any marketer who has recently invested in marketing automation, being able to launch all kinds of lead nurturing programs was probably one of the top reasons they invested. I recently spoke to Jim Kanir and Heather Bennett at M5 and they have 16 different lead nurturing programs that they are running. AND, they just implemented Eloqua in March! So, can it be done? Yes! Can it be done quickly? Yes! Can it be done effectively? Yes! Listen on Sept 3 at 1:00 EDT as we talk to Jim and Heather for the Demand Generation Essentials Series.

In the meanwhile, here are 5 Best Practices for improving your lead nurturing programs:

1. Map out the Life of a Lead
- Go to a white board and map out the path of every type of lead in your company
- Map it our from inquiry to close
- Identify all the places where you have "lead leakage" (What does not convert
to the next step.)
- These are an ideal set of leads to nurture
- Examples might include:
- All prospects that received a demo but did not convert
- All leads passed to sales that did not move to the next stage after 30 days

2. Set up lead nurturing based on behavior
- Identify a set of online behaviors that indicate specific interest, but not
yet ready for a sales call
- Set up a program that places that prospect into a specific lead nurturing
program based on that online behavior
- Examples might include:
- A visit to your pricing page
- Multiple pages visited in a solution section

3. Set up lead nurturing based on demographics and a form
- Create a form and ask a question like - "What is your number one initiative
for 2010?
- Give several options and force one answer
- Based on that answer, place that prospect into a nurturing campaign on that
top initiative

4. Set up a lead nurturing program post a trade show
- Number one lead complaint is about trade show leads - you typically get a lot
but the quality is not good.
- Take the leads from the trade show and place into a nurturing program to help
qualify

5. Set up a lead nurturing program to re-awaken a database or a list
- Create a high level thought leadership campaign or a series of offers
- Drip to the identified list
- Examples might include:
- Old leads
- Old contacts

What have you seen work?