Automation Marketing Sales Get Ahead of the Competition With Automated Lead Nurturing Tess Boissonneault Jan 1, 2022 7 mins read Blog Get Ahead of the Competition With Automated Lead Nurturing It’s no secret that for many businesses, generating leads is a top priority, and understandably so. But the reality is that 80% of new leads will never translate into sales. Sales teams should therefore not only focus on generating leads, but also on developing an effective lead nurturing strategy to ensure that no prospective client slips through the cracks. However, nurturing leads requires time and resources and if you aren’t fast enough, your prospects may lose interest and seek out alternative solutions instead. Sales teams can streak ahead of their competition by automating lead nurturing to make the process more streamlined. Wrk’s Automated Wrkflows, as we’ll see in this article, can support B2B Sales teams by helping them to nurture and guide prospective customers through the sales funnel quickly, in spite of the unique challenges they may be facing now and in the years ahead. Challenges for Sales Teams Sales teams face many hurdles. Many organizations encounter cyclical periods when business is slow, particularly in the summer months. And depending on your product or service, you may also experience a slow period around the holidays, as buyers’ minds are elsewhere. If that wasn’t enough, situations may arise beyond your control—like a global pandemic—that could impact your ability to meet your goals. Beyond facing the challenges of cyclical cycles, employees face difficulties that come along with the territory of working in sales, such as getting in touch with prospects, integrating sales with marketing efforts, and classifying leads to identify those which are most likely to convert—not to mention completing administrative tasks. So the question for B2B suppliers today is: how do you secure sales and high-quality leads when spending is down and resources are stretched? The answer? Lead nurturing. Why lead nurturing is more important than ever One of the first things that a Sales team can do to overcome these challenges is to differentiate its offering. Standing out from the crowd is a key part of getting noticed, which is the first step towards securing a lead. However, catching the eye of a prospect isn’t the only thing that matters. In order to convert prospects into quality customers, Sales teams must nurture leads, helping them through each stage of the buying funnel. Today, it is more important than ever for your Sales team to have a comprehensive lead nurturing strategy. B2B buyers, rightfully cautious with their spending, are looking to alleviate specific pain points in their business and are thus looking for solutions that are relevant to them. An effective lead nurturing strategy will enable salespeople to not only identify these pain points but to offer their leads relevant content, scalable solutions, and, ultimately, added value in the form of their product or service. What’s more, companies that excel at lead nurturing will generate 50% more leads that are ready to make a purchase at a 33% lower cost. A good lead nurturing strategy will be multifaceted and will allow your Sales teams to engage with prospective clients on many levels and through various channels. It is also important to note that each lead’s nurturing strategy will vary depending on the prospect’s buyer persona, pain points, and goals. Equipped with this knowledge, Sales teams can supply leads with relevant content (i.e. blog posts, case studies, and whitepapers) and make valuable connections through direct mail, email marketing, or social media. Not only is lead nurturing an effective way to showcase your product or service’s value to a specific customer, it’s also an effective method of building a lasting relationship with them. This investment can pay off in both the long-term and the short-term, as your business will remain top-of-mind when these leads are ready to buy. A single-click-solution to lead nurturing While a full-fledged lead nurturing strategy pays off for B2B suppliers, there is no question that it involves many elements and requires a considerable amount of resources and attention. Without support, your Sales team can drown under everything that high-quality lead nurturing involves, including tailored sales pitches, customer relationship management (CRM) updates, and regular, personalized follow-ups. Luckily, this doesn’t have to be the case. Automation technologies, such as yours truly here at Wrk, give your team the tools to streamline lead nurturing efficiently and cost-effectively.At its core, Wrk enables B2B Sales teams to automate many of the mundane, repetitive steps involved in lead nurturing, freeing up valuable time to focus on high-value prospects and end-of-funnel leads. Once a lead is added, Wrk’s cutting-edge technology can automatically classify the client, compile relevant data and insights, and create a customized product sheet. Lead nurturing automation can also generate and schedule personalized emails for your potential customers and promptly respond to inbound communications. A strong lead nurturing process can help your Sales team stand out from the crowd. (Photo credit: Randy Fath) Wrk’s Hybrid Automation solution also recognizes that each lead nurturing journey is different: a prospective customer that has downloaded an eBook or participated in a webinar hosted by your company is already further along the sales funnel than a lead who is browsing your website for the first time. Automated lead nurturing, therefore, tracks each lead’s sales journey and ensures that not only are they receiving content that is relevant to them, but that they are receiving it at the right time and in the right dosage, so to speak. Distinguishing between those at the top, middle, or bottom of the sales funnel is crucial in ensuring that your lead nurturing process is as tailored as possible, and automation helps you achieve this goal seamlessly. But how does automation know what content to send and when to share it? It’s simple, really. By analyzing how your leads are interacting with your communications—whether they are opening and clicking through emails, for example—automation segments leads into different stages of the buying journey and adjusts the marketing strategy accordingly. Ultimately, automated lead nurturing handles many of the early stages of the B2B selling process, such as product education, giving your Sales team more time to focus on customers that are further along the pipeline. Salespeople no longer need to spend their valuable time determining which leads are valuable, automated lead nurturing smoothly carries prospective buyers through the pipeline and presents only qualified leads to Sales teams. Reach your sales goals with automation Automated lead nurturing can infuse new energy into your sales strategy, generating high-quality leads that will help meet KPI and OKR goals. To learn more about how Wrk’s Hybrid Automation solution can support your Sales team with lead nurturing, visit our Wrkflows page. Feature image photo credit: Anastasiia Kamil Share This Article Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email