I met with a client this morning who currently uses Net-Results to track website visitors and identify companies coming to her site. When she sees one who could be a good prospect, she picks up the phone and attempts to call the person who came to her site. She doesn’t always get to the right person, but she does typically make contact with someone in the organization and has a good initial prospecting call. When I asked her how she normally follows up with those prospects, she said she generally handwrites notes and mails them. I thought that was a great idea – very few people do that because email is just easier – so it really makes her standout. But, I felt that the combination of handwritten notes and automated lead nurturing could further enhance her follow-up strategy and give her greater insight into the actual interest level of her prospects.
So, I showed her how to set up a lead nurturing campaign in Net-Results. First, she would create an email template using our text editor and include personalized fields such as first name, company name, and any custom attributes she wanted to include. Then, she would create a perpetual campaign based on a list. When she obtained the prospect’s contact information over the phone, she would enter it into Net-Results and add them to a list. When the contact is added to the list, an email from the lead nurturing campaign is automatically triggered. This is her “thank you” email that she would normally send from her email (and will look the same), but this email will contain Net-Results tracking. So, when the lead opens the email and clicks through it, she will then know every page they look at, how long they spend on the site, their navigational path, if they’ve been to the site before anonymously, and every time they return. She can even automatically adjust lead scores based on these actions so she will undoubtedly know who her best prospects are.
We will also set up the campaign to continuously follow up with those less-qualified leads. Those prospects that do not click through her initial follow up email will be automatically sent an additional follow up three days later, and then a final follow up the following week if they continue not to respond. The client is also going to post a PDF brochure on her site and link to it from her emails so she will know who is looking at her sales collateral.
Of course, among all this she will continue to produce handwritten thank you notes; but Net-Results will automate and enhance the entire process.
Using Net-Results will allow you to understand who is actually interested in your product or service after a sales call and who is simply being polite. Identifying those most interested will allow you to focus time and energy on real sales opportunities while nurturing those less interested in an automated fashion. Save time and close more business by integrating old techniques with new technology… brilliant!
