Let it be business or any other sector, success is generally associated with the number of achievements- how many customers you’ve served, how many successful campaigns you have pulled off, etc. People rarely look at the manner by which those feats were accomplished, they often just look at the stats sheet.
Lead generation is a different kettle of fish, though.
When a considerable amount of effort is utilized to generate as many leads as possible in a campaign, less focus is put into looking at the quality of each lead, which in turn becomes counterproductive. A truckload of leads is pointless if only a canister-full can be turned into customers, right? And Lord knows whether those customers would actually follow through.
Rather than aiming for a large number of leads, why not work on increasing the percentage of leads that convert instead?
By making sure your leads are healthier, you lessen the fuss of numeric quotas and instead hit the bottom line rather than dead-on.
How to convert more leads into sales?
At first, it is important to get the attention of the leads to turn them into sales.
Many businesses focus all of their attention on getting visitors to their website. But visitor numbers can create a false sense of optimism about how great things are going.
While it is true that you have to get people to your website in order to have a chance of turning them into a lead, if you don’t capture their attention in the first six seconds and they leave your website, you have wasted that opportunity to get a lead.
Customers want to know that you understand their problem or challenge and that you have a solution to help them.
So, how do you capture their attention? Offer something of value.
Customers are looking for solutions. Offer a resource like- eBook, a White Paper, a checklist or an infographic. Something that is of value to them and helps them in solving issues. In return for them being able to download your offer for free, you can ask for their name and email. The important point to remember is that you are trying to help.
Once they download your information, you have a lead that you can follow up with.
Don’t Cast Pearls Before Swine
Almost one-fifth of the marketers bemoan that they don’t have good sales data to use for converting leads into sales, and more than 60% say they don’t know where to start or how to consolidate their marketing channels. It’s a sorry state of affairs, and without sounding condescending in the least bit, here’s a bit of advice for all the struggling marketers: don’t cast pearls before swine.
There was a time when the biggest online advertising medium, Google Adwords, was all about getting your words out. Those days are gone for good. You can no longer relax in your chair, satisfied that you have gotten more clicks than your competitors. Now you have to put your ads before the most relevant prospects.
Getting in front of the best prospects takes a bit of work and costs slightly more but is necessary if you want to be successful. First, offering free trials and demo is a great point to start. Make sure the trial is offered to the most relevant customer and attains maximum client satisfaction. Make sure your campaigns are targeted correctly. Also, try to drive up positive word-of-mouth about you on the Internet. A few good reviews at a relevant forum praising your product can generate more sales than a high budget marketing campaign.
Don’t delay in contacting leads
The quicker that a lead is contacted, the better chance of turning that lead into a sale. Many companies do not have a well-coordinated process to handle leads that come in from the internet.
A lead response survey performed by the Harvard Business Review indicates that in general B2B leads receive extremely slow response times from sales teams.
Here are the results of the study-
- The average first response time of B2B companies to their leads was 42 hours.
- Only 37% of companies responded to their leads within an hour.
- 16% of companies responded within one to 24 hours.
- 24% of companies took more than 24 hours.
- 23% of the companies never responded at all.
Focus on Solving Problems
In the old days, consumers relied on a salesperson for information on products and services.
Not anymore.
Here is a shocking stat:
“Prospects are spending more time doing independent research and obtaining info from peers and other third party sources. According to an Accenture study, 94% of B2B buyers conduct online research at some point in the buying process.” (Source: Salesforce)
Customers are more educated than ever and are very resistant to the “HARD SELL.”
Make sure that your sales team avoids the hard sell and instead focus on solving problems.
Don’t launch into a pitch about your product. Particularly with online leads, the customer has already expressed interest in a product or service. A more effective approach is to open your conversation with a quick introduction, explain that you are following up to their request for contact and ask “How Can I Help.”
Then, most importantly, stay quiet and LISTEN.
Many of your qualifying questions will be answered and the customer will tell you exactly what issues they are having. You will then be in a greater position to recommend the APPROPRIATE solution for their problem, not what you want to sell them.
Take that approach and watch your conversions increase.
Sell, Don’t Hammer
It’s important to have the loudest shout in the town but there comes a point when you should stop shouting and start talking gently. This point arrives when your target audience is listening to you. Always remember, you shout at the top of your lungs to attract the prospect’s attention, never to turn an attentive prospect into a client. You’ll lose them if you don’t stop shouting now.
Herein lies an important lesson for all marketers:
Always keep your product dangling before the prospect. Never pitch it in a way that makes you seem desperate. Simply pique the prospect’s curiosity and keep arousing it.
Soon enough you’ll get them to click on the buy now button.
Looking for a lead generation and sales qualification service in Bangladesh? Contact us today to get more sales and revenue for your business.
