5 Tactics for Warming a Cold Lead

Nurturing leads is a hard work, but more often than not, sales reps have to drop few leads because of no response. Moreover, when it is time to drop an unresponsive lead, it gets very difficult for a sales rep to just walk away. This is because a lot of hard work goes into building a prospect to a lead such as researching on business background, interests and striking a connection.

However, if this doesn’t work out well in your favor, it is wise for you to let go of the leads that are cold. But only sometimes. There are many other ways to make your lead stay and not term them as a “cold” yet.

Here are five tactics that will help you turn a cold lead into a warm lead.

1. Offer a Minimum Discount

Most of the time, you find leads who don’t have the budget for your product. Yes, many companies use that phrase to chicken out of buying but some companies actually don’t have the budget. Your first instinct is to drop such leads and mark them cold. But hold on!

The best way to pursue such leads is to understand their budget constraints and offer a minimum discount. Remember that you don’t need to go overboard with this option. Now depending on this, offer a discount that won’t make a huge difference to your product’s actual price and will still get you the deal.

2. Highlight Your USPs

There are times when your leads are considering your competitors’ products and you might consider them as a lost cause. However, there is a possibility that your product’s benefits have not been highlighted properly and your leads might be looking at a cost-effective product or a free trial version. Communicate with your lead and understand what is pushing him to consider your competitor’s product.

Your product might have something better to offer and you should highlight that to your lead. In case, you notice more competition in your sales mix then back off smoothly. If the customer is really interested in your product then he will send another request.

3. Identify the Right Person

Your communication with the lead is regular but still the sale is not moving forward. At this juncture, you need to change your course and see if you can find the right person in the company who can take the deal forward. Once you identify the right contact person, you can re-pitch your product and then take the deal forward.

4. Have a Cordial End

So your lead is avoiding your calls, emails and social messages and there’s no way you can re-engage with them. You term the lead as cold and drop it there. No, wrong move. Always remember to give them something to remember. Leave a last mail offering them a trial plan or ask for their permission to close the file. This tactic will help in hearing back and chances are they might end up re-entering the nurturing level.

5. Give & Take Recommendations

It so happens that your product might not be an exact fit for their business or might not solve their business problems. You have two choices here – either to stop the engagement abruptly or offer them recommendation. It’s wise to go with the latter, give them recommendations if possible as it will boost your reputation. So they can recommend someone else to you or they will come back when their business is good fit for your solution.

All these tactics are basically based on one intent – to create better relations with your lead. Any lead can get down the sales funnel easily if sales reps build rapport more than concentrating on increasing numbers. Try to do more than just calling and emailing, give something value-added to your leads.