Summary:
The annual NAB Show is known as more than a great place to showcase technology and services. It’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity for businesses to connect with customers and capture new leads.
In her post titled “4 Lead Follow-up Mistakes You’ll Never Make Again,” marketing guru Cindy Zuelsdorf of Kokoro Marketing explains how to be sure you’re making the most of all the work you put into the show. Avoid these mistakes and get other helpful pointers on effective lead generation and follow-up after the show.
4 Lead Follow-up Mistakes You’ll Never Make Again
Say you’re back from your latest online or in person event with dozens, hundreds, or thousands of leads. What do you do next? Do you send a thank you email and then just hand the leads to your sales team? Or make one quick call yourself, then hope for the best?
These days, it’s just not enough to send one email to a new prospect as a follow-up or just hand leads off to your salespeople. That’s why I work with so many of my customers to help them augment the work their sales team is already doing.
Once you’ve captured new leads, follow up with a great system that will help you succeed! Don’t let a single opportunity fall through the cracks. Here are a few of my best tips I give my clients to help them avoid common lead follow-up mistakes.
1. Don’t scatter your efforts across various products or services.
Pick one product or one service to work on first. I always suggest going with something that’s easy or offers a lot of opportunity.
2. Don’t go in unprepared.
Before you write that email or make that call, make a note of the 3-5 typical steps in the buying process. Identify the steps most people take before making the purchase. You probably know all this already, so just keep it top of mind.
3. Don’t forget to meet prospects with the information they want and need.
Think about the questions people typically ask about your product or service, and then create content and emails around each step of the buying process. Go one step further and choose the content style your prospects like most, be it an email, blog, press release, FB live, webinar, video demo, LinkedIn article, interview, lunch and learn, checklist, or SMS message.
4. Don’t work harder than you have to!
Put in some automated systems for efficiency and repeatability. Automation gives you the time you need to connect with people. Use technology (marketing automation is my fave!) to do better — and give yourself more time to do what you love.
Next Steps:
Maximize that lead gen! Talking to a promising prospect? Snap a photo of their business card on your phone and bring them right into your database? Ask visitors to your website or Facebook page to fill out a form, then send them directly into your database. Put in place a system that makes it easy for people to become part of your community. Give them a simple way to indicate interest, raise a hand, sign up, or join!
Turn all those random contacts into useful leads. Whether it’s a stack of business cards, new contacts in your phone, or an email scrawled on a napkin, use of today’s many fabulous systems and tools out there to bring them into your marketing system! Do this for every booth meeting, demo, and to your virtual events and online, meetings, too. Don’t leave that money lying on the table!
Wouldn’t it be nice to know who opens your emails, what they click on, and if they have visited your website? Use lead scoring to track who’s most interested and engaged. Lead scoring also allows you to put a rubric (above) in place that assigns points to different actions.
Related Posts:
Fast lead capture for shows and traveling: Use your phone to get leads into your CRM
What To Do Next In Your Business? (Using Lifecycle Marketing to Skyrocket Your Business)
NAB Show Webinar – Lead Follow-up After the Show
Are you responsible for sales and marketing at a high tech company?