Prospect Data-mining and Lead Incubation



 

 

 

 

Analysis of prospect data is key to creating follow-up strategies and tactics that maximize the return from each sales lead. 

  

Today, most prospective buyers begin their home search on the internet because it is the best portal for specific home, project, and general market information.  Use of the web to gather information and email to correspond with sales representatives have the added benefit to consumers of buffering direct contact with sales representatives.  Consumers are generally more comfortable working with a sales representative after they have decided they are interested in the project and are ready to seek more detailed information.  Sure, there are still spontaneous shoppers who drop-in to sales centers or call the sales center for information.  But, the trend is clear, most serious buyers are doing their research and comparing properties before they make direct contact with project sales representatives.  Recognition of this buyer trend requires that sales and marketing place a high importance on nurturing buyers through a series of strategic communications that establish value and develop buyer trust in the project and its sales representatives.

 

Data-mining and lead incubation are part science and part art.  Mining the database to identify potential qualified prospects that are systematically nurtured requires adherence to established protocols.  Data collection begins with tracking website browser activities of individual visitors and the aggregate of all visitors; time spent on the website, viewing specific pages, floor plans, amenities and any other measurable browser activities.   In addition, data can also be collected by tracking response patterns from registered prospects to broadcast database communications.  Tracking response patterns can identify the information or promotional messages that are most effective.  Finally, more detailed and personal data is collected through the sales team’s correspondence with prospects via email, phone or site visits.  The aggregation of all data sources and continual analysis, which is translated into user friendly reports, will lead to new insights into prospect tendencies that become catalysts to creative thought and more relevant prospect communications.

 

Often the art of sales is thought of as an individual sales person interacting with and influencing another person.  The art of nurturing buyers (lead incubation) is the collaborative effort of the development team, sales, and marketing influencing many prospects with a multi-dimensional communications strategy.  Prospects receive messages from different team members in various formats.  The array of different forms of buyer communication must be timely, relevant, and meaningful to prospective buyers to be effective.

 

Lead nurturing begins on the website.  The marketing message must resonate with prospective buyers and the quality of content needs to reward them for the time spent on the website; when both of these objectives are accomplished the process of establishing value and credibility has begun.  Periodic updates to the website, broadcast email (HTML) to targeted registrant segments, and special events are a few tactical methods that continue the nurturing of process.  The objective of each broad based tactic should always be designed to prompt a prospect inquiry to the sales team and thereby provide another opportunity to move a prospect through the sales process.  In addition to communications that emanate from the marketing team, the site sales representatives also systematically communicate with prospects through personalized email, phone calls, and various outreach activities.  The opportunity to convert prospect interest to sales is optimized when all channels of buyer communications are managed through a Customer Relationship Management system (CRM).

 

CRM can be defined as a broad term that covers concepts used by companies to manage their relationship with customers including capture, storage and analysis of customer information.  CRM systems used in residential project marketing are either individual software installations with synchronizing capabilities or a web-application, the latter of which is broadly considered the preferred technology solution.  Like any technology used to support the project, it is important that the CRM solution fit the project requirements, which requires that a person highly experienced with CRM implementation be the lead in the identification of the CRM solution.

 

The project team will rely on data collected in the CRM system, but the sales team will be responsible to enter most of the data and will be the heaviest users of the application.  It is therefore very important that the entire sales team is properly trained and receive ongoing support during the initial learning curve.  The sales team will also need hands-on guidance and oversight to ensure that CRM is used to its full potential and that data entry consistently follows protocol. 

 

Mining the project registrant database and the lead incubation process require a well-planned communications strategy that is effectively implemented.  The developer will realize the maximum return on the dollars spent to create awareness and generate interest in the project by allocating sales and marketing time and resources to the nurturing of leads into qualified prospects.  Following a program to optimize every lead to its highest potential will result in achieving maximum sales velocity with the lowest possible promotional costs.



One Response to “Prospect Data-mining and Lead Incubation”

1. Scott Pearl says:

   April 26, 2009 at 6:03 pm

   Comprehensive summary and cogent argument for the absolute need for CRM in today’s challenging market. Coupled with a back to basics approach of face to face interaction with prospects these tools can yield excellent results.