10 Things To Avoid When Nurturing Foodservice Leads

Let's be honest. Sales is a lot like dating. We have a list of do's and don'ts that can make life easier so we don't come across as too pushy, too salesy, disinterested, out-of-touch, unknowledgeable, unprofessional, and in some cases, even desperate. 

Generating leads can be hard enough, but once you've qualified someone as a lead, how do you nurture them? Here are 10 things to keep in mind in order to keep and convert your foodservice sales leads:

1) Don't try to be something your not. Don’t tell them you can solve all of their problems, especially if you know you can't. The fact of the matter is you can't make everyone happy. Take the time to identify whether or not your piece of foodservice equipment is a good fit for your lead, and make sure you're marketing to a specific, well-defined foodservice buyer persona.

2) Don’t leave them waiting. Timing is everything, so be punctual with appointments and meetings, return calls and emails quickly, and make sure you're available for follow ups within 24 hours. According to HubSpot, the odds of making contact with a lead increase 100 times if called within five minutes, and the chances of qualifying the lead are increased by 21 times. This could mean a lot of potential business for your foodservice equipment company.

3) Don't talk about yourself over and over and over again. Inserting your personality and letting someone get to know you is one thing, but when you're not asking questions and listening, you're missing a valuable opportunity to learn about your potential customers. Ask them about their personal lives, their goals, and their hobbies.

4) Don't depend on the phonebook. If you're grabbing the phone book and dialing from cover to cover, you're likely wasting your time. Try to educate and qualify your leads before picking up the phone instead. But don't take our word for it. According the Harvard Business Review, 90.9% of cold calls fail, and according to Leap Job, less than two percent of cold calls result in a meeting.

5) Don't show up when or where you're not invited. In an age when 60 percent of the buying decisions are made before someone even talks to a sales rep, it's important to make sure you're contacting people on their terms, when they're ready. "We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in," says Craig Davis of J. Walter Thompson, the fourth largest ad agency network in the world.

6) Don't ask for a commitment too early. Or as Mike in Swingers might say, don't ask her to marry you before you've even gone on a handful of dates. Instead of asking someone to commit to buying, set smaller goals and nurture the lead through the sales process using a timeline and measurability.

7) Don't follow up or follow up too much. According to HubSpot, 80 percent of sales are made between the fifth and twelfth contact with a prospect. By not following up, you're eliminating or extending the timeline needed to get to this sweet spot. And again, if you take the "Mike" approach from Swingers and call over and over again, your lead might disconnect the phone.

8) Don't forget to personalize. Buy not personalizing your messages and creating content directly for your particular foodservice buyer personas, you're missing an enormous opportunity to speak directly to your target audience. Consider these numbers from HubSpot: Personalized emails improve click through rates by 14 percent and conversion rates by 10 percent.

9) Don't be absent minded. Give your undivided attention in every situation. If you're in a meeting, concentrate on the conversation, not your iPhone. If you're operating on social media platforms, reply quickly, and contribute thoughtful content to all the relevant groups and forums within your network.

10) Don't over promise and then under deliver. This is an easy one. Make sure to manage expectations, and then deliver on what people expect.

Ready to learn more about lead generation for your foodservice business?

Only one in 10 professional marketers describe their lead generation efforts as "highly efficient and effective." For business owners in the foodservice industry, that's simply not good enough.

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