When Should B2B Lead Nurturing Stop?

I was on a call this morning when a discussion came up about when B2B lead nurturing should stop. Many companies believe this should happen once the lead is qualified and handed over to sales for pursuit. I take issue with this approach because it maintains the division between marketing and sales, instead of promoting a fluid, more holistic approach that encompasses the entire buying process—and beyond.

Here are a few reasons why putting a hard stop on your nurturing programs isn't the best idea:

• Stage in the buying process: Most of the companies I work with have a longer-term buying cycle. At the time a lead may say they're ready for a sales conversation there may still be months before the purchase decision is made. Ceasing to continue sharing more of the storyline the lead is interested in can slow momentum or cause them to go seek the remaining information they need somewhere else. Of course, this assumes your content is mapped to buying stages...


• Change in tone: If your lead has been engaging with the valuable content marketing has been sharing and now they're receiving sales offers or "checking to see if you're ready to buy" emails from a salesperson, you've stopped delivering value and flipped your focus from them to you. Don't think they won't notice.


• Bump in the test drive: Lead nurturing is often included in the lead's evaluation of what it may be like to work with your company. If your marketing-to-sales process is disconnected, how will they interpret the way that reflects on what their treatment will be like if they become a customer? Instead, consider how a well coordinated and consistent experience from end-to-end will improve their perception of your company.

Stopping and starting nurturing programs is like riding in the car with a student driver. Not the smoothest experience you can have on the road.

Consider that marketing needs to nurture across all phases of the life cycle. To achieve fluidity, consider the following:

• When a lead is engaged by sales, continue nurturing and copy the sales person so they know the parts of the storyline the prospect is engaging with. This also gives the sales rep an ongoing source of conversation starters related to the problem the lead is trying to solve so they can continue to help the lead take next steps toward purchase.


• Provide related late-stage content that salespeople can offer to their leads in line with the ongoing story the leads are receiving via nurturing touches.


• Upon purchase, your lead (now customer) should transition into the customer nurturing track you've created for customers who chose your company to solve similar problems. You do have one, right?

Nurturing is valuable for all stages of prospect, lead and customer relationships. It's not just for pre-purchase activities and it shouldn't ever stop—not unless they ask you to. And, that's a whole other issue.

Comments

[Meredith Smith]

Great article Ardath! I couldn't agree more. To effectively nurture, marketing must have a plan in place. At LeadLife Solutions we also teach out customers that they need to have materials of interest to share with their leads and they must come up with reasons to stay in touch. It is important to think of different ways to interact in order to increase the overall effectiveness of your nurturing programs. The key to successful nurturing is keeping your company’s name, expertise, and products and services "front and center" with your leads.

[Mark Palony]

Excellent post. As a veteran marketer of enterprise software, I am also use to long sales cycles that require the constant partnering of sales and marketing. There was a time - many years ago - when the sales team was quick to dismiss the idea that marketing could be of service after the lead had been turned over, but that changed when market perception began regarding ERP as a commodity. We've gotten much better at communicating to leads, opportunities and customers, but it is an area that needs constant attention.

[Michael Cowell]

Nice post tahnks for sharing. I aswell would definitely want to have a long term partner in business.

[Simon Daniels]

Fabulous post Ardath! This point where Marketing activity segues to Sales is crucial and one that few get right. That's not to overlook the challenges involved, but that's no excuse for Marketing to simply drop an opportunity over the wall and leave Sales to it. As always, software systems are not the solution, but I think this is where well implemented marketing automation can come into its own.

[Alex - we're looking for B2B leads & marketing partners]

Ardath, good stuff.
Not sure if you've received my email.

Would be happy to work with you on lead generation for our clients (with SEO, social media, email marketing, display ads, telesales or whatever you excel at) utilizing our Pay Per Deal advertising model.

Ping me if interested.

bizdev, Alex