I just got a call from someone from the state of Connecticut I have never even spoken to.  According to her 3 years ago she found one of my mortgage related websites, submitted her information and received regular mailings each month from me (those mailings stopped a year ago when I left the mortgage business).  Now, she and her husband are ready to do a loan.  Unfortunately for me I’m no longer in the mortgage business but was able to refer the lead to a good friend.

Here’s the thing – this is proof positive that lead nurturing works.  Where I see most sales people and business owners fall down is that they expect every lead to be ready to buy now.  That will never be the case.  Think of how you shop.  When you complete information on a company site does it mean you always want the product or service now?  No it doesn’t.  The same is true of your prospects.

Prospects will fall into two categories Market Ready (they are searching for information to make a purchase at a later date) and Sales Ready (these are the few and in between who want it NOW!).

A point worth making is that your lead nurturing messages should never be gimmicky.  Make sure the information is truly useful and customer oriented.

You can use programs like Aweber, Mail Chimp, or HubSpot to setup lead nurturing programs using recurring messages to be delivered via email.