You've put in the work to generate leads for your B2B software company, so now it's time to nurture those leads to close more deals. But lead nurturing is an art form. You have to strike the right balance of staying in touch without pestering people. You need to provide value and build trust and credibility. If done right, lead nurturing through strategic follow-up can turn prospects into eager customers. But if you come on too strong or don't follow up at all, you risk losing the lead. This guide will show you the keys to mastering lead nurturing through effective follow-up for B2B software sales. You'll learn how to stay top of mind with leads, build relationships, address objections, and turn more prospects into customers. With the right strategy and tools in place, you'll become a lead nurturing pro in no time.
The Importance of Lead Nurturing for B2B Sales
Lead nurturing is crucial for success in B2B software sales. Once a prospect expresses interest in your product, the real work begins. Consistent, thoughtful follow-up and lead nurturing is what converts leads into sales.
You need to stay in front of your leads and continue the conversation. Send periodic emails to say hello, provide helpful content, answer questions, and keep your company and product top of mind. Make follow-up phone calls for leads that seem especially promising. Really get to know your prospects and build that relationship.
The key is adding value. Share case studies, whitepapers, blog posts, videos, and other resources that demonstrate how your product solves key challenges for businesses like theirs. Highlight key features and new updates that would benefit them.
Be persistent but patient and polite. It can take 7 to 13 follow-up attempts to connect with a lead, so stay patient and keep the lines of communication open. Provide options to make it easy for them to continue the conversation in their preferred method - call, email, social media or otherwise.
When a lead is finally ready to buy, they'll likely go with the company that's been there for them all along - the one that took the time to nurture the relationship and address their needs. With a solid lead nurturing strategy, you'll build the trust and credibility to be that company. Keep following up, keep adding value, and keep building those relationships. The sales will follow.
Creating a Lead Nurturing Strategy for Your Business
Once you've generated some promising leads, the real work begins. To turn those leads into sales, you need a solid lead nurturing strategy.
Identify your lead nurturing goals
First, determine what you want to achieve through lead nurturing. Do you want to educate leads, build trust and credibility, or move leads closer to a sale? Clearly defining your goals will shape your entire strategy.
Choose your lead nurturing tools
With goals in hand, select tools to help you execute your strategy. Email is a must, but also consider marketing automation software, landing pages, social media, and content offers like ebooks or webinars. Using a variety of tools will keep leads engaged.
Develop your lead nurturing content
Create targeted content to match each stage of the buyer's journey. Early leads may benefit from educational content introducing your product and industry issues it solves. For mid-level leads, focus on addressing common questions and objections. Closer to sales-ready, discuss pricing, features, and how you stand apart from competitors.
Track lead engagement and make changes
monitor how leads interact with your content so you can adjust your strategy. Look for trends in open and click rates to see what's working. Re-engage with dormant leads by switching up your content or cadence. Lead nurturing is an ongoing process, so continue testing and optimizing to achieve your goals.
With a thoughtful lead nurturing strategy backed by an engaging mix of content and outreach tools, you'll be primed to build solid relationships with your leads and ultimately drive more sales. Success comes from continually refining your approach to match the changing needs of your leads and business. Stick with it, learn from your experiences, and don't be afraid to try new tactics. Your tenacity will pay off!
Lead Scoring - Identifying Your Hot Leads
Once you’ve generated some leads, it’s time to determine which ones are most promising and ready to buy. This is known as lead scoring. By ranking and prioritizing your leads, you can focus your sales efforts on the hottest prospects.
Identify Buying Signals
Look for leads that are demonstrating buying signals, like:
- Requesting product demos, free trials or quotes
- Asking questions about pricing and implementation
- Expressing urgency to find a solution due to issues with current system
- Following up repeatedly to get more details on your offerin
- These actions show a high level of interest and likelihood to buy. Prioritize contacting and nurturing these leads.
Evaluate Lead Profile
Consider factors like:
- Company size and industry
- Job title and role of the lead
- Technologies and solutions currently used
Larger companies in growth mode, with leads in decision-making roles overseeing outdated systems are often ideal targets. These leads will likely see the value in your modern solution.
