I sympathize with Jon Miller, who wrote about Lead Nurturing: Escaping the Nightmare. In a complex b2b marketing environment, you can easily end up with dozens or hundreds of qualified, not-ready-to-buy leads. You're then supposed to nurture these leads with relevant, timely contacts. But, how can this be managed? Some kind of automation is certainly called for. Email auto-responders and auto-mailers have been common for years now. This seems like the only automation that currently exists. The trouble with these is that it's easy to see that they are automated. And automation at this level means that it's not personal. Because of this impersonal approach, the information isn't always relevant and it isn't always timely. Thus, email-auto-responding lead nurturing isn't as effective as it could be. Even some marginal audience segmentation can go a long way towards offering more relevent information. If you know the segment, it can be used to provide more targeted, more relevant information. To be truly effective, however, we need to find a way to get over the "auto-only" nature of the email communication. Sometimes email isn't the right medium. And, timeliness can't be predicted by some email program. The more I think of it, it seems like a human being is required to stay engaged with the prospect and determine her/his needs and timing. But, if a human is required, how can this process be automated? And if it's not automated, how can the required volume be achieved? The hardest part of the nurturing seems to be fulfillment and tracking. Is there a way to provide a "console" where a "lead nurturing strategist" can read down the list, assess the needs, assess the contact pattern, and "program" a touchpoint (from a toolbox of touchpoints), to be delivered and tracked automatically? So far, I don't know of such a thing. But, I think it's possible and worth it.