Lead Nurturing Strategies

You Gonna Nurture Those Leads or What?

We have to talk about lead nurturing strategies. You know what I’m talking about, right? It’s that thing where you get someone interested in your business, and then you don’t just ghost them like a bad Tinder date. You stick around, you show them you care.

In the latest episode of the Hot Pursuit Podcast, we got the scoop on effective lead nurturing strategies from marketing expert, Janet Ballonoff. She’s the founder of Marketing Strategy Solutions. And let me tell you, she’s got some things to say about how we’re all messing up our lead nurturing.

The Sales Funnel? More Like a Plate of Spaghetti

You know how we used to think selling was as straightforward as your grandma’s lasagna recipe? Well, Janet’s here to tell us the real story. She says, and I quote, “As much as we use a sales funnel as a picture, it’s not linear. The process is not linear. People, it’s much more like a plate of spaghetti.”

A plate of spaghetti! Can you believe it? We’re out here trying to pour sauce neatly into a funnel, and our customers are jumping around like meatballs in a frying pan. It’s chaos out there, people!

Get Your Act Together: The Basics

Alright, so how do we deal with this spaghetti mess? Janet’s got some ideas, and, while it’s not quite as simple as slurping up noodles with a spoon, you’ll get it.

Let’s start with some quick do’s and don’ts so no one embarrasses themself:

The Do’s and Don’ts

  • DO be consistent. Don’t pop in and out like you’re playing Whac-A-Mole.
  • DON’T let leads fall through the cracks. You worked hard for those leads! Close them!
  • DO keep testing and improving. If something’s not working, fix it!
  • DON’T be a pest. Nobody likes that guy who keeps calling about your car’s extended warranty.

Set Some Goals, For Crying Out Loud

Now, before you start blasting out emails like it’s confetti at a wedding, Janet says you need to sit down and figure out what you’re trying to accomplish. She’s all about SMART goals. “They’re specific, measurable, and they have a time frame.” she says, ” So you know what your goal is, you know how you’re going to measure that you have an idea of what success looks like.”

Without these SMART goals, you’re just throwing pasta at the wall and hoping something sticks. And let me tell you, cleaning dried pasta off the wall? Not fun. (Just ask my mom about the Great Spaghetti Incident of ’92.)

Know Your People

You have to know who you’re talking to. And I don’t mean just their name and what they had for lunch. Janet’s got a whole system. She says, “I do a lot of spreadsheet work because I can move it around and really like play around and put the pieces of the puzzle in the right places and streamline what those pain points are.”

So tell the kids to put up the 2,000 piece Thomas Kinkade because you’ve got a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Don’t Be a Robot

AI is all the rage now. But Janet’s not having it. She says, “You need to make sure that you’re giving information that somebody can’t just type the question into ChatGPT themselves to get that answer.”

Good point!

If I wanted to talk to a robot, I’d call my cable company’s customer service. People want real stories, real experiences.

Share some war stories. Tell them about that time you royally screwed up and how you fixed it. That’s the good stuff. That’s what people remember, not some computer-generated nonsense about “synergy” and “paradigm shifts.”

Get Personal (But Don’t Be Creepy)

You know how your aunt always remembers your birthday but also brings up that embarrassing thing you did when you were five? That’s the line we’re walking here. Janet says it’s “beyond being able to put their first name and their title and their company, right? Into a little like form in the email, right?”

People want personalized stuff, but they don’t want to feel like you’re stalking them. It’s a delicate dance, people. Like trying to eat a messy sandwich without getting it all over your face. You gotta find that balance.

Use Your Data (And Your Brain)

You’ve got all this data. Great. Now use it!

But remember, behind all those numbers are real people. Don’t just blast out emails because the data says people are more likely to check their email on Tuesday.

Think about what those people need. Be helpful!

Build Relationships

Look, at the end of the day, lead nurturing is about relationships. It’s like dating, but instead of dinner and a movie, you’re offering solutions to their problems. And there’s no food. (Except the spaghetti, but that was just a metaphor.)

Be genuine, be helpful, and don’t be boring.

Now get out there and nurture those leads like your business depends on it. Because it does!