James Obermayer came up with the Rule of 45, which says that 45% of your prospects will eventually buy. If not from you, then they will buy from a competitor. The time it takes to convert initial interest into a sale varies widely depending on what you sell and who you sell it to. There is one constant though, you can’t depend on the prospect to buy from you when they are ready unless they remember you. The process of maintaining mindshare during the time between interest and conversion is referred to as lead nurturing.

A recent study by Bizo and Oracle Marketing Cloud found that many business marketers are too busy generating leads to worry about converting them. Only 35% of those surveyed noted that lead nurturing was essential to their business. Perhaps more startling, most relied on e-mail alone to do the nurturing even though 79% said they see open rates of less than 20% on their nurture e-mails. Here’s another way to look at that: More than 80% of your best opportunities for a sale aren’t paying attention to you.

Digital marketers send more than 3 trillion e-mails a year. That’s a lot of competition for attention. You know where there is less competition? 

The mailbox.

Quote of the Week: “It is nice to have valid competition; it pushes you to do better.”-Gianni Versace

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