How Important Is Prospect Cultivation To You?

Having a strong prospect cultivation plan is a necessity of every business. Not just a strong plan, but also one actually capable of converting leads into clients. After all, generating leads is only half the battle - turning them into actual customers is the true test!Prospect cultivation isn't hard at all. It just involves treating leads like human beings and not being too pushy. It means building a trusting relationship with them and becoming known to them as an expert in your field that they can rely on. It's important, when following up with leads, to send them information relating to your products and services that they may be interested in.A Realtor may be cultivating 10 seller leads. Would constantly calling and asking "Are you ready to list with me yet?" make those leads want to work with that agent? Probably not. However, sending weekly emails about market updates, their own home's value, and tips for raising home values as well as giving a quick phone call twice a month to see how the lead is doing would go a long way to cultivating that prospect into a client.Instead of coming across as an aggressive salesperson, the agent is helpful and courteous. That's what prospect cultivation is all about, building a relationship with every lead. Every business needs an in-depth follow up plan fine-tuned to each type of lead they have.One thing that can throw a wrench in prospect cultivation efforts is the sheer number of leads to follow up with. For a company dealing with hundreds of thousands of leads, a systematic plan is a must. Sales people can't just randomly contact leads with no rhyme or reason.Luckily, that's where a beautiful thing called technology comes in - automated follow-up software to be exact. Otherwise known as a customer relationship manager (CRM) or contact management system (CMS) these programs can help manage and automate your follow up. This helps cut down on confusion and time-wasting on your sales floor.Most CRM/CMS's provide email campaigns - a series of pre-written emails that go out weekly or bi-weekly over a period of time on different topics the lead may be interested in. Many of these campaigns will also schedule in phone calls once or twice a month to the lead as monthly 'touch points' to ensure the lead receives the information. Consistent and persistent follow-up is TRUE prospect cultivation.A company can often get a CRM system built to it's own specifications and have it include many other features. Unfortunately, many companies today don't even realize what CRMs are available, and if they do they don't realize what a difference it could make for their business. If you're not utilizing some sort of automated follow-up system, chances are your prospect cultivation is suffering.