First Impressions Matter: 7 Tips for Communicating with New Business Leads.
By Christine Schmidt on
You spend a lot of time, energy, and money running your business and marketing it. One of the biggest marketing discussions professionals have across all industries is that of lead generation. How do you get more leads? How do you follow-up with them? How do you nurture leads into new clients and, fingers crossed, into long-term members? And I’m sure the list goes on and on.
Nonetheless, when you do get a new lead coming into your business, it’s of the utmost importance to know how you can make the most of that opportunity. After all, you’ve already put in all that work in the form of time, energy, and money - right?!
Lead follow-up is just one of the many aspects of marketing but it is also one of the biggest reasons that we have some exciting news to share with you …
Welcome LoopSpark’s NEWEST feature - Forms & Waivers for both new and existing clients!
You read that right, we have secretly been working on what we truly believe to be a communication powerhouse that is designed to improve productivity and increase client communication throughout the full marketing journey. No more ‘work arounds’ needed - reach out to leads as soon as they enter your business’ digital ecosystem, become a new client and nurture them through memberships.
Speaking of new lead nurturing, let’s dive into 7 tips for communicating to these prospects and truly engaging them within your community.
#1 Message Leads Within 60 Minutes
It’s 2022 (at least at the time of this article’s creation) and we all expect quick communication. Communications could be transactional in nature or just acknowledging that we input an email address but, regardless of input, humans today want to know there was a ‘success’ from their action.
Let's assume that for most of us, the above statement is true. In doing so, it’s no surprise when we read data from Harvard Business Review that shows potential clients are seven times more likely to purchase from you if you respond within an hour of them taking some sort of action.
#2 Use Details Submitted to Create Custom Messaging
When you think of a “form,” what do you think of? Basic name, email, and phone number input? Well, you’re not wrong but we are excited to share that our forms give you the ultimate creative space. Add images, logos, make it branded, send it to new or existing clients, ask for contact information, ask multiple choice questions, checklists, etc.
The more you get to know your leads and prospects, the better you can serve them. One of our favorite use-cases for this would be to build a fun interest survey to share with new leads so you can help match them with the right classes/ experiences from Day 1.
#3 Collect Phone Numbers to Build Personal Conversation
Of course, a phone number may seem like a traditional piece of data collection but, when you pair a carefully curated form with the marketing power of LoopSpark, magic can happen. A real-life application of this would be that you send over an interest form to a new lead. On this form you request a mobile phone number and potentially see they checked-off interest in a studio like yours for added accountability. Hmmm...now you know you can add them to your ‘Monday Motivation’ text list to help support them before they even buy.
In the marketing world, that’s pretty magical. You have taken a new lead, follow-up up with them, and gathered necessary information to not only communicate with them, but also support them.
#4 Connect, Support, and Serve
Goal setting is another real-life and impactful way to connect with leads and prospects. We all do things for different reasons and the more support we feel, the greater the probability of success.
Think back to the last time you hung out in a social setting and left saying something like, “Wow, that was really great. I can’t wait to do that again!” Why did you feel that way? Probably because you were able to engage with others, find common interests, expand upon them, and feel heard throughout the experience. Connecting with your clients and prospects through mindful questions allows you to create the same feeling in your business and build the sensation of belonging.
#5 Continue to Follow-Up
New leads, even after having a beautifully curated communication journey, can go dark sometimes. People get busy or might honestly be looking at a few other studios in the area.
Continue to follow-up and personalize those communications until you hear back.
#6 Qualify New Leads and Prospects
If a lead responds back to your outreach, continue to ask questions and learn more about their needs. Based on the conversations you have and what channels leads or prospects respond with (email vs SMS), you’ll be able to personalize at a deeper level, message them on channels they clearly prefer and qualify them for certain aspects of your overall sales processes.
#7 Build a Multi-Touch Approach
One of the most important things to know about all leads and prospects is that you may think you know what they want or how they want to communicate, but you don’t really know until you ask.
Don’t let your personal affinity for email or SMS override how you communicate with leads, prospects, or clients. Building a multi-touch approach is important, especially early on, so you can start to understand what channels serve your audiences best. Then, once you see some patterns, expand on what generates the most engagement with the human on the other side of that device.
What’s the take-home message?
You spend a lot of time, energy, and money running your business and marketing it. One of the biggest marketing discussions professionals have across all industries is that of lead generation. After all that time, energy, and money spent, you do generate leads. Following-up is a very important next step. Welcome LoopSpark’s NEWEST feature - Forms & Waivers for both new and existing clients! Let’s talk about using this new feature to create communication magic.
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Ready to learn more? Great!
(1) We have a full video playlist and tutorial for you here
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(2) text documentation accessible here.
Still have more questions?
Reach out to our team directly via email at [email protected].