You hear it over and over again on the Internet.

"You have to generate leads to build a successful online
business."

Building a list of leads for your online business can prove to
be very lucrative and rewarding.  A lead does not have to be a
prospect's entire demographic portfolio, it could simply be
their email address.

Building a sizeable list of leads is not the hard part.  The
hard part is turning those leads into satisfied customers.

If you have generated a lead, whether it is through a
subscription to your ezine, autoresponder course or discussion
board, you have to understand that you have a prospect that is
hot.

A *hot* prospect is a targeted individual who has given you his
or her email address in exchange for more information.  These
are the prospects that will be most likely to purchase your
product or service.

The key is to turn these hot prospects into customers before
they become cold prospects, who are unlikely to buy from you.

How do you turn them into customers?

By building a credible and trusting relationship.  This
relationship can be built over time by nurturing your leads.
Lead maturation takes time and when your prospect feels
comfortable dealing with you, he or she will order your product
or service.

Leads are not generated so that you can bombard them with ad
campaign after ad campaign.  It always surprises me when I sign
up for an ezine and I receive numerous solo ads and very little
content from the publisher.

Prospects want you to see what you can offer them or what
problems can you solve for them.  This is done by giving them
value while you are nurturing them.

This could be done by offering them valuable content in your
ezine or free content-packed ebooks or reports.

By providing value to your prospects, not only are you creating
a trusting and credible relationship, you are also establishing
yourself as an expert in your area.

Prospects are more prone to purchase products and services that
are endorsed by experts rather than by any average Joe.

For example, if I was sending out a monthly report to my
prospects offering valuable tips on lead generation and lead
conversion, what do you think would happen when I introduce
a lead generation software tool to my list?

My sales would increase astronomically because my prospects
already trust me.  I have also established myself as an expert
in the lead business and provided them with valuable content
issue after issue.

When they are deciding to purchase the software, they will think
"Boy, this guy really knows a lot about the leads business and
knows what he is talking about.  If he is endorsing this lead
generation software tool, then it must be something good!"

Forrester Research study best summoned it up when they
concluded:

"Firms struggle to overcome organizational and technical
barriers that hinder customer connections.  To dissolve these
barriers, firms must create a new relationship strategy based on
a conversation, not a campaign.

There are many benefits to nurturing your leads:

1. It dramatically increases your return on investment (ROI).
   You will have more people ordering your products or services.

2. Nurturing also helps you understand the true needs of your
   prospects and what they *really* want.

3. Helps you convert prospects who are unlikely to buy in the
   beginning stage of lead maturation into satisfied customers
   at the end.

4. Optimizes your sales efforts.  Sales in not about generating
   a gazillion leads.  It is about taking your existing leads
   and turning them into customers.  Finding new leads costs
   money, while nurturing existing leads costs nothing.

Treat your leads with care and royalty because they are the very
reason why you are in business.