Track Engagement and Activity
Monitor how leads are interacting with your content and campaigns. Things like:
- Frequency of opening emails
- Time spent on your website
- Content downloads and resources accessed
- Social media interactions
- Event registrations
The more a lead engages, the warmer they become. Reach out to highly engaged leads right away to move them through your sales funnel.
Score and Prioritize
Assign point values to the factors above and add up each lead’s score. The higher the score, the hotter the lead. Focus on the top leads first before moving down the list.
With a systematic lead scoring process, you'll know exactly which leads are signaling their intent to buy. Pour your efforts into nurturing these high-potential prospects and you'll find your sales numbers climbing in no time.
Crafting Effective Follow-Up Emails and Calls
Once you’ve identified promising leads, it’s time to start nurturing them through follow-up. The key is crafting emails and calls that are helpful, personable, and move the lead closer to a sale.
Email Follow-Up
For email follow-up, keep things short and sweet. Focus on one topic or question per email. Mention the lead’s name and company to personalize your outreach. Refer to your previous conversation to show you’re paying attention. Ask open-ended questions to continue the dialog and determine next steps. For example:
- “Hi [name], I hope all is well with you and [company name]. Regarding our last call, you mentioned evaluating new software solutions in Q3. Do you have an update on your timeline for that project?”
- “It was great speaking with you, [name]. As we discussed, many of our customers have found [software benefit] to be invaluable. When would be a good time for us to explore how [software name] could provide similar value for your team?”
For the best results, aim for 2-3 follow-up emails over 4 to 6 weeks. Be flexible in case the lead’s priorities change. If you continue to get no response after multiple attempts, it may be best to revisit that lead in a few months.
Call Follow-Up
For calls, personalize your greeting, mention your company by name and convey genuine interest in the lead’s needs. Focus on listening to gain insight into their priorities and challenges. Be prepared to discuss solutions and next steps. For example:
- “Hi [name], it’s [your name] from [company name]. How have you been? I wanted to follow up on our conversation about streamlining your reporting processes. Do you have any updates on where that initiative stands?”
- “Good morning [name]! [Your name] here, just calling to check in. Last time we spoke, you were evaluating options for improving data security compliance. Have there been any new developments on your end related to that project?”
With the right combination of helpful information and a human touch, you'll turn promising leads into loyal customers. Keep following up and moving leads down the pipeline using a mix of emails and calls. Your persistence and patience will pay off!
Automating Your Lead Nurturing Process
Automating your lead nurturing process is key to efficiently and effectively moving leads through your sales funnel. As a B2B software company, you likely have many leads in various stages of the buying process at any given time. Trying to manually follow up with each lead regularly can quickly become overwhelming and lead to missed opportunities.
Set up automated email campaigns
Build automated email campaigns to send relevant content to leads based on where they are in the buying process. For example, set up a “New Lead” campaign to welcome new leads and introduce your product. Create a “Download” campaign to send case studies or eBooks to leads who downloaded content from your site. Have a “Demo Request” campaign to schedule product demos for interested leads.
Use marketing automation software
A marketing automation platform lets you automatically trigger emails and workflows based on lead actions and behaviors. For example, if a lead visits your pricing page, have an email sent a few days later with a special offer or content on the value your product provides. If a lead clicks a link in an email, automatically tag them as “engaged” so you can provide more targeted follow-up.
Score and segment your leads
Give each lead a score based on their level of interest and engagement to determine which stage of the buying process they are in. Segment your leads into categories like “New”, “Marketing Qualified”, “Sales Qualified” and “Opportunity” based on their score. Focus your sales team’s time and efforts on the leads most likely to convert.
Nurture leads with a multi-channel approach
Use a combination of emails, content, phone calls, social media, and events to nurture your leads. Email is a cornerstone, but people consume information in many ways. A multi-channel approach, especially for top- scoring leads, increases the likelihood of conversion.
Following up with and nurturing leads in an automated yet personalized fashion is what turns marketing qualified leads into sales qualified leads and, ultimately, customers. Consistency and relevancy are key. Keep your lead nurturing process finely tuned and you’ll see the results in increased sales and revenue growth.
