What Good Manners Teach Us About Lead Nurturing

The art of good manners has valuable principles to teach us about lead nurturing. In fact, if you approach lead nurturing the way you host guests in your home, some revelations immediately come to light.

Charlotte Varela of MarketingProfs explains it this way: "They both require the host (the marketer) to not only build but also maintain relationships with their guests (leads) through conversation, solid rapport, and sense of trust. And as with a successful dinner party, a successful lead nurturing strategy involves very careful planning."

In her metaphor, Varela zeroes in on nine critical steps you must take, which have been summarized in bite-sized pieces as follows:

1. Don't greet visitors with a cluttered and messy website. Fix broken links and simplify the visual presentation so that users can understand information quickly.
2. Don't serve visitors fast-food content that is a generic line of ingredients. Produce your very best content and don't be afraid to take an innovative or controversial angle to give it some spice.
3. Although we're always clamoring for what's new, don't dismiss old material that has been successful. It's okay to serve the old if it's timeless and extremely high quality. Serving an old family recipe is sometimes the best dish.
4. Know the personas of your website's visitors and craft your content accordingly. If you don't, it's along the same lines as serving your vegetarian guests a plate full of meat because you never bothered to ask about their dietary needs.
5. Don't overdo it with your email campaigns. If you bombard people with incessant sales pitches, you are essentially serving spam as the main course.
6. Ask good questions when your visitors come to your website using surveys or other means. Listen well and get to know the people who engage with you. It's like being a good listener at a dinner party instead of talking about yourself the whole time.
7. Don't give away too much of the details of your company's "secret recipe" for success too early. Give some helpful tips to build trust, but don't hand out your secrets to the masses.
8. Never lose your temper with a guest, whether it's in a customer service situation or in a social media conversation. Never return a guest's rude comment with another rude comment.
9. Always thank your leads, whether they stay for dinner or not.

GOOD MANNERS ARE ABOUT PROACTIVE PERSONALIZATION

The common factor between good manners and good lead nurturing is simple: personal attention. People who are known for their politeness and excellent guest hosting always seem to go out of their way, even at great inconvenience to make their guests feel welcomed, listened to, and appreciated.

However, if we approach lead nurturing with a robotic and inattentive approach–like the bad host who neglects her guests or refuses to go out of her way to make them feel welcome–we will alienate leads much the same way we would alienate the guests.

This especially applies to any automated processes in place. Companies must work hard to retain a hands-on approach, even in automated environments. Reps must be trained to be proactive and adaptable, and not rely lazily on automation.

Chris Tratar, Vice President of Product Marketing at SAVO, as quoted on CustomerThink.com, explained it this way:

"Sales organizations will continue to rely on automated lead nurturing, but the part that will change...is where reps get engaged with a prospect or customer once they hit a certain critical moment in the buying cycle. Reps will begin stepping in and adjusting how the prospect is handled, and defining where they are/should be in the nurture process."

Automation in lead nurturing doesn't mean we never change the process. The lead nurturing cycle should always be used to serve the experience of the lead, not compensate for a sales team that might have become too comfortable in an automated routine.