How to make the most of your prospect lists

It’s easy. You deliver more value to your list of prospects than you’re trying to extract.

They call it nurturing.

It can be done in many ways, but the idea is to stay top of mind while your audience is deciding what they want to do. Not everybody’s ready to pull the trigger on day one.

Is it a Considered Buying Process?

So, a short-sighted approach to marketing a considered buying process is the wrong way to go. It requires patience.

A considered buying process is really anything that you’re selling that requires some time and deliberation. These are usually more costly, and higher risk purchases that take a longer period of time for people to evaluate their options, think about what they’re doing, and what they’re spending their money on.

Golf is a big one. It takes a long time to figure out that you’re good enough, and that you’re gonna enjoy playing the game before you start heavily investing.

Quit Pitching

So, for a considered buying process, if they’re not gonna buy on day one, quit with the persistent sales pitches. Instead, attempt to deliver real value in the in-between times.

This earns trust, earns credibility, and builds authority.

At some point in time on their own accord, when they’ve reached the point where they’re ready to act, you’re going to be there. You’ll be top of mind and most trusted.

Let them figure it out on their own time

In golf, we highly highly recommend rolling out free golf lessons or very inexpensive golf lessons. That said, they can’t be one-time sessions. It needs to be deployed consistently over time.

Consistency allows people to figure out how much they like golf, that they like your club, and that they like your offerings better than any of the others.

They gradually become more comfortable at your facility. They know your staff, they know where things are, they know the bathrooms and where the snack bar is. All that stuff matters.

You’re nurturing them along toward higher level involvement at their own pace and comfort level.

There are of course or many other ways. In marketing, we often use automated email nurturing campaigns – sequences of emails that deliver value based on expressed interests of the audience.

When you give, GIVE. When you ask, ASK

The goal is to present helpful information without any pretense that you’re trying to sell them anything on the back end.

Lastly, and most importantly, when you give value, then GIVE. Every now and then you make your ask, but do it directly. Don’t try to do both in every message.

People see through that and you’re going to piss them off. That’s how you trash your database.