What are Raw Leads? How to Manage and Convert Them

According to recent statistics, over 79% of generated leads do not convert into sales. A missed opportunity, just because the sales team was unable to convert raw leads into customers, that’s not what any company wants.

When you spend your capital and deploy resources to generate so many raw leads, but losing those due to any reason, indicates a scope for improvement. It can be due to improper lead management, inaccurate team coordination, no personalized strategy to approach, etc.

Today, we will guide you to get a clear concept of how easy it is to work on unqualified leads and raw sales and convert them into resourceful data. Let’s start by understanding raw leads.

What are Raw Leads?

Raw leads are people who have taken the first step to express interest in your business. This could be by signing up for a newsletter, downloading an eBook, attending a webinar, or engaging with your social media posts. But at this stage, they haven’t been qualified to see if they’ll buy.

Raw leads lack detailed information about their needs or readiness to buy. They are at the very beginning of the sales funnel.

Some may turn out to be perfect customers, while others may require more nurturing or may not be a good fit at all.

Why Are Raw Leads Important?

They represent the un-earthed potential for businesses. It’s an opportunity to build a strong relationship and convert them into paying customers.

Losing them will cost you new capital investment! Converting the existing leads is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. It can cost five times more to bring in new customers than to retain existing ones.

Where are Raw Leads in your system?

Stage 1: Raw Lead Stage

At this point, the lead has shown interest but needs further qualification. This is the initial stage, the customers are still not sure if they really want your product. All they need is the proper approach.

Stage 2: Marketing Qualified Lead

They need nurturing, like sending them helpful content and guiding them through the journey, and then they can become potential leads. Hence, the probability of selling increases.

Stage 3: Sales Qualified Lead

When the criteria like budget and authority of MQL are met then they become SQLs. It means they are ready for direct sales engagement. Your sales rep has to tailor the interaction in a personalized way.

Note: The conversion rate from raw leads to MQL is approximately 31%, suggesting that two-thirds of leads may need additional nurturing before they are ready for sales.

Why Leads are not managed properly?

Do not treat all leads equally, not everyone is ready to buy your product or service. For example, if a software company receives inquiries from various industries, some may not need their software at all. Hence, it wastes your resources and time.

Not having Proper Communication, is one of the major factors in this. Lead management starts with clear and consistent communication. If a potential lead receives different information from your team members, then they may become confused or frustrated.

Focus on lead nurturing is important because when customers feel neglected, they lose interest. Hence, always take follow-ups via the relevant medium. Use automation and AI to reply promptly to customers.

Another mistake is not understanding your target audience. If your marketing messages are all about what you’re selling and not the problems your potential customers are facing, they won’t see the value in what you offer.

Proven Strategies for Converting Raw Leads into Loyal Customers.

1. Start with a Lead Management System

When you receive leads, organize the raw contacts with the help of Automation. This will be of assistance to you in categorizing them and dividing them among your team members. For example, you can categorize them based on their source, like social media, email campaigns, and more.

Using CRM software will track each lead’s information, interactions, and status. Using these lead scoring systems will prioritize leads based on their chances of conversion.

Sales reps are given the list of customers accordingly. This will form a proper system, in which every individual will be aware of their roles. Creating an initial approach strategy is a must. This ensures your sales team focuses on the most promising prospects.

2. Distribute Quality of Leads

BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline to qualify each lead. You need to create a set of criteria. Creating buyer personas, that are your ideal customers will help you identify which leads fit those profiles.

When it comes to sales, understanding and solving the problems your potential customers have is key. In fact, if you can identify their problems you’re halfway to a sale!

Every customer has problems they need solutions for. By understanding those problems you can tailor your product to their needs. This increases the chances of a sale and builds trust.

Ask the Right Questions: “What is the core problem you’re trying to solve?”: This gets to the heart of the issue.“What have you tried so far?”: What they’ve tried before will give you insight into what they value and what hasn’t worked for them.

When you take the time to listen and understand their problems raw leads will feel valued and appreciated. This will set you apart from competitors who don’t do the same.

