They say that slow and steady wins the race. I thought the race was long over. Converting this old lead was not even on my radar screen. Until I received an email a little over a week ago with an odd subject line: RE: Hoping the new year is off to a good start. New Year – huh?
A Blast from the Past
With so many emails scams, I was hesitant to even open the email, but the sender’s url peaked my curiosity. The email was legit. It was from a prospective client I had met with a while ago to discuss marketing for their business. A while ago is an understatement. The email string started in June of 2013. My most recent attempt to nurture this lead was the new year…2014. The person literally replied to my email dated January of 2014! I never heard back and the lead was gone from any pipeline tracking! I purposefully do not continue to try to touch base if there I no response. It is very important to me that a prospective client have a sense of urgency and commitment to move forward.
So 5 years and 3 months later, I met again with the prospective client. The lead was back from the dead. I went to the meeting with low expectations. The preface of the meeting was to discuss Q4 digital marketing plans and Q4 was less than 10 days away, assuming they were talking about Q4 2018. I suspected they may just want a set of hands to execute a plan they had already committed to and that is not how For Marketing Matters delivers the best service to its clients.
Marketing Strategy Before Execution
The President, general manager and VP of sales gathered along with a manufacturers representative. They shared their plans to drive 2018 Q4 sales and asked for my thoughts. I recommended they not do any of it. We pride ourselves on being strategic and pragmatic. We deliver marketing ROI and never want to confuse activity with progress. I shared my concerns based on preparing for the meeting by reviewing their website, search engine optimization results and their online reputation. There was important strategic marketing work to be done before throwing money at various marketing activities.
The meeting was great. The team around the table were open and engaged. I reviewed what we would do in place of the Q4 plan and there was consensus to move forward. After an hour or so, the team agreed to secure For Marketing Matters (FMM) as their outsourced marketing department, starting with assessing and building a solid foundation. They avoided throwing a lot of money at B to C marketing campaigns that were unlikely going to generate marketing ROI and within days I had a signed contract for a new client. Granted, the sales process was 62 months longer than normal!
Outliers Aren’t Necessarily Bad
Certainly none of us can count on leads to all convert after such a long time has passed. As an outlier in the sales cycle, this is by far the longest sale in 11 years of being in business! I am thrilled they could find my email from January 2014 and had remembered our initial meeting so long ago! I look forward to working with their team, introducing them to our blue bricks and green apples and generating leads for their business that convert in a timely fashion.
You never know…