I’m pleased to present this guest post by marketing expert Ardath Albee.  Please visit her at MarketingInteractions and to learn more, please visit Find New Customers.

by Ardath Albee, CEO, Marketing Interactions

I’ve seen so many posts about how to fight the negative impacts of a recession on business success that it’s making me crazy. Why is it that people wait until it’s announced that we’re finally in a recession before they start doing what they could’ve been doing all along?

Customer-focused lead nurturing is one of the best ways to prevent experiencing an adverse impact to customer acquisition during a recession. A recent report from Aberdeen showed that best in class companies using lead nurturing increased revenues 28% and qualified leads by 4% year over year.

The reason is twofold: Companies that leverage customer-focused nurturing become valuable resources with higher credibility. The leads they’ve continuously interacted with over time come to rely on them for expertise and useful insights. The vendors who embrace nurturing are even more valuable in times of economic uncertainty.

Here are a few meaty reasons why lead nurturing is a recession buster:
• You’re already growing a relationship with people who’ve given you their permission to contact them with relevant content.
• Reach out with proactive dialogue to learn about what’s keeping them up at night due to this economic shift and then ease their concerns by helping them make the best choices during risky times.
• Create marketing content to address their concerns and give them helpful ideas for riding out the storm so they’re in a better position when the winds change.
• Focus on enabling leads to have confident conversations about why solving their problem with your expertise is the best choice. This is critical since a complex sale generally has at least 7 people with differing perspectives on the buying committee—probably more who influence from the periphery.
• Providing continuity of experience during tough times raises your viability as a long-term partner choice.
• Whatever you do, don’t stop now. If you cut and run to save budget you’re not only wasting leads, but you’re showing them you’ll jump ship when the going gets tough.
• Do NOT start panicking and use hard-sell tactics. Stick to your story. Your confidence and stability during a downturn does a lot for your company’s reputation, not to mention showing people they can trust you to stay focused on what’s best for them.
• Consider increasing your “touches” with more valuable content. You’ll rank above your competitors who’ve stuck their heads in the sand to wait for the good times to return.

Leads interested in your product offerings before the recession, probably need you now—more than ever. Keep in mind that they’ll buy eventually and your goal is to have them buy from your company. Don’t be pushy, be helpful. Prove to your leads that you’re the trusted advisor they’ve been looking for.

If nothing else, a recession gives you the perfect venue for proving you’re focused on them. Nurturing an audience you already have is much more lucrative than flailing about for short-term sales.

Do yourself a favor and learn why the economy is restraining their decision to buy. Now, you’ve got the opportunity to show them why it’s not the best choice to put off a decision that can deliver a needed business value. People still buy during a recession. They’re just more discriminating about the vendors they choose.

Nurturing will help them choose you.

Lead nurturing belongs in your marketing strategy mix—recession or not.

Ardath Albee ([email protected]) is an expert at creating contagious content and e-marketing strategies that engage prospects-from initial attention until they’re sales ready. She has a unique ability to develop content strategies that work hand-in-glove with overall corporate and product positioning to deliver hard hitting e-marketing programs and tools that compel customers to buy. Ardath helps her clients generate more opportunities by optimizing how they leverage marketing automation and CRM technology investments. Her clients include Covad Communications, LANDesk and Silicon Graphics. Visit her website and industry-leading blog to learn more: www.marketinginteractions.com.

For companies looking for best practices in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go.  CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads and implement processes for business to business lead generation.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers.