Every B2B marketer has had a warm prospect inexplicably go cold. And at times, it can be hard to wrap your mind around it. Initial interactions and follow-up activities went well, then all of a sudden—radio silence.
What went wrong?
The lack of response is of great concern to marketers because it means unknown circumstances could have happened that made the prospect change their mind. Perhaps the prospect found a more competitive option and decided to make the switch. Or maybe the prospect was not yet ready to convert.
At times, the business needs may change, forcing the prospect’s demand for certain products/services to change.
Whatever the reason, leads will go silent from time to time no matter how much effort you put into nurturing the relationship. These 5 tips will help you to re-engage past leads and grow your B2B business.
1. Test the Waters First
Industry experts postulate that over 80% of consumers accuse salespeople of being pushy. Avoid becoming a statistic by getting a little creative.
Rather than pitching in your first email, use a sort of an “ice breaker” to pique their interest and open up channels of communication. A sweepstake or a light contest is a great way to get started. It is also a good idea to create a psychological profile of your potential buyer.
For example, you can send out a questionnaire or fun quizzes with a promise of free rewards for those who participate or access to huge discounts for those who complete certain tasks. Such tasks could include sharing user-generated content (UGC).
2. Leverage Trigger Events
A trigger event is a phenomenal change or development that happens to your prospect’s business. Use this event (news) to re-engage with them.
So how do you go about it?
Use social media to search for any recent mentions of your prospects’ recent achievements. Once you find one, craft a striking, yet event-related subject line that will evoke curiosity. Then write a brief email congratulating them on this success. Be sure not to add a sales pitch to it.
It’s quite likely your past leads will reopen communication with you once they receive a congratulatory email. Pawel Grabowski, a prominent SEO expert, was able to revive a dead lead within one hour by using this tactic.
3. Use Social Media to Re-Engage Cold Leads
Social media remains one of the most reliable means for generating quality leads, especially for real estate businesses. It also provides the perfect platform for reconnecting with past leads.
The trick is to know the demographics of your old leads. The older generation prefers to interact on Facebook.
Millennials prefer Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Entrepreneurs and small business leads prefer LinkedIn.
Once you know where to find them, look to establish connections. Like, comment and react to their posts. Engage with them and if possible, even send them one-on-one messages to rekindle past relationships.
4. Warm Up Your Cold Leads with Gifts
Nothing gets the attention of people than gifts. Use freebies to reconnect with dead leads and grow your B2B business.
A popular psychological principle commonly employed in business suggests that human beings experience the fear of missing out, and that includes amazing deals. You can entice your dead leads with irresistible discounts, limited promos and exclusive deals on some of your products.
Valve video games took the discount tactic up a notch. They offered a 75% discount on all video games to all their customers—past and current. Their marketing and sales team went the extra mile to reach out to all leads, cold and current. By the end of the campaign, the company registered a 548% increase in sales.
5. Set Up a Drip Campaign
Drip campaigns are a surefire way to re-establish relationships with cold leads. Since follow-up emails are based on your leads’ particular actions (or lack thereof), your emails will always feel personal and relevant to them.
You can launch a time-based drip campaign by sending one email today, a follow-up email after three days, and perhaps another one after one week.
If a prospect clicks a link in your email, you can take action by sending them related emails regularly. But if they ignore your email, you can resolve by sending them another email with a different theme/message.
What other tactics do you employ to re-engage past leads for your B2B business? Share with us in the comments section below.
The original version of this article was first published on V3Broadsuite.
- Re-engaging Past Leads: Tips for B2B Companies - January 2, 2020
