I learned the importance of lead nurturing thanks to one attorney who attended our Rainmaker Retreat several years ago. She came up to me after the first day to say that she had been hearing from us for almost 10 years, and finally decided she needed to attend our two-day marketing seminar, and how glad she was that she did.

If nothing else, this reinforced to me the importance of nurturing leads. I had no idea it would take someone 10 years to respond to our lead generation efforts, but I’m certainly glad we didn’t drop her off our list. You never know when someone will decide they’re ready to buy, even a decade later!

Lead nurturing is simply helping people rather than trying to sell them something. It is identifying their “point of pain” and giving them the answers that help them alleviate that pain. Those answers can come in many different forms, including monthly e-newsletters, special reports, blogs and other forms of content marketing.

The content you deliver should benefit your prospect, whether or not they “buy” from you right away. By having a lead nurturing program in place, the quality of your leads will increase and so will your conversion rates.

Here are 7 steps to a superior lead nurturing program:

Have a system. While you can have a manual system, automated is really the way to go. That way, leads don’t fall through the cracks.

Track everything. Having an automated system in place will also allow you to track all the actions that your intake people are taking to nurture the lead along the path to becoming a client.

Respond quickly. Again, an automated system will shoot off an email within seconds of entering an active lead into the system. You must respond quickly to let the lead know you are interested and then follow up with more emails or calls to get them in the door. In fact, research has shown thatleads can go from hot to cold in just five minutes!

Stay in touch. Your automated system that captures the conversations you have already had with your leads will enable you to identify the best times to keep in touch with them. Put your leads on your monthly e-newsletter list; just ask their permission first.

Offer value. Send your leads a free report or ebook that provides them with something of value.

Ask for the business. Your intake people should be trained on listening for cues when people are ready to commit to an appointment. Always ask for the business.

Learn from mistakes. Be alert to what doesn’t work and adjust your lead generation and conversion system accordingly.