• by Gretchen Scheiman , Op-Ed Contributor, February 7, 2008

Years ago, I followed up on a failed lead generation program by speaking to the salespeople who called the leads. They told me, "I called and asked if they wanted the product, but they weren't interested."

When I approached their manager to diplomatically question their sales skills, I was told, "Well, we had other priorities, so we couldn't pay much attention to your program."

If you've ever heard statements like these before, you know that creating a lead generation program the sales team will support is a challenge. This is where email can be a real hero. An eNurturing program, where leads are warmed up with a series of email communications, can help prequalify and target the best leads for sales -- creating an efficient sales pipeline. A good eNurturing program can even help identify topics for sales to open a conversation with.

Successful eNurturing programs have three key components: sales buy-in, clearly defined goals, and specific success metrics.

1. Sales buy-in. Including your sales team in the planning can help you identify the right targets and topics to address. If sales feels included, they're much more likely to make your program a priority.

1. Clearly defined goals. Ask the sales team to help define what a good lead would look like. This can help you define questions you need to ask, along with needs you should attempt to uncover through your eNurturing messages.

1. Specific success metrics. How many leads need to turn into sales for this program to be considered a success? What is the target gross sales goal? Communicating those metrics upfront can give the sales team a goal to shoot for, and help them sing your program's praise when they meet that goal.

I originally thought my first lead generation program failed due to lack of sales support. It wasn't quite that simple. Months later, I found out that the sales team had abandoned the program after the first calls proved they had embarrassingly bad leads.

An eNurturing program, using a series of emails to warm the leads and solicit additional information, could have sorted through respondents and flagged good leads. This would have resulted in a more efficient sales pipeline.

So how do you create an eNurturing program? Start by deciding whether you need multi-part eNurturing or long-term eNurturing.

Multi-part eNurturing

• Leads are sent a series of two to six emails over a set period of time.
• The number of emails depend on how many distinct message points you need to communicate.
• Calls-to-action are used to identify interests; click-throughs on specific topics or points are communicated to the sales team to aide follow up calls.

Long-term eNurturing

• Leads are sent a periodic newsletter, generally monthly.
• Emails continue indefinitely, as long as the lead doesn't opt-out.
• Click-throughs on specific topics may be used to identify areas of interest and aid the sales team with follow up calls.

The type of program you run depends on your goals. If your product has a long sales cycle, combine a multipart program with a long-term program. That way, you can quickly validate leads for hand-off to your sales team, and then keep those leads engaged over time with your newsletter.

If your product has a short sales cycle, focus on a multipart eNurturing program with polls or other actions that generate the information you need to validate your leads. Share that information with your sales team, and you'll be better positioned for success.