7 Fatal Lead Nurturing Mistakes You Don't Want to Make

Lead nurturing is essential to your B2B company's success. According to Invespcro, B2B companies that regularly nurture their leads generate half as many sales-ready leads at one-third of the cost of their counterparts that rarely or never nurture their leads. With lead nurturing, you can warm up prospective buyers so that they are more likely to interact with your B2B company and purchase its products or services. There are certain things you should avoid, however, when nurturing leads. Below are seven fatal lead nurturing mistakes you don't want to make.

#1) Waiting Too Long

The timing of your lead nurturing efforts matters. Once you've acquired the information of a lead, you should contact him or her as quickly as possible. The longer you wait, the lower your chances of converting the lead into a buyer. Lead nurturing works best when performed immediately after acquiring the information about a prospective buyer. These "fresh" leads are typically interested in making a purchase. You just need to convince them that your B2B company's product or service is the right choice.

#2) Overlooking Email

Don't ignore the power of email in your lead nurturing strategy. A report published by WordStream suggests that 86% of B2B buyers prefer to communicate with vendors and suppliers by email. You can still use other methods of communication, such as phone and direct mail. Overlooking email, though, is a fatal mistake that will hurt your ability to nurture leads into buyers.

#3) Sending Too Many Emails

While email is an invaluable tool for lead nurturing, you shouldn't overdo it. Sending too many emails to the same prospective buyer is counterproductive. Some of the emails may get filtered and removed as spam. Even if they all land in a lead's inbox, the prospective buyer may ignore them. When it comes to emails, you should focus on quality rather than quantity. Sending just a few high-quality emails to a lead is far more effective than blasting him or her with a dozen or more generic and low-quality emails.

#4) Not Matching Sales Leads With the Right Products or Services

An effective lead nurturing strategy requires matching leads with the right products or services. You don't want to recommend the same products or services to all of your B2B company's leads. Different leads have different needs. To convince a lead to make a purchase, you need to match him or her with the right product or service. Go through the past correspondences you've had with the lead to identify what, exactly, he or she is looking to buy. With this information, you can find an appropriate product or service to recommend. By matching leads with the right products or services, you'll have a more effective and successful lead nurturing strategy.

Another great way is to use SalesLeads' project reports. These sales leads have been identified with projects at various stages of approval or implementation. By simply reading the project description, you'll start your conversation by already knowing which product or service can best fit the customer's need. 

#5) Failing to Convey Value Proposition

Value proposition and lead nurturing go hand in hand. To warm up a lead, you need a value proposition. A value proposition, of course, is a message or statement that reinforces the value of a product or service. It's designed to convince leads that a product or service is worth the price for which it sells. Without a value proposition -- or with an ineffective value proposition -- your lead nurturing strategy is destined to fail.

#6) Not Tracking Sales Leads

Don't forget to track sales leads as you nurture them. Many B2B companies neglect to track their sales leads after acquiring them. They'll record the information of new sales leads when they initially acquire them, after which they'll fail to record any additional information about their sales leads. Unless you track sales leads through all stages of your B2B company's sales process, though, you won't be able to effectively nurture them.

Fortunately, you don't have to manually track sales leads. There are automated tools available that can track them on your behalf. Customer relationship management (CRM) software, whether local or cloud based, is an effective solution for tracking leads. CRM software allows you to keep tabs on your B2B company's leads through all stages of the sales process. Using it, you can see the exact stages in which your B2B company's leads are located.

#7) Writing Off Leads Too Early

What does this mean exactly? Some B2B companies write off their leads too early. When a lead rejects their offer, for instance, they'll assume he or she is a lost cause, in which case they'll stop pursuing them. Rejections come with the territory in the B2B industry. But just because a lead rejects your offer, you shouldn't assume he or she is a lost cause.

Leads who reject your offer initially may change their mind. You'll have to spend some extra time nurturing them, but with the right nurturing approach, you can often turn them into buyers. Regardless, don't make the mistake of writing off leads too early. They can be a source of revenue of your B2B company, assuming you nurture them and move them through your B2B company's sales pipeline.