Text Marketing

How to collect leads, engage with them and create fans

Post by
Alain Pilon
How to collect leads, engage with them and create fans

If you were to sum up what the customer lifecycle journey is in one sentence, I would tell you that it’s collecting leads, engaging with them and making them your greatest fans.

Let’s take a rock band for instance. You hear a song you love instantly and you’re like “Who’s that? That sounds great!” Then you Shazam the song to get the band’s name. You go on Spotify to see what other songs they have and you love them. 2 days later, you then see the band on the Jimmy Kimmel show and you’re excited to see them. You then see them on instagram, Facebook and subscribe to their list to get news when they will play in your city. They keep sending exclusive behind the scenes video only accessible because you signed up to their newsletter. They announce they’re coming to your city and you instantly buy tickets. You follow them on Youtube and watch all of their videos. Your friends start listening

And there you have it, collect leads, engage with them and create fans. Needless to say, this band was able to monetize on ticket sales and their videos. As a fan, you don’t care. You love them for so many reasons and you hope they keep making great music like this forever.

Unfortunately, we’re not all rock stars. I’ve put together a 3 step process that will make you sell more and build meaningful relationships through the customer lifecycle journey.

Click here if you want to get my 3 step guide that provides strategies to sell more.

Collect Leads

Leads can come from various sources like word-of-mouth, blogs, paid ads and referrals to name a few. When we’re in sales, our ears are always open for new leads that could benefit from our products and services. What business systems do you have in place that insures any lead interested in your products and services get collected? Leads may not be a fit today but their situation could change where they become a perfect fit. When collecting leads, the answer question you need to ask yourself is after I collect their info, where do I place them in my business systems?

Qualifying leads is all about understand you lead’s problem and knowing if you’re the right person to get them to the promise land. If you’re not, keep them in your system but tag them as a lead that needs long term nurture.

Engage Leads

Qualifying leads is the science of knowing if they’re a right fit for you. Regardless, you should collect the lead and engage with them. They may not be ready to buy today but don’t let them forget about you.

When they do decide to buy, you want to be sure you’re their top pick.

I believe a mix of various innovative technologies is necessary to properly engage with prospects. At my travel company, we don’t just use Textodog’s group text messaging platform. We use a myriad of software programs to engage with leads: crm, marketing automation, web site chat, invite them to our Facebook group, video and obviously group text messaging.

When we do engage with leads, we want to be authentic and educate them. If they have interest in your product and services and understand how you can help them, you’re that much closer to sealing the deal. Having said that, you may help someone that never converts into a customer. And that’s ok. The truth is that the more you educate and help others, the more successful you will be overall.

Convert Them into Fans

Mötley Crüe didn’t just show up at a local bar, played a few songs and instantly had the crazy loyal fans. It takes time and often many interactions before your prospects decide the pull the trigger. When they do, deliver on your promises and turn them into your greatest loyal fans.

Be sure to get to know your customers and what they want. They are the ones that will keep you successful. Listen to your paying customers because they know the future of your business. Your fans are the key to your survival long term and innovative technologies like marketing automation and group text messaging is the key in your customer lifecycle journey strategy.