How often do you hear about EHR Companies generating plenty of leads, but closing very few of them? If you are able to generate a lot of leads, that’s a good start though. But it is sadly true that many EHR companies close at a very low ratio.
Whose fault is it – Marketing or Sales? Usually, it is both.
- Marketing department does not qualify leads adequately before giving them to sales.
- Sales people become desperate because their sales are down and pipeline does not look healthy.
What is the solution?
Lead Nurturing is a great technique that helps EHR Companies convert more leads into sales. It actually helps with converting leads to demos and demos to sales.
The fundamental concept of lead nurturing is to build a trusting relationship with potential clients even if they are not a hot prospect or ready to buy at this time. It may sound like an easy thing to do but it is not.
Facts
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“73% of all B2B leads are not sales-ready.”
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“50% of leads are qualified but not ready to buy.”
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“Only 25% of leads are legitimate and should advance to sales.”
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“79% of marketing leads never convert into sales. Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this poor performance.”
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“It takes, on average, 10 marketing-driven “touches” to progress a lead from the top of the funnel to the top line (i.e. revenue)”
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“Buyers can be 90 percent of the way through the buying process before they reach out to a salesperson. This change to the buyer’s journey has made nurturing even more important. ”
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“80% of sales are made on the 5th-12th contact.”
I don’t need to emphasize the power of lead nurturing for EHR companies in the extremely competitive landscape. Many sales people reach out to their prospects before they are 100% ready to move forward with their purchasing decisions.
Lead nurturing strategies and processes allow you to respond quickly yet appropriately to these leads as they make their ‘intent’ known. Our goal is to provide leads with information they need, when they need it, to help them arrive at buying decisions.
9 Steps of a Lead Nurturing System. Once you have acquired quality leads, follow these 11 steps.
- Respond Instantly. Either by an automated email, manual email, or by phone; contact your lead immediately. Preferably within 2 minutes. If you are unable to speak on the phone right away, set clear expectations regarding who and when someone will contact the lead. Ask for some more details.
- Hold the Promise. Contact again in the time-frame committed, and give them what the lead wanted – a brochure, a quote, or any information that was requested.
- If possible, offer something of value that can be of immediate need to your prospect. Be it a valuable insight such as a thought leadership article relevant to their industry.
- Let the lead know you are available for contact. This may seem trivial, but many forget to include various modes of communication and contact – web-page, direct phone number, email address, etc. Make it easy to find you – including live chat if available.
- Permission – do not forget to make sure you get permission to continue contacting and emailing the lead/prospect.
- Actively stay in touch by continuing to offer more value. Send eBooks, White Paper (not brochures in disguise), or even special offers. However, make sure you are not pushing before someone is ready to consider buying. A good lead nurturing program will tell you what the prospect is doing and where they are in the buying cycle.
- Track the results of interaction with leads. Not just simple tracking such as whether someone opened and clicked on a link, but also capturing the intent on what was clicked and opened, revealing their buying intent.
- Ask for Business. Spot times when a lead is ready. Effective tracking will reveal this.
- Learn and Adjust. Lead Nurturing is a process. Use tracking and conversion experience to adjust the nurturing system.
I have been nurturing my leads, prospects as well as my existing clients. I continue to learn and adjust. Most important is to be process oriented, systematic and learn from mistakes.
There are many good systems that will make all this easier to manage. The most important thing is to develop an effective process and systematize it, internalize it and pursue aggressively.