Tracking Lead Nurturing Metrics for Success
To ensure your lead nurturing efforts are effective, you need to track key metrics. Some of the most important metrics to monitor include:
Lead response time
How quickly are you responding to new leads? According to research, contacting a lead within 5 minutes makes them 9x more likely to respond versus waiting 30 minutes. Set a goal to respond to all leads within 15 minutes of receiving them. Use marketing automation to send an immediate acknowledgment and thanking them for their interest.
Number of follow-up attempts
Don't give up easily. On average, it takes 6-8 follow-up attempts to connect with a lead. Track how many emails, calls, and social touches you're making for each lead. If after 8-10 attempts you've had no response, they may not be the right prospect currently. Re-evaluate in 6-12 months.
Lead nurturing emails opened
See which emails your leads are opening and engaging with. Look for trends in content, offers, or messaging that resonate. Provide more of what's working and revise what's not. A good open rate for lead nurturing emails is 20-30%.
Form fills and content downloads
Monitor how many leads are filling out forms and downloading content like ebooks, whitepapers, case studies, and product sheets. Look for spikes and see if you can attribute them to specific nurturing campaigns, content offers or outreach. Offer more of what's attracting the most interest.
Sales qualified leads (SQLs) generated
The ultimate goal of lead nurturing is to turn prospects into sales qualified leads. Track how many SQLs your nurturing programs are producing each month. Look for opportunities to optimize your lead scoring and hand-off process to sales.
Opportunities created and deals won
Finally, track how many opportunities and deals are generated from your lead nurturing efforts. This helps demonstrate the ROI and impact of your programs. Look for ways to improve your hand-off to sales to increase the percentage of deals won.
By consistently tracking these key metrics, you'll gain valuable insight into what's working, what needs improvement, and how to optimize your lead nurturing campaigns for the best results. Make tracking and optimizing metrics a daily habit for lead nurturing success.
Overcoming Common B2B Sales Objections Through Nurturing
Overcoming objections is an art form in B2B sales. Rather than seeing objections as roadblocks, view them as opportunities to build value and trust. The key is to anticipate common objections and have responses ready through nurturing.
Price
Cost is often the biggest barrier in B2B software deals. Rather than immediately offering a discount, focus the conversation on the return on investment. Provide case studies and data showing how your solution can save money or boost revenue in the long run. You might say something like:
“I understand the concern with budget. However, our software has been shown to reduce operating costs by over 25% for most clients within the first year of use. The savings can actually offset the initial investment pretty quickly.”
No Need
The prospect may claim they are satisfied with their current solution. Counter this by highlighting key differentiators of your platform and how it can solve their major pain points. For example:
“I’m glad you’re currently satisfied, but many of our clients felt the same way initially. After implementing our software, they discovered how much more efficient and impactful their operations became. Our tool provides data analytics, automation, and UX design not found in other solutions. I’d love to show you a demo to experience the difference yourself.”
Implementation Concerns
Fears around implementing new software and potential disruption are reasonable. Provide reassurance by outlining your onboarding and support process. You might say:
“I understand being hesitant to switch systems. Our implementation team has successfully transitioned over 1,000 clients, and we take a very hands-on approach. We work closely with you through each phase of onboarding to ensure a smooth transition and minimal disruption. We also provide unlimited support and training for as long as you're a client.”
Lack of Authority
If the prospect says they don’t have the power to make a purchase decision, ask who does and request an introduction. Then, reframe the conversation around their specific concerns and needs. Continue nurturing them as an influencer and build their confidence in your solution. With their support, the key decision-makers may come around.
The bottom line is that objections are a natural part of the sales process, but nurturing leads and having persuasive responses ready can help overcome them. With the right follow-up, you can turn a "no" into a "yes" and get the deal signed!
Case Studies: Lead Nurturing Success Stories
Successful lead nurturing requires persistence and consistency. The case studies below show how two B2B software companies were able to turn cold leads into hot prospects through diligent follow-up and lead nurturing campaigns.
