How do you convert the leads in your database into interested prospects? And how do you convert those prospects into paying clients?

If you think I have a formula that works every time, think twice. There’s no magic trick when it comes to prospecting. But there’s this one thing that you can do that is, indeed, magical. It’s called prospect nurturing.

Nurturing begins the moment they respond to your initial outreach message and encompasses all online communication and message interactions you have with your prospects. My nurture framework is designed in a way that, through various conversation-starters, enables you to guide the prospect through the sales funnel carefully and meticulously, ultimately leading to scheduling a call.

Sounds intriguing, right? Well, then, stick around to find out more.

Prospects Nurturing

Oh, nurturing those cold prospects is my second favorite thing to do in the whole world. 😊 The first is - passing down my prospecting wisdom to smart folks like YOU. The nurturing process begins when someone responds to the automated campaign. The primary purpose of the automated campaign is to bait the ideal client with different hooks. 🙂

However, once someone responds, they are removed from the automated sequence and moved towards manual nurturing.

If a prospect responds to your manual nurturing, it does not mean that you should go straight into selling or pitching mode with them. Once the conversation starts, you have to drop your assumptions and start asking questions.

Another crucial point is to differentiate between LinkedIn nurturing and email nurturing. 😃 The way you talk on LinkedIn cannot be the same as the way you do via email. However, the common thread between the two is the need for relationship building. 🤝

Imagine this whole process as a funnel with different layers. For every layer, you have to craft a different message. During these steps, you’ll encounter a few obstacles every now and then. The most common ones are:  

1. Response obstacle
2. Problem obstacle
3. Solution obstacle
4. Meeting obstacle

Throughout the funnel, you will undoubtedly receive a lot of "No's." I mean, we call it a funnel for a reason. It’s also of the essence to point out that every NO you receive is interpreted differently at different stages. 

• At the beginning, a "no" probably means that the prospect doesn’t wish to engage in a conversation.
• During the meeting stage, a NO hits a lot differently. It means the prospect is still not convinced that you can help.

Marketing support is another crucial aspect of the nurturing process. 🤩 Translation: Your marketing team can provide you with testimonials, case studies, and white papers, which you can use as social proof. And, if you have already established yourself as a thought leader in your industry, my oh my, this will do wonders for your transition. 

P.S. Consider the "No" as feedback. And any feedback is better than none. 😉

Lead Nurturing

Here’s an illustration of the approach that my company, BizzBee uses when nurturing the leads we've generated. In each conversation, there are a couple of obstacles that need to be overcome to successfully guide the lead through the sales funnel, to a meeting or a call, and ultimately to becoming a paying client.