Generating Sales – Small Business
Generating sales can seem like a difficult and time consuming task for many small business owners. They may feel stretched thin, sometimes undertaking several different roles within the business and often one of these will be sales rep at one point or another. It can be tricky coordinating the marketing of products, customer or client interactions and staff management, as well as attempting to generate new leads and turning them into sales.
When sales fail to materialise, it is typically assumed that this is because the business needs to generate more leads. More leads equals sales, right? Well, yes, and no.
Typically, buyers will buy the service or product when they’re ready. This isn’t necessarily when the seller is ready to sell. So while the lead is important and useful, it won’t necessarily guarantee a sale then and there. However, it’s what you do with these leads that will help convert it to a sale, later on. Having a process in place to deal with these leads will ensure they don’t fall through the cracks, and will be converted to sales at some point in the future.
Believe it or not, most successful sales people aren’t successful because of just good luck. They have a process for working through leads, follow it consistently and then enjoy watching those leads convert into sales. The time and resources invested in those leads isn’t wasted, it’s all part of the pipeline leading to realised sales.
It would be useful to think of the leads/sales equation in a different way. Visualise it, rather, as the buyer’s journey. Assume they’re always going to finish by purchasing your product or service. The journey is about how you get them there.
Ask yourself some questions. Are you different from your competition? If so, why? And why would your potential customer buy from you instead of your competition? It’s important that your potential customer understands why buying from you instead of your competition is a good financial investment for them. Your differences and the reasons they would buy from you should be positively based, ie what you can offer.
Once you have the lead, how do you follow it up? Not at all? Once a month? By phone call, email or face to face? You need to establish relevant follow up based on where the prospect is at in the buyer’s journey. This is where Infusionsoft can help you automating your sales process so no leads fall through the cracks any longer.
If your leads aren’t clear on what service or product you offer, then following up and providing more information or education will nudge the buyer further down the pipeline. Across all clients, we can see that lead nurturing through education is a great approach. Digital Junkies can build automated campaigns with all the info your prospects need to make an informed decision on their path to purchase.
Validating your prospects need for your service or product and assisting them to move forward is often the final step in the journey and is the point where the nurtured lead is converted to a sale. With Infusionsoft you have access to the digital behaviour of your prospects and you can see exactly where they are in the buying cycle. Depending on which link they clicked on or which video they have watched in your automated campaign, your leads get a certain scoring and are defined as hot or cold leads. This is then an important indication of when to call your leads or close a deal.
Creating sales doesn’t always involve needing more leads. What you actually need is an adequate leads-to-sales process. Taking some time to think about your sales strategy and defining a process is important. Implementing it and following it consistently will ensure you are using best practices to take advantage of your available resources and that those leads are eventually closed off as sales.
Curious how Digital Junkies can help optimising and automating your sales process? Call our Infusionsoft Expert Joe Brown today on 07 55 88 36 26
