5 Tips for Managing a Lead Nurturing Program

An old saying in the home improvement business is that a third of prospects buy from us, a third buy from our competitors, and a third don’t buy. However, that final third likely will buy from someone sometime.  

That’s the lead we need to nurture. 

Don’t simply move on to new leads. Invest time and effort to stay in contact because many of those leads can be converted into sales. 

An Effective Nurture Program 

A lead nurture program involves five categories:  

Each of these requires a different approach. 

Leads where an appointment was not set  

Companies often get inquiries from a prospect who is simply requesting information and not ready to schedule an appointment. Enter their contact information into your CRM and set a date to reconnect no later than 90 days from the initial contact. 

After that, it’s simply a matter of running a search of your prospects according to the re-contact date and then calling them. Mention any promotions you have going on and push to schedule an appointment.

There should be a minimum of three attempts to reach a prospect, and each should be logged into the CRM with date, time, and notes about the call, such as “no answer”or “left message.” 

Recording detailed notes will make follow-up calls more effective, and having relevant information about the prospect’s history can help keep the conversation going.  

If you don’t reach the prospect, try calling on different days and times. For prospects that you simply cannot reach, assign them a new re-contact date and try again later.  

If you connect with a prospect but they won’t set an appointment, ask them when it would be best for you to re-contact them. Then, enter a re-contact date that is sooner by approximately 1/3 of the time. For example, if the prospect says to call back in 90 days, enter a re-contact date 60 days out. 

Appointments that were scheduled but cancelled before they were run 

Prospects occasionally cancel appointments before they’re run, but unless they indicate that they have purchased from someone else, are no longer interested, or tell you not to contact them again, you should follow up immediately and try to reset the appointment. If they are unwilling to set an appointment now, ask them when you can contact them again. 

Appointments where a demo/price was not given 

Occasionally, you may run an appointment where the sales rep didn’t give a quote. These should be followed up within 24 hours to ascertain what happened and conduct a brief quality control survey. Ask if the rep arrived on time, if they seemed interested in the customer’s needs and showed samples of available options. Also inquire about the tone of the interaction. 

If the situation involved the rep running out of time, or the customer having to leave early, or the entire decision-making party not being present, offer to reset the appointment.  

If it was something more personal—say a conflict between rep and customer—offer to reset the appointment with a senior sales rep, and pass the information on to the sales manager. 

If the rep did not give a price because the prospect was looking for a product that your company doesn’t provide, note the type of work they were looking for and pass the information on to the sales manager. 

If the customer’s circumstances have changed and they are no longer interested in pursuing the project at this time, assign them a re-contact date 90 days out and follow the process outlined in #1. 

Appointments where a demo/price was given but the customer didn’t purchase 

In these cases make a quality control call within 24 hours of the appointment. Ask why they didn’t move forward with your company. Ask if they saw the value in the materials, specifications, and workmanship your company was offering. Find out when they plan to make a decision about who to work with and see if there’s anything you can go do to earn their business. If the prospect indicates that price was the reason they did not proceeed, ask how far apart your pricing was from where they need it to be, and then pass this information on to the sales manager for possible re-hash. 

If the customer’s circumstances changed and they’re no longer interested in pursuing the project at this time, assign them a re-contact date 90 days out and follow the process outlined in #1. 

Appointments where the customer does purchase 

In cases where the customer makes a purchase, call them within 24 hours of the appointment and thank them for choosing your compay—but also take the opportunity to perform a quick quality control survey. Ask the basics (was the rep on time, engaged, clear in their presentation, etc.) but also ask why they decided to move forward with your company and see if there are any lingering questions or unresolved items that we can help you with. And finally, inquire about any future projects they might want to undertake and enter that information into the CRM for re-contact down the line.  

Final Word 

Once an extensive database of re-contact dates has been established, there should be a steady stream of prospects/customers to call every business day.  

These names and numbers represent opportunities for the company to set appointments and sell more jobs. Since the marketing costs to acquire these leads have been already been paid for, any appointments that are set and jobs that are sold reduce the company’s marketing costs and add additional appointments and sales at minimal additional cost to the company.