Inbound marketing ensures that your website shares information to attract prospects, along with a capture form for their contact data. We've heard a lot of seemingly great ideas about how to treat those potential clients.
Many of them are ill advised. Some of them will gloss over the need for nurturing the leads that may fill out the capture form. If the sales are not where they need to be, a review of what is currently being done should be undertaken fairly quickly.
Looking at some misconceptions about leads, that can spell disaster for your inbound marketing efforts, will help you get back on track.
1. All leads are ready to buy from us if they visit our site.
They do not know you when they visit your site the first time. This relationship comes only after you build trust, share relevant and educational information, and follow-up.
2. They will fill out the form because our products or services are the best.
Even professionals with business e-mail addresses don't like to enter their contact information unless you offer something of value to them, immediately. This must help them satisfy a need they have.
3. They have given us their contact information so they are ready to buy.
35 – 50% of sales goes to the first firm who contacts the potential client. What plan do you have for this important first contact?
4. The leads should go directly to the sales department.
61% of all B2B marketing leads go directly to sales. Only 27% of those are qualified. Are you wasting resources on this premature activity?
5. The sales department is where all of the follow-up should occur so marketing can get back to work.
50% of the leads generated will be qualified yet are not ready to buy. Does your funnel plan account for this delay of interest and in what way?
79% of leads never get placed into a full featured lead nurturing system. How many of those have already gone to someone else?
57% of the B2B marketers have stated that their priority is 'to convert all qualified leads into paying customers', but:
65% of those firms have no lead nurturing systems in place. How are they tracking those possibly interested and getting them additional information to make their decision?
6. All e-mails for follow should be a generic form letter type that follows a step plan of sales information and broadcast as often as possible.
Only 5% of marketers use a full featured follow-up automation solution.
Of those who do, they achieve 50% more sales ready leads at 33% less cost and enjoy 47% larger purchase orders.
Again, those who understand the power of this type of system, implemented properly, enjoy higher click through rates (14%) and higher conversion rates (10%) when they send personalized emails as opposed to a form type broadcast email.
When you combine all of this data with the failure of many marketers (68%) to have a coherent, consistent system to stay in touch with potential clients, you can see the value of such an important necessity. This is a chance to give them valuable information, special offers as appropriate and friendly encouragement to do the right thing for their patients, their firm and themselves.
Jan Beery is President here at KBK Communications, where she leads her team as they help their clients manage inbound and outbound marketing strategies. Prior to founding KBK Communications, Jan spent 25+ years in the Healthcare field, on the Medical Manufacturing side. You can connect with Jan on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus, or read more of her posts on KBK Communications’ blog.
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