Every sales rep has been there—faced with a list of leads that have gone cold for some reason. During the span of your sales career, you’ll often have to dig through your dead leads, and try to reengage your prospects.
While these leads are seemingly dead with no hopes for revival, you should avoid burying them before you’ve given it a last shot.
Persistence is key when you’re in sales, and persistence is precisely what you need to reignite a relationship with a client.
Leads can go cold for many different reasons—it may happen because a sales rep didn’t follow up with a prospective client early enough or because the prospect doesn’t recall inquiring about the product at all. But even despite the best efforts of a salesperson, leads can go cold.
Finding, engaging and nurturing leads takes significant effort, and no matter what the reason, you shouldn’t abandon a lead that’s seemingly dead. Don’t assume a lead is dead unless you’re positive. Not following up on a lead is one of the most avoidable blunders a sales rep can make.
But not all dead leads are worth continual efforts. A lead isn’t really worth a second glance if it wasn’t qualified initially. But pre-qualified leads deserve to be looked at again.
How to Revive Dead Leads
To achieve success in sales, you need to be committed to pursuing leads—cold or otherwise. Reaching out multiple times and checking in with your prospects regularly is all part of the game.
There are some ways you can resurrect even the coldest of leads. With the following tips, you’ll learn how turn once-dead leads into satisfied clients.
1. Update your old data.
Dead leads may be gathering dust in your CRM system, and you may be oblivious to new changes that may have occurred in your client’s company. When trying to resurrect a cold lead, you don’t want to contact the wrong person and come across as not being up-to-date with the company’s organizational changes.
It’s good practice to keep your data organized and updated—ideally every 30 to 60 days. There’s a wide variety of tools you can choose from to automate this painstaking process. These tools can also help update you data in real-time.
2. Harness the power of social media.
It goes without saying— you should never undervalue the power of social media, especially when it comes to nurturing relationships with your prospects. Follow them on Twitter and connect with them on LinkedIn before you shoot them an email or make a call.
Find out what’s new with your prospects, and engage with them by re-tweeting and sharing interesting articles. Social media is a great resource you should be using to your advantage.
3. Plan ahead.
You don’t want to offer your client a temporary solution—what you want is to identify their future needs and highlight them. Scan the company’s latest news, following their social media channels, and read their reports.
Are you aware of any significant changes that will affect the industry they’re in? What are the main challenges and opportunities facing them in the near future that you can identify? Can your product/service address those needs? If you can outline these points in a discussion with your client, it’s likely they’ll be more interested in what you have to offer.
4. Bring attention to new features.
The best time to revive dead leads is when an existing product is updated or a new one is launched. Comb through your contact list to identify who might be interested by the new features, and tell them about it.
To simplify the process for the future, flag leads in your CRM that have inquired or requested a certain feature. When the time comes, it will be easier for you to access a client’s information, especially when you’re ready to offer them a product that suits their needs.
5. Reengage with better content.
Reviving cold leads can be tricky. It requires staying on top of your client’s needs, without pestering them with one too many calls. You shouldn’t put too much pressure on your prospect or the leads will undoubtedly turn cold.
The best way to achieve this is by providing the right content to your prospects at the right time. Offering them something valuable shows them you have what it takes to address their needs. Carefully targeted content that addresses the particular requirements of your client is a one of the most effective ways to reengage and revive dead leads.
6. Identify triggers to find opportunities.
In a rapidly evolving market, most businesses are facing a continuous state of change. They are acclimatising to various market demands, growth, acquisitions and changes in management, and a variety of other factors.
Anyone who’s good at reviving cold leads knows that change often results in opportunity. Identify trigger events: new executive hires, a business expansion like the opening of new locations and product launches.
Social media, newsletters and company reports can help you stay on top of these developments. An organization’s growth indicators might reveal opportunities for you to reengage with them.
7. Look for a different way in.
You may find that you were engaging with the wrong contact within the company, and may be that was the reason why your leads turned cold. In this case, your next move should be to reach out to someone more suitable within the organization—a person with greater decision-making power.
You should also look for other ways into the organization, especially if you have only one or two contacts within the company. Don’t be afraid to reach out to the appropriate individuals—it will help you get the results you want.