Guest post by Mike Damphousse of Green-Leads.  Bio below.

A few weeks ago I published a product review of Leadlanderr. Since then we’ve had a great experience using it. For what it touts itself to be, it does a great job. It did raise a question though, and before I put much thought into it I decided to ask 7 of my colleagues in the b2b demand gen/sales/marketing space.

My question: Within a day or two of sending an initial email to someone, leaving a phonemail or posting an interesting blog article or tweet, I see they (or someone from their company) have clicked into and visited our site.

Now, how aggressively do I go after them? Do I pounce immediately? Do I pause and call shortly thereafter? Do I just nurture them? Do I wait a couple days then call?

Results were based on their comments, not hard answers, but the end result is categorized into:

Pounce - Call immediately
Pause - Give it 15-30 minutes, then call
Nurture - Let the visitor keep educating themselves, educate them softly if you can identify them
Wait - Wait a day or two, then casually call

It was also unanimous to not tell them how you knew they were on the site (too big-brother-ish). Also unanimous was that whatever the style or timing of the followup that is made, it better be valuable for the prospect.

What do you think? (comment below)

	Pounce	Pause	Nurture	Wait
Anneke Seley		•	•
Craig Rosenberg	•
Jeff Ogden		•		•
Jill Konrath			•
Mac McIntosh		•	•
Miles Austin			•
Nigel Edelshain		•	•	•
Trish Bertuzzi			•	•
My Gut:		•	•

My gut suggests there is a combination of all the opinions, although I opt for a more immediate (non pouncing) type of followup. In fact, the typical style of me and my team is to see if we can’t research the person a bit, learn a little about their company, see if we may already know them or someone that knows them, and then proceed. So the results of my informal survey were confirming our gut.

Sound Bites:

Anneke Seley: “If the volume isn’t overwhelming, I suggest calling…The nurturing option is a great one if you have too many responses to call (don’t we wish!)”

Craig Rosenberg: “Net Net - the key is to capitalize on the moment.”

Jeff Ogden: “I believe the best approach is an aged and gentle follow up with a subsequent action 3 business days or more out.”

Jill Konrath: “I hate being pounced upon…(but)…I know there is research that supports getting in touch with a person immediately after they visit your site. Strike when they’re hot. The key to success is in the how.”

Mac McIntosh: “In addition, put these prospects on a more frequent nurture track, spoon feeding them info (by email as you know they are getting it) once a week, then calling them again in 3-4 weeks if they haven’t responded.”

Miles Austin: “A bit of discussion that gathers a better understanding of the urgency and motivation for their contact, their selection process and time-frame, etc. can typically move your odds of a successful sale ahead positively.”

Nigel Edelshain: “My instinct so far is call or email soon with some value-add (since leads go South fast) but not make direct reference to your tracking for fear of scaring them off.”

Trish Bertuzzi: “Your nurture campaign should include more frequent human touches for those that visit your site more regularly. It is not a one size fits all strategy…that is the beauty of Sales 2.0. The buyer designs the sales process.”

Founder, CEO and CMO of Green-Leads, writing frequently about b2b marketing, demand creation, appointment setting, lead gen, living green, cooking, family, and other in-your-face topics.