Lead nurturing is a process
in which you shape leads that are not ready to buy into leads that will
eventually buy in the future.  Success in this area helps you anticipate
the needs the buyer might eventually have based on who they are or who their
company is at the moment alongside who they might become in the future. 
You need to know where they are in the buying process and nurture them as
prospects who might become buyers when the situation is right.

If you do lead nurturing well, you can build a trust between your company and
your potential buyers as well as a long time loyalty even before the prospects
are ready and willing to buy.  You might even be able to transform some of
the unqualified leads into customers in order to drive up your revenue. 
Nurturing will help the active opportunities remain active when prospective
buyers need information about their purchasing decisions because they will
automatically come to you as someone they trust.

Why Businesses Need to Understand Lead Nurturing
Not every lead is willing or ready to buy what you have to offer right away,
but that does not mean they will never buy your service or product.  They
might have a need for it in the near future and you need to gauge their
willingness to make that purchase later.  It is a mistake to ignore a lead
that does not buy immediately because that lead could very well turn into a
customer later if you treat the situation correctly.  When you nurture the
lead, the prospect will more likely become a customer over the next few years
or months.  If you drop the lead, the prospect will not remember what you
had to offer and will likely go to a competitor when their need arises for your
product or service.

Lead Nurturing Concepts
In order to nurture your leads, you need to continue to give your prospects
relevant content that could move them into being buyers in the future. 
You do not want to miss any revenue opportunities by ignoring prospects once
they have turned down an offer.  You will want to contact people that you
have in your data base in order to nurture leads instead of focusing only on
new inquiries.  You can do this through calls, emails or in a number of
other ways.  Without lead nurturing, you are leaving someone who is
potentially interested behind you without giving them a full chance to realize
the value of what you sell.

When you focus on lead nurturing, not only will you likely gain access to more
sales in the future, but you might even garner more leads.  Once a company
realizes what you have to offer and how you have treated them, they might pass
your name along to another company with which you can also do business.