4 Common Obstacles That Are Sabotaging Your Follow-Up With Leads

Most industries in the B2B space have a long sales cycle. Software, insurance, SaaS, to name a few, usually carry a significant price tag which means the decision process is lengthier and involves more than one stakeholder. Don’t you wish selling to your B2B customers were as simple and quick as a new iPhone purchase?  Or that a single follow-up with leads was enough to close a sale?

Following up with prospects can be a long, and sometimes, convoluted process but don’t let that get you down. The worst thing you can do is neglect your leads!

Here are some common obstacles that might be preventing you from successful follow-up:

1. Your follow-up messaging is getting stale. Before you send another email “checking in” or “touching base” for the third time in a row, hit delete. Those words are overused and hardly add any value to your conversation; they can even be damaging to your relationship. But you’ve had about a dozen email and phone conversations with this particular lead, and you’re just not sure what to say next.

When you feel like your old lines are getting stale, it means they are! Try some of these tips:

• Remind your prospect of the value that your solution brings to their business. Their bottom line is what is most important so bring your conversation back to what you can do for them, rather than a   mundane conversation.
• Make sure your emails are actually getting read. Put more thought into your subject lines by making them personalized and engaging. For example, "Hi Tony, Here is XYZ info we spoke about on Monday."
• Share a relevant and meaningful resource with them. Lean on your marketing team for some help.

2. You can’t keep all of your prospects straight! We get it, you have a lot of prospects, new and old, to manage. You’re probably using a CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce, but it might be time to start using those tools to the best of their potential. One long list of contacts isn’t going to be much help. Have you tried segmenting your leads yet? You can segment however is best for you – by location, interest, industry, or other factors that will help you sell. If your current system isn’t working, it’s time to find a new way to help you organize and automate your follow-up with leads.

3. Your lead nurturing game is not strong. Since the buying process can take a while, it's important to properly develop a lead nurturing strategy. While building a relationship with prospects is key to guiding them down the funnel, only 36% of marketers actively nurture leads, according to MarketingSherpa. This could involve a range of planned tactics to follow up with leads, such as making more than one phone call, or using a marketing automation platform that identifies and targets your prospects as it systematically sends out actionable emails with information.

“Only 36% of marketers actively nurture leads,” according to MarketingSherpa via @RspnsvInbndMktg  Click To Tweet

4. You’re not sure what stage of the cycle your prospect is even in anymore! Typically, marketing hands off leads to sales when the time is right – this means your lead is in the decision-making stage and needs your help. But sometimes the buyer’s journey isn’t as linear or clear cut as we’d like, especially if it’s a longer sales cycle that involves multiple decision makers.

This doesn’t mean you should give up on thoughtful, impactful follow-up. If you have any hope of closing that deal (now or later), you need to meet your leads where they are in the process. Have an honest conversation and directly ask your prospect where they are in their decision process, and what is their biggest obstacle in making a decision? If you hear concerns or questions that sound more like they’re back in the consideration stage, that will guide your messaging and conversations.  

We all wish that sales was a quick, easy process, but it’s worth it to stay in the game and focus on relevant and timely outreach at all points in the journey. A long sales cycle reaps the benefit of customer rapport which can have good long term benefits. What are your tips for successful follow-up?