Tips For Speaking To The Long-forgotten Lead

You can't shout 'buy it' endlessly without sounding shrill, especially when you're communicating with a long-forgotten lead. Tailor the message to lure someone back into the sales cycle, says Brock Greene, veteran marketer and president of Integrated Marketing Partners.

Q: Brock, how does the communication to the long-forgotten lead differ from what you would say to the hot lead?

BG: I think you need to acknowledge that they expressed interest in the past and you have new news for them that might be valuable. It can't be "now that times are tough we are more interested in your business." You need to have something to say that they want to hear. How you are going to solve their problem, give them information, save money.

Q: So how do you nurture this lead?

BG: Lead nurturing is really a subject unto itself. Your first job with the long-forgotten lead is to re-engage them. Once they are back among the active leads you can put them into the lead cultivation cycle.

Q: How do you integrate the feedback loop into this communication? Polls?

BG: You can request feedback or send a survey to these leads. Sometimes a survey can be a good way to re-engage leads, though the survey should be about the category, not just your product or marketing efforts.

Q: You need a call to action in each of these communications certainly: it's what you want them to do but should you also include an information offer or other tutorial in each communication?

BG: Depends on the type of product or service you offer. For low cost products, the call to action should likely be around purchase, discounts, value-add offers, etc. For other products, information based offers, online calculators,

Q: To whom should you assign the task of speaking to the long-forgotten lead? Someone who knows the product well so they can instantly address concerns, or someone who is an unskilled phone worker who can cull through the list first?

BG: In an ideal world, it is someone from the company, not a telemarketing rep who knows nothing other than what is on the script. I think that Americans are getting fed up with dealing with people that know nothing about the product. I think the move to outsourcing customer support to India and other countries has been a disaster in terms of the customer experience.

Q: You want a variety of offers available to your telesales people; give us a short list of the best ones.

BG: Once again, offers need to be appropriate to the type of product and where the prospect is in the buying cycle. For an old lead, I would think an information-based offer, or a free evaluation, would be a good start.

Q: Consistently reaching out to the Long-Forgotten Lead; so they're no longer forgotten, what can you use for consistent follow-up?

BG: To keep your company top-of-mind with leads, regular communications are the way to go. Whether you create a newsletter or send out timely information about product upgrades, industry reviews, customer success stories, they key is to be regular, relevant and helpful.

Dawn Brister, Editorial Director of Cisco Innovators Forum, and her team of guest bloggers interviews experts, entrepreneurs and authors on how to run a small business better. To learn more about small business best practices and the technologies behind them, visit www.CiscoInnovators.com.