Use Surveys on Your Website: To gather even more information about your leads’ challenges, consider incorporating surveys as part of your lead capture process.

3. Nurture Relationships

Traditional methods of marketing and interacting have been modified to customized ones. Customers have many options to buy products from, why would they choose you? Give them a reason by tailoring your communication style based on their preferences and behavior.

For example, while talking to them, use their name and reference previous interactions to make them feel valued. Utilize email marketing in an optimum way. Divide your email lists based on interests or behavior and then send targeted messages to each group, so that they can be related to your approach.

Develop a content strategy that focuses on the pain points of your cold leads. Create informative blog posts, eBooks, case studies, and videos, that give them solutions.  

Use drip campaigns to send automated emails over time that guide leads through the buying journey. For example, start with educational content and gradually introduce product offerings.

4. Set Conversion Benchmarks

Benchmarks are prominent in any business. KPI’s form a structure, that defines the nature of your lead. Your resources are valuable, hence which leads will consume how much time and resources, can only be known by defining key performance indicators for the lead conversion process.

Set the conversion rate, average time to convert, and customer acquisition cost. Go through historical data to set practically achievable goals that meet the industry standards.

GO WITH TRENDS! Have an eye for your competitor’s strategies, and examine what they are doing and what their results are. It’s definitely helpful. Along with that also review your conversion metrics to identify areas for improvement.

Use A/B testing for different approaches in nurturing campaigns (e.g., subject lines, content formats) to see what resonates best with your audience.

5. Transition from Raw Leads to Appointments

When you interact via message or call, it sets a foundation. Once, you are sure about the potentiality of the lead, use scheduling tools to book meetings. This reduces time mismanagement in the appointment-setting process. Send reminders to appointments to ensure attendance.

Whether the meeting set up is on video call or in-person, you need to have the same confidence and approach style. Tailor your product demonstrations to engage the leads. You already have the data in your system, you know what are their needs, and problems they are facing. It’s time to show them how your product will solve their issues.

Customize the demo agenda to address their priorities, focusing on features that directly solve their problems. Use real-world examples and actively engage them throughout the presentation.

Incorporate storytelling techniques to capture attention. Share compelling customer success stories that showcase how others have overcome similar challenges and achieved remarkable results.

6. Close the Sale!

This is the last stage of lead management. After demonstrative the value of your products, ask for any further objections. Always be prepared with answers and solutions to the questions raised by customers.

Use trial closes throughout the conversation. For example, Does this solution fix your problem? Do you have anything else in mind? These will trigger their interest before you ask them for sale.

Implement a follow-up strategy post-demonstration or presentation. A simple thank-you email can go a long way in maintaining interest. Track which methods led to successful conversions and refine your approach based on what works best. 

Overview

Managing raw leads is easy when you have implemented a proper system that takes care of the whole process step by step. These are foundations of business, as you are introduced to new customers, that can be converted into potential ones, if they are nurtured properly.

CRM software is what you need! It will automate everything from social media posts, and marketing to the sales pipeline and increase your ROI. Lead management needs effective solutions rather than relying on traditional ones. Hence, the above-mentioned practices are useful to companies who want to expand their business.

FAQs 

1. How can I tell the difference between raw and qualified leads?

A qualified lead has expressed more interest in your product or service. They could have downloaded a white paper, asked for a demo, or mentioned a specific need in a chat. Raw leads haven’t shown that level of engagement yet.

2. Are all raw leads created equal?

No! Leads from website forms might be more engaged than those from a cold call. Use the sources and provided info (like budget or industry) to focus efforts.

3. What are some good questions to ask when qualifying raw leads?

Keep it simple! Ask about their pain points, budget timeline, and decision-making process. This will help you understand if they’re a good fit and how urgently they need a solution.

4. What are some creative ways to generate raw leads?

Host webinars as well as online events to attract potential customers interested in a relevant topic. Run contests or giveaways to capture email addresses and spark interest.