The Changing Role of the Modern Sales Team

Today’s customer is more discriminating, more frugal, and more informed than ever before, leaving many businesses wondering how to convert leads. The short answer to this dilemma, change the focus of your products, from selling to solving problems. Here are some tips to improve the design of your website and emails, as well as your phone skills, to help you convert sales leads.

Constant internet connectivity allows more and more customers do their research online. Approximately 70 to 90 percent of the buyer’s journey is completed before reaching out to a sales representative. According to Forrester, the average customer engages with 11.4 pieces of content before making a purchase. Therefore, your website is essential to the purchase process.

Every aspect of content should be thoroughly thought out in advance to make the greatest impact. Purchases with high involvement require informative decisions, therefore your text should be precise, concise, and to the point to educate and empower the customer. Images add greater value and also help potential customers visualise your product. And while all of this is great ultimately you are asking something of the consumer. Make it clear on your website if the potential customer should take the next actions: make a purchase, give out contact information, or go into a store.

Use visuals.

Roughly 65 percent of the population has been categorised as visual learners, so it is no wonder that articles with visuals get 94 percent more views. But it is not enough to just have any image on your site, quality plays a vital role and should not be forgotten in the process. Use graphs or charts to quickly display savings and advantages for the product. Adding an autoplay video to a landing page might also be something to take into consideration, depending on the product this can increase conversion by 31 and 86 percent.

Offer specials.

For prospects on the fence, a special, limited-time offer will give them the push they need. In a survey, nearly 7 in 10 took advantage of a sale or coupon from a marketing email in the past month, showing the power a special offer has in converting sales leads.

Teach your audience.

Today’s buyers are more skeptical and more empowered. They have become accustom to being able to quickly compare prices and learn the ins and outs of a product before ever talking to a salesperson or requesting information online. In fact, most buyers are ¾ through the sales process by the time they reach that point. Therefore, it is important to be the one to teach your prospective customers. Help customers make their decisions through sales enablement which constitutes white papers, videos, infographics, and other content marketing practices to better inform the consumer. According to research by Nelson, expert content is 38 percent more effective in purchase considerations than content that is simply branded.

Ask for the next action.

Part of sales enablement is to make the information available to help prospective buyers take the next step in the sales process. Especially with high-ticket items, a call to action on every page of your site invites the customer to learn more, download a report, or request more information. This engagement is commonly referred to as a web-to-lead, and these online interactions help in converting leads into sales by showing which leads are ready for the next step and which leads are still in the research phase of the buying process.

Get contact information.

you can’t rely solely on your website. Even the best crafted website needs the human touch. At some point in order to convert leads, you may need to call them. Even in this digital age, the phone is still a vital tool, especially in reaching targeted sales leads.

Call ASAP.

It may seem like stating the obvious, but remember to follow up on all leads. According to PR Newswire, most B2B firms fail to follow up with 70% of their leads. These include contacts from trade shows, seminars, cold calling, database purchase, and telemarketing and represent 65% of their marketing budget. A simple callback within two minutes or less increases the likelihood of a purchase by four times.

Ask for the Sale.

Visual content, special offers, and sales enablement are all ways to convert leads into sales, but ultimately, after providing your prospective customer with plenty of information and support, you need to ask for the sale. On your website, provide call to action button such as “buy now” or “add to cart” as an invitation for the customer to convert. For well-qualified and target leads, take it beyond the digital realm and make a phone call to move the sale along.

When asking for the sale, remember that today’s marketing isn’t about selling the customer. It’s all about helping the customer solve their problems. Make certain you understand your customer enough to offer solutions they will be interested in. Consider these two approaches:

Hi___. This is Bob with _____. I noticed you downloaded our report on _____. I just wanted to call and get you to buy.

OR

Hi ___. This is Bob with _____. You indicated you are having challenges with _____. I’ve been considering your situation and I think _______ will help you increase your productivity.

Focusing on how you can help the customer has shown to increase leads converting to customers by 70%.

Score your leads.

Not every lead should be added to the sales pipeline. Implement a quality control system by allowing only the high-score leads in and nurturing the rest. Qualified leads will have similar traits to previous prospects, they should have the right title and budget authority with a serious need and interest.

While about 73% of leads are not sales ready, that doesn’t mean they should be ignored. They just shouldn’t get equal attention. Nurture leads in their decision making process with use of an automated system. You can easily send out emails and information with the use of Pardot which manages email campaigns and tracks and scores leads. After sending a series of informational and promotional emails, one http://www.fileboard.com/3-tips-to-accelerate-your-sales-pipeline/of two things will happen: the lead will show more interest or no interest. The lead will show more interest by requesting information or downloading free reports, at this time a call to assess interest and timeframe is appropriate. However, if the lead shows no interest, send a “good bye” email inviting the lead to call when there is an interest. Often, a “break-up” email spurs action or allows you purge your email list.

Use these tips to help strengthen your lead conversion strategy. Many businesses constantly continue to ask “how do I convert leads into customers”. The answer is twofold: have an optimised website for better lead tracking and conversion while also calling and scoring your leads. Your website should feature prominent, informative visuals, offer expert advice, and show the customer the next step they can take. Your website should also include contact information on each page and prominent forms to request more information.

Once you have gained the lead, qualify them. Are they ready to buy or do they need some nurturing? Focus on being an advisor and an overall help. Once you prove that you are a valuable tool to solve problems converting leads to sales becomes a breeze.