So, here you are, you've invested quite a bit of money into creating leads.  Your website is optimized, social media and paid ads are working. Leads are coming in daily.

You know you’ll get to the leads, eventually …  Trying to reach the important ones first and answer as many questions as you can. Some want to know more about your service, others are ready to purchase right away.

It’s a good problem to have, but still- it’s a problem.

Take a Look at these 5 steps to creating a successful lead management strategy.

Step One - Have a process:

Every good strategy needs a plan and tool.  Many of these tools have trials or beginner products that allow you to use the technology for a low monthly price (sometimes even free).

I recommend starting with these tools:

• CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive)
• Email Service (MailChimp, Constant Contact)
• Form Builder (Hubspot, Formstack)

Integrate your contact list with your new tools.

This can be time consuming, but creating the right fields and relationships will avoid you having to manually input hours of data from a spreadsheet to your CRM.

Should you use Automations?

How many emails are you sending?  How big is your marketing budget?

Similar to segmenting your contact list to optimize your business needs, having automations reply to contact requests and answer FAQs move your customers down the purchasing path a lot quicker.

Step Two - Qualify & Rank Your Leads:

Not every lead is the same.  You need to pay close attention to that.   A potential customer asking for business hours should be handled differently than a customer inquiring about pricing.

Rank your leads according to your business needs and goals.

If your business goal is to sell a certain amount of product.  Rank leads tied to that product higher than general inquiry leads.

By having your leads qualified and ranked you will close the sales cycle time by anticipating objections with content directed right at the clients needs.

Step 3 - Engage your leads

It will take more than just one email or a sales call.

On average it takes about 8-10 contacts before a customer will make a buying decision.

Make that journey easier for them by developing tailored engagement campaigns that address their needs.

Here are two types of engagement campaigns that will motivate your audience to act:

• Activation Campaign.  
  • The goal of this type of engagement campaign is to give the buyer a sense of urgency to purchase the item before they miss out.  FOMO.
• Nurturing Campaign 
  • The goal of this type of engagement campaign is to give the buyer general FAQs, features and benefits and differentiators will be pointed out.

Both types of campaigns usually last 7 days with 3-5 Touches.

Step 4 - Listen and Act:

Now that your campaigns are up and running and you start to get feedback.

Listen to your customers.

• What are they saying about the product?
• What are they saying about the service?
• Engage your audience with post purchase surveys and feedback directed campaigns.
• What is your team saying?  Are sales and marketing working together?

If you are in sales and marketing, you might want to consider getting help.  It's easy to fall into an echo chamber when you are the only voice in the room.

Once you have data, act on it.

A/B test your emails and engagement efforts to ensure you are speaking to your audience in the right way.

Step Five - Close the deal

Now that you have your audience primed, time to ask for the sale.

It's best to be simple and plain with your request.

For example; if you have taken the time to read this entire blog, it would be a good idea to set up a free consultation with IOI to discuss how implementing some of these ideas can help you grow your business.