What Are The Best Strategies For Re-Engaging Old Leads?

Whilst every business needs a tailored approach, telemarketing in an industry such as the life sciences is ultimately about relationship building, forging a strong community based around an industry and like-minded professionals.

Because of this, even though the goal of telemarketing campaigns is often conversions, sales, subscriptions or hiring services, the journey and the aftermath are as important as the destination, and we take the generation, conversion and continued nurturing of leads very seriously.

However, not every lead will progress in the same way. People have personal commitments, they get sidetracked, something about the sales process scares them off, or they find what they need from another provider.

There is a lot of value to re-engaging old leads; it is less time-consuming and less expensive than generating new ones and is more likely to lead to a successful sale, given that they showed clear interest in earlier stages of the lead management process.

Before we explore some of the most effective strategies to re-engage old leads, it is important to explore some of the reasons why people suddenly fall out of contact.

Why Do Leads Go Dark?

Outside of extremely small, highly targeted campaigns, not every lead generated will lead to a conversion, and not every lead that goes dark will do so for reasons that are in your control.

A lead going dark can happen for a wide range of reasons, but without attempting to re-engage with them, it is impossible to know why they went dark.

Most of the time, leads will be happy to explain why they did not proceed with a further sale, and their reasons can typically be categorised as either issues related to them, issues related to the sales process and finding what they needed elsewhere.

Personal issues can simply be a matter of being too busy, their needs in terms of research or practice have changed, their preferences for the type of product or service have shifted, or they simply decided not to go ahead with a particular project or research study.

In other cases, a major business or life event caused them to fall out of contact, such as changing offices, changing jobs or changing the main point of contact.

Sometimes, a client will find the instruments they need or the particular service they need elsewhere for either a lower price or one that more closely meets the exacting needs they have.

Finally, there are times when there was an issue with your sales pipeline, which caused leads to go dark. This can vary by client, but it can involve being mishandled by the sales team, disliking the sales approach taken, being dissatisfied with a previous sale or feeling like they were being pressured to make a decision on your timeline rather than theirs.

Understanding why leads go dark is key to developing effective re-engagement strategies, and the best way to start is to ask them.

Start With A Check-In Call

One of the first mistakes that some sales teams make when attempting to re-engage is to rush straight back into the sales pitch or use too formal and robotic an approach when trying to reignite a lead that has gone dark.

Particularly in specialist industries, the best place to start is as a peer. Get in contact, ask how they are doing, what kinds of work they are up to and then from there the conversation will start to mature organically towards a sale.

Be Persistent But Not A Pest

Follow-ups are vital for sales and re-engagement. No relationship is built on a single conversation, and that is no different with B2B professionals.

It can sometimes take up to five follow-up calls before progress is made, but a major mistake that some people make when re-engaging is to be overly eager and bombard them with phone calls and emails.

This can have the opposite effect and cause them to completely disengage, making a lost lead a self-fulfilling prophecy. Give the lead space, but make it clear that you are there for them when the time is right for them.

Offer A Lead Something Specifically Valuable To Them

The concept of personalisation in marketing and sales is often misconstrued, but the core to using it as part of a re-engagement strategy is to explore your existing data and previous conversations when it comes to a prospective customer’s needs and offer something specific.

This could be a tailored deal, a free piece of content such as an e-book related to their subject area or a consultation for how your products or services could help them specifically, but the more a lead is treated as a person rather than part of a sales process, the more engaged they will be with it.