Sales professionals quite often draw upon a possibility where potential leads are constantly in touch with them. They open messages, reply to emails, accept calls, and may have even shown interest in a proposition and asked for more details. However, unexpectedly, they disappear from the radar.
What just went wrong?
Well, chances are that they weren’t generally keen on the product or service but were being polite. Or on the other hand, maybe they are intrigued by the offering but lack the funds or are not the decision-maker. The reasons can be plenty, they left the organization, chose another service provider, or simply do not want to pursue. Whatever might be the reason, the process of chasing a potential lead and realizing it turned cold can be very disappointing.
Switching leads into clients is a must for every sales professional. Considered as a priority on any sales target list, the HubSpot team stated that over 65% of businesses believe that it is the most vital factor to ace annually. Nearly half of your leads indeed tend to run through a long sales cycle, irrespective of them coming across as lucrative and likely to close.
Achieving the high expectation of closing deals regularly is difficult and let’s be honest, the longer the sales cycle, the greater the chance of driving leads to going cold on you. However, effective sales strategies have proven that cold leads can be turned around, re-heated, and potentially be driven to make the sale.
Here’s how you can transform your sales journey in several unique ways, and follow these to improve your lead nurturing that is bound to reap results.
1. Begin Networking Approach
Pitching to random strangers is probably the toughest task a sales professional must face. Therefore, the smartest approach is to start through your network and begin shortlisting the people who can help you bridge the gap between you and your potential lead. This step will ensure your leads get reliable feedback or reference about you or your business and are warm and approachable.
Also, if at all your cold lead is not interested in the service/product or has a genuine budget-related reason, chances are they will be open about it to the common link between you two and you will get better clarity on whether or not you need to pursue them.
2. Gentle Nudge Approach
If the first approach doesn’t pan out for you or you did not find a common connection that can bring you closer to your lead, try reminding them about you. Your lead must be aware of your existence, your business, and your past communication with each other. If not, you need to ensure that you subtly engage with them and refresh their memory.
This will lead to brand recognition and build more trust in your professionalism and brand. The best possible way to re-engage with your cold leads and keep track of every activity is through your sales CRM. An effective CRM can help you discover the lead’s interests, the best time of the day to contact them, and also evaluate how far have you progressed towards their buying decision.
3. Bespoke Approach
No matter what approach you may choose to get back on track with your cold leads, always remember to personalize your communication. A bespoke approach has a greater chance of you building a stronger connection and more likely to head towards a positive purchase decision. Be it for a call that you make, message that you drop, or content that you share, if it is relevant and engaging you are ten times more likely to have it viewed and responded to.
Therefore, personalize your voicemail scripts, research more about your cold leads, study their social media accounts to view recent achievements or thoughts they might have shared, pen down a few trends and challenges within their industry. These are bound to help you build a rapport and may even lead to a sale.
4. Multi-Platform Approach
No one likes being hounded by sales professionals, yet to get your point across you need to reach out to your cold leads so that they notice you. However, spamming your cold leads will not get you anywhere. You need to strategize a multi-platform approach in the form of a sales cadence that covers phone calls, voicemail, e-mail, and social media over a few days.
None of your communication should beat around the bush or have them confused. Your approach needs to be confident, precise, and insightful. Your message should leave an impact that you are trying to get in touch for a service or product that has the potential to add value to their operations.
5. Acknowledging Approach
Getting back to cold leads can be tough and the easiest way to reheat leads is by rekindling a connection through complementing them. Social media is a great platform to re-establish connections, build your presence and connection. Make sure you are connected to your potential lead over professional platforms or research well about their participation in thought leadership, blogs, or quotes where you can complement them. Following your leads over Twitter and LinkedIn are a great start to re-ignite a connection.
Research shows that sales professionals are eight times more likely to improve sales when they add extra effort, make a potential lead feel more valued. Each approach even though followed to the T might bring up challenges but will be a learning curve that is bound to enhance your selling journey. Gaining the trust and re-building an interest of a cold lead takes double the effort, however, it also helps foster credibility in a brand that doesn’t give up on potential leads. Having such an approach is well-respected and does get businesses multiple referrals to pave their sales ahead.
