How to Re-Engage Old B2B Leads

Leads often have a fixed shelf life. After an extended period of time, a lead may no longer be interested in buying your B2B company's products or services. Maybe the prospective buyer has moved on to a different business or position, or perhaps the prospective buyer has already purchased a competitor's product or service. With that said, you shouldn't discard old leads. Even if a lead is old, it may still offer an opportunity to generate a sale.

Verify Information

Before re-engaging an old lead, you should verify the prospective buyer's information to ensure it's accurate. You can search for the prospective buyer on LinkedIn. As the world's largest social media network for professionals, LinkedIn is an invaluable tool for researching prospective buyers. On LinkedIn, you can find the prospective buyer's job title and contact information. Go through your old leads while comparing their information to that of their LinkedIn profiles.

Research

Always research old leads before calling or contacting them. If you only know the prospective buyer's job title, for instance, you should try to identify his or her name. You can also research the business for which a prospective buyer works. With this information, you'll be able to match the right product or service for an old lead.

Ask Questions

When re-engaging old leads, ask questions to gain a better understanding of their current needs. Prospective buyers seek products and services to satisfy a need. The needs of a prospective buyer, however, can change over time. To identify the needs of a prospective buyer, you'll have to ask questions.

Don't Give Up

Old leads may not respond to your initial call or email. When calling, in fact, it takes the average sales rep 18 attempts to reach a prospective buyer. Old leads are no exception. They may actually require more attempts than fresh and new leads. As a result, you can't give up. You must be presistent in your efforts to reach old leads and re-engage them with compelling offers.

Personalize Communications

Personalizing your communications with old leads cna help you re-engage them. Statistics show that nearly three in four B2B buyers are more loyal to suppliers that offer personalized communications. When you personalize a message, you'll create a deeper connection with old leads. They'll view your B2B company as being more credible, so they'll feel more comfortable making a purchase.