Gone are the days of taking prospects golfing, in are the days of nurturing through marketing automation. Sales reps used to spend most of their time out of the office, building relationships over fun activities. From long lunches to sporting events, it seemed like a win-win situation for sales reps and buyers. In fact this is usually a longer process and definitely more expensive. Besides, today interested buyers perform their research online.
Instead of spending massive amounts of money wining and dining potential clients, marketing automation allows sales and marketing teams to reach out to customers in their new location. Buyers are online searching for the perfect product for their needs so why not go to them.
Today the buying process is mainly virtual, with buyers accessing information from white papers, demos, webinars, etc. Marketing automation will allow you to not only cater to your prospects, but also save money in the process.
Marketing automation:
- Gives prospects the information they want via white papers, demos, etc while obtaining contact information
- Saves money by nurturing prospects online
- Integrates social media sites such as Linkedin and Jigsaw, to quickly learn more about a prospect
- Puts prospects on automated drip nurturing schedules
- Syncs to a CRM system automatically
- Scores and grades prospects depending on their activities as well as how they fit your ideal customer profile
Marketing automation takes the prospect-to-client nurturing process down an even better path. With marketing automation, you can get to know your prospects just as well, if not better, and save your time and money for something else.
