Every small business needs to have an ongoing process for bringing in new leads and turning those leads into sales. Yet in reality, this is one area that many companies neglect. While they may do great with getting the word out and building awareness of their brand and service, actually translating those leads into sales may not be effectively occurring. However, a strong lead nurturing strategy can make all the difference to a company’s bottom line.
It is important to start by understanding the sales process, and not rushing it. Remember that leads rarely turn into sales on the first contact. Lead nurturing, where the potential customer has multiple contacts with the company, is much more typical of how sales occur, especially if the purchase is a high dollar one. By understanding this process, you can take the pressure off and know when to simply work on the relationship, when to upsell, and when to close a sale.
Lead nurturing is all about focusing on relationship building with potential customers. You are not trying to sell during this stage. Instead you are building trust and demonstrating your company’s knowledge to the potential customer. A variety of tactics can help you do so effectively.
- Connect with new leads by encouraging them to subscribe to your newsletter, check out your blog or follow you using social media. In fact, asking them to connect with you in as many different ways as possible increases the chance that you will successfully reach them. However, your focus should be to first get them to subscribe to your newsletter, because it is the medium of contact that is most timely and one you can control the most.
- Ask questions of your audience in order to involve them in your business. Their opinions, preferences, questions and needs can help you formulate solutions that fit the clientele you are seeking. This is especially effective via social media. Contests are great tools to help you build social interaction with your audience.
- Whenever you have phone contact with your leads, be sure to make good notes about the interaction. Using a cloud based telephone service like Halloo, you can maintain notes about each contact so that the next time, you can easily pick up where you left off.
With strategic tactics such as these, you will have richer interactions with the leads you uncover. As these interactions develop into relationships with potential clients, you can effectively transform leads into sales.