The greatest obstacle for most businesses today is figuring out how to convert an interested lead into a buying customer. Research shows the buying cycle for the average customer takes 7 “touches” for a sale to occur – no different for a Marine Business or an RV Dealership. Of course, there are the handful of customers that come into your business, know exactly what they want to purchase, you have what they want, you negotiate a fair deal and head to the bank to deposit your profits.  But what about the other buyers?  Most customers spend time doing product research, checking your business reputation and comparing prices and features after interacting with your business.  They are likely to buy from you, or one of your competitors in the future, but have clearly been classified as “not ready to buy today”.  Are you still engaged with your customer during these times?  Is your idea of “lead nurturing” having your sales people call the lead until they won’t answer their phone?

The customer is not ready to buy today, now what? Get everyone’s email address that you interact with!  Email is the most widely used communication technology in use today, with 91% of Internet users between the ages of 18 and 64 sending and receiving email, according to eMarketer.  An even higher number of users ages 65 and older do the same.  147 million people across the country use email nearly every day.  By implementing and utilizing an email lead nurturing system, you can automate the communications needed to engage those leads that are still moving through the buying cycle without frustrating your sales team by having to chase leads that are simply “not ready to buy today”.  If a lead is willing to give you their email address, it means they want more information from you!

Valuable Information is not SPAM! If a lead is willing to give you their email address, don’t abuse it. Send them only valuable information.  What kind of emails can you send to a customer that will help them with their buying decision?  Product information, sales and specials, and customer testimonials are all valuable tools that when provided to a lead, have shown to increase closing ratios.  The customer is going to be looking for that information whether you provide it to them or not.  The real question is, do you want to be involved in a conversation with the lead after they leave your business?  If so, setting up an email program can automate these responses, leaving your sales people free to talk to customers that are ready to buy.

What to watch out for… An important part of any email program is to make sure the technology tool you are using is equipped to deal with the obstacles you face and also gives you the most benefits.  One of the most important things to consider is the ability to deliver your emails through the major email platforms.  Yahoo, Bing, GMail and others all have SPAM filters that are designed to keep unwanted emails out.  Choosing an email technology tool that is designed to penetrate these filters and get your emails delivered is one of the first steps in a successful email program.

Use the statistics to plan your next move The beauty of an email lead nurturing program is the ability to track the response.  Gone are the days of dropping a direct mail piece off at the Post Office and hoping someone reads it.  You can now know all leads that opened your email, clicked on it for more information, forwarded it to a friend or spouse, or any other level of engagement they had with your message.  Knowing that a lead is opening not only the product information, but also the list of inventory on special, is valuable information when deciding your next point of contact.  Those emails also allow the lead a chance to communicate with you if they are ready to move onto the next step in the buying cycle. Email programs are getting more and more advanced as marketers use the massive amounts of data being collected from consumers that interact with digital marketing.  But you don’t have to worry about having an advanced program right off the bat.

Make engaging your leads your priority, and once you have that mastered, then worry about the rest. What types of lead nurturing program are you using?  Are they working for you? Leave your comments below.

About the Author: Jessica Seidel Jessica is an Account Manager at Advanced Dealer Solutions who specializes in Digital Marketing for RV & Marine businesses.

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