You Got The Lead, So Now What?

The core of most agency work is to help clients get more leads. Whether it’s through content marketing, website building, or advertising, that’s the very nature of the work. But then what? Now the client has all these leads, are they ready to do the work that comes next to close the sale and keep them? What about you, as the agency, are you role modeling what comes next once you have the leads?

In my series of conversations with agency owners, discussing the successes and challenges of their relationship-building efforts, we dug into the lead magnet side of things. And ultimately took a look at what happens from there.

JoDee Turner is a founding Partner at Elevate Five, a branding agency that works with small business owners often on the path to growing a million-dollar business. She and her sister Cara work with their clients to get to the heart of their business to ensure it is well reflected across their branding. My favorite part about the conversation with JoDee is that heart came into the discussion, and you could feel the passion pouring from her as she described how Elevate Five serves their clients and builds their relationships. 

Getting the Lead Magnet Right

As JoDee and I discussed lead nurturing, she jumped in at the actual lead magnet itself. As an agency that often works to unravel all the marketing touch points on their client’s websites, they see a lot of examples of lead magnets that don’t quite work. JoDee believes that a lot of business owners make an error in thinking that they can just make something simple like a checklist – Build it and they will come. But that’s not really a lead magnet. She shared, “that’s not really building a value-based relationship. You want a lead magnet that equates to a breakthrough for the potential client.” You want to make the lead think – Oh, yeah, this is exactly what I need to figure out! This is the type of magnet that brings leads into your funnel to further nurture. And chances are, you’ll attract far more right-fit clients when your lead magnet matches their true needs. 

What Happens After the Leads Are In Your Funnel?

Once you have them in your funnel, what does the rest of the marketing look like? You want to make sure you’re using a mix of both digital and physical touchpoints to help build trust and lead to faster conversion. According to the Data & Marketing Association, up to 90% of direct mail gets opened versus only 30% of digital mailings. That success rate is one of the biggest reasons we advocate for this mix. You want to bring in the old school level of marketing to increase the opportunity to earn the trust and attention of your leads.  

If you’re not yet sure where to start, you can use the following series of touch points. Simply fill in your own content and ideas below. 

• Send a digital thank you for requesting your lead magnet.

• Share a few more digital resources that they can’t find anywhere else. 

• Send them some research that you’ve compiled, in the form of a physical print or bound book, if you have more formal market research. Make sure this package includes some sort of worksheet to help them apply their learning from your research to their own business. Ask them questions that prompt them to use the information they just learned. And perhaps, add a final prompt to ask them to share with you (via email) how they are going to use the information. This promotes the engagement you need to help serve them and ultimately convert. 

• Ask them a question about the problem? – Digital 

• Follow this up with a physical gift that also invites them to join a free webinar or event. This will get them into another layer of engagement with your team. 

Lead magnets, when done right, are a great way to bring people into your funnel. However, this only pays off if you have plans in place to nurture those leads forward to conversion. Take the time now to plot out your system of touchpoints. Each one will increase trust and make the lead feel valued enough to give you an opportunity to win their business.  

What Do You Do After Leads Become Clients?

Once you earn a new client’s business, your relationship building doesn’t end. Unfortunately, many of us learn this the hard way. Being great at your area of expertise often means delivering above and beyond the client expectations related to the work you were hired to do. And that’s a full-time job! Many of us get comfortable and forget that we need to continue to show our existing clients that we still value them and celebrate them. We need to continue to make all clients feel relevant or we risk them being lured by another company who makes them feel more valuable than we do. 

This effort can be done using a tier approach. It doesn’t have to look like a one size fits all. In fact, when we asked JoDee about her existing client relationship building efforts, she shared that this has been top of mind for Elevate Five and they have been introducing some new existing client touchpoints.  

Using tiers to show existing clients they're valued

The first level the Elevate Five team implemented is the gift of time. They have worked to adjust their monthly plans to include additional people time. They felt that it’s important to provide more of their team’s time for a certain level of service so that it keeps the brand in context with that group. The gift of time certainly makes the client feel relevant, appreciated, and provides additional value. This is the type of engagement that enables a team to find additional opportunities to serve as well. 

The second level they are testing their way through is a referral program. What happens when a website launch is complete, or an on-going series of updates is wrapping up – Is there something in place that could increase and reward referrals at that point? When done right, this is a powerful tool because they are reminding the client of the great work completed between the teams and leveraging that feel good moment to open additional doors. When you show gratitude for the opportunity to serve, people often want to reciprocate and that can come in the form of referrals. 

The final level that Elevate Five is implementing is what we’ll call accountability. Each client at this level will receive additional on-going strategic dialog to really dig into goals and analytics to help accelerate the accomplishment. JoDee shared that they’ve had great success celebrating these achievements with existing clients that they are rolling it out even further.

Regardless of your industry or how you serve your clients, looking for opportunities to show them that you value them on a regular basis will help you reduce the churn that happens for all businesses. It cost up to 5 times more to gain new clients, so it well worth the investment to make sure you retain the ones you already have. 

Helping business leaders convert more leads and retain the clients they have is what we do at The Expressory. Let's get to know each other and find out if The Expressory can help you grow your brand through personalized experiences. Click here to set up a Marketing Strategy Session or click here to download our free guide for Creating Emotional Loyalty by Design. Let us show you how to design a unique experience that sets you apart.