Case Study #1: Persistent Patience
A small marketing automation company focused on the real estate industry decided to revamp its lead follow-up process. Previously, sales reps would call a lead once or twice and if they didn’t get a response, the lead went cold. The company implemented a new lead nurturing campaign with a series of 7 emails sent over 6 weeks. The emails provided valuable content specific to the lead’s interests and pain points.
On the 7th email, 25% of recipients opened the email and 10% clicked through to the company’s pricing page. While open and click-through rates weren’t massive, the campaign resulted in 2 new customers whose first contact was 5-6 weeks prior. With consistent and patient follow-up, the company was able to stay top of mind and turn cold leads into paying clients.
Case Study #2: Targeted Outreach
A enterprise social media management platform company analyzed their leads to determine common attributes of their ideal customers. They found many leads were from mid-sized companies in the tech industry. The company created a tailored lead nurturing campaign targeting these leads.
The campaign included a series of 4 emails with content focused on how their platform could help tech companies expand their social media reach and analytics. After the email series, sales reps called each lead to gage their interest. Over 50% of leads were open to a product demo, and 15% signed on as new customers within 3 months. By targeting leads with the highest potential, the company improved lead conversion and boosted sales.
With persistence, patience, and targeting, these B2B software companies were able to turn cold leads into hot prospects and win new customers. Lead nurturing and consistent follow-up are the secrets to sales success. Staying engaged with your leads and being helpful will build trust in your brand and keep you on their mind when they're ready to buy.
Lead Nurturing FAQs - Your Top Questions Answered
You’ve got questions about lead nurturing, and we’ve got answers. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions we get about following up with and nurturing leads:
Do I really need a lead nurturing campaign?
Yes, absolutely. Lead nurturing is key to converting more leads into sales. Without ongoing communication, the majority of leads go cold and are lost. Nurturing leads keeps your company and solutions top of mind so when the lead is ready to buy, you’ll be the first choice.
How often should I follow up with leads?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer here. In general, aim for:
- New leads: Follow up within 24 hours of the lead coming in. Then continue contacting them every few days for the first couple of weeks.
- Warm leads: Follow up every week or two. Send helpful content and check in to see if they have any questions.
- Long-term leads: Follow up once a month or every other month. The key is to stay in touch without being annoying. Scale back if they become less engaged.
The frequency may vary for your business and target leads. Start with a more aggressive schedule and then adjust based on lead response and feedback. The important thing is to keep the conversation going.
What content should I include in lead nurturing emails?
Focus on helpful content that provides value to your leads like:
- Blog posts, whitepapers, or ebooks on relevant topics
- Useful tips, strategies, or advice
- New features, products, or service announcements
- Case studies highlighting how you’ve helped similar clients
- Videos, webinars, or online courses
The content should aim to educate leads about issues they care about and demonstrate your expertise. This builds trust and keeps you on their radar.
How can I tell if my lead nurturing campaigns are working?
Track key metrics to see how your lead nurturing efforts are paying off:
- Open and click-through rates: Are leads engaging with your emails and content?
- Conversions: Are more leads turning into marketing qualified leads and sales qualified leads?
- Sales opportunities: Do you have more leads advancing to a sales opportunity or demo?
- Revenue: Can you tie increased revenue directly back to your lead nurturing programs?
If the numbers aren’t where you want them to be, it may be time to re-evaluate your messaging, content, or follow-up frequency. Lead nurturing is an ongoing process of testing and optimization.
Does this help clear up some of your questions about lead nurturing and follow-up? Let us know if you have any other questions! We're happy to help you strengthen your lead nurt
Conclusion
So there you have it - the keys to mastering lead nurturing and effective follow-up as a B2B software salesperson. Staying organized, personalizing your outreach, leveraging multiple channels, and knowing when to walk away are all part of the recipe for success. But at the end of the day, what really matters most is your genuine passion for helping your prospects solve their problems. If you build real relationships, ask good questions, and provide value at every turn, you'll be well on your way to crushing your sales targets. The leads will come, the deals will close, and you'll establish yourself as a trusted partner rather than just another salesperson. So get out there, start nurturing, and watch your pipeline fill up! The rest is just details.
