lead is someone who has in some way expressed interest in something you have to offer to sale. You’re going to have many more leads than prospects, and many more prospects than customers.

When you get a lead your goal is to qualify them, turning them into a real prospect and then converting the prospect into a customer.

Start with a Goal

Do you want to increase sales, educate prospects, get people to download your free trial, or do you want to accomplish something else? It’s important to know what your intentions are from the start so that you can design your lead nurturing campaign to fit in with the goal.

Edit, Edit, Edit

Every bit of content that you want to be consumed by your leads needs to be edited for grammar, clarity, and format. You want the information you send them free to represent the type of products and services you offer. If you make silly mistakes, they will notice and yes, they will judge you for it.

Remember the Drip

Don’t send everything all at once to your leads. Instead, practice the drip system of sending just a little bit of information at a time. Tease them, heighten their desires, and make them want what you have to offer before you give it to them.

Consistency Wins the Day

Send out messages and information to your leads on a regular and consistent basis. If someone signs up for your email list, they are expecting to get regular messages from you. If you make them short, to the point, and informative, they’ll be happy to get the messages.

Use Your Blog

While you will use your email list to send information out to leads, you can also use your blog, and use the blog update feature within your email marketing system to notify leads of new blog posts. Write some of your blog posts directly to leads as the audience.

Know the Buy Cycle

Every audience has a buy cycle according to the products and/or services that a seller is promoting. You should have information going out to leads at every stage of the buying cycle in order to qualify them and ultimately convert them.

Understand Your Audience

Nurturing a lead is different from talking to someone who has already purchased from you. Ensure that you separate leads from interested parties and from actual prospects or customers. In this way, you’ll be able to target your messages correctly for the audience.

Know Your Products

It should go without saying that you need to know your products and services backwards and forwards. Know how a product or service impacts your audience.