How To Turn More Leads Into Clients
When you run a business that relies on a client focused business model, there are two aspects that drive your success. These being retention and SALES!
We all know generating leads is one thing, but turning those leads into actual paying clients is a whole other story. When you work within the sales side of a job for a number of years, you pick up what works best for turning leads into clients and what isn’t the best approach to take.
These tips, tricks and pieces of advice have been compiled into one post for you to utilise in your next sales call!
Ask Questions & Be Genuinely Interested
Building a rapport with your prospective client is the first step to landing that sale. How do you build rapport whilst maintaining your professionalism? It’s simple… Ask questions!
There is nothing people love talking about more than themselves, however there is one exception to this, this exception being talking about their business. Many owners put everything they have into their business and often speak with a lot of passion. Really taking the time to ask them in-depth questions to fully understand their goals will not only leave them feeling appreciated, but also shows them how important the success of their business is to you.
It’s important to avoid asking questions for the sake of asking questions, clients will be able to tell your lack of interest and asking too many irrelevant questions will be a huge turn-off. Ask questions because you are genuinely interested and want to understand more about them and their business.
Educate Them
People have a misconception that you shouldn’t share your knowledge during the sales process, having believed this in the past myself, I can tell you for a fact this can be a costly mistake.
Clients come to you for guidance and want to feel confident in their decision to choose you. Hiring a service to support a company can be incredibly overwhelming and stressful, so why not make it easy for them by really selling your service and yourself as someone who holds the most knowledge in comparison to the other companies they are talking to.
Know The Difference Between Time Wasters and Actual Potential Clients
In sales, you will unfortunately meet a lot of time wasters and it’s important to determine who these are as early as possible. This of course sounds easier than it is, but there are red flags during the sales process that can help you figure out what your prospects’ intentions are.
- They ghost you or avoid discussing your pricing structure and only contact you when asking for more information- This is often a tactic used by competitors to steal your ideas, parts of your package structure or knowledge to use as a way to land their sales.
- They are constantly trying to negotiate a lower price – This is not only the sign of a toxic client, but typically, if they can’t afford your service in the first place, they won’t stick around for very long.
- They don’t remember you or your company- Believe it or not this happens A LOT. Instances where this occurs are often because they are talking to so many other companies. These prospects frequently don’t end up making a decision due to having too many options. Consequently ending up stuck in the analysis phase, also known as ‘Analysis Paralysis.’
- They don’t care about your company or how your company works, they just want an audit or strategy asap. – This is the first sign that they have no interest in using your services and they just want to use the information you provide for themselves.
Follow-Up, Follow-Up, Follow-Up
Keep your business in the forefront of their mind through frequent follow-up. It’s also important to switch between your communication methods.
Be Honest and Transparent
Honesty and transparency is key. This not only builds a solid foundation for yourself and your clients relationship, but a lot of clients respect transparency. As mentioned above, it can be nerve racking and overwhelming hiring a service for their company, so building trust is essential for setting you apart from your competitors.
If you have to lie and make false claims in order to land a client, it will not be beneficial in the long-term.
Keep Track Of EVERYTHING
To prevent missing out on follow-up or losing track of your sales conversations, it’s important to have a place that you can refer to in order to find this information easily.
Some sales reps will use a spreadsheet for this, others will use a software. My personal favorite is Trello, this will allow you to create cards/board containing all of your sales conversations and move prospective clients into different sections of your board based on the following:
-Where they are in the sales process
-How many times you have followed up with them/how
-Whether they have gone cold
Not to mention it’s also free!
Know When To Shift Your Priorities Away From A Prospect
It’s important to know when to stop trying to land a client. If they meet the time waster criteria listed above, pause contact as soon as possible.
There is also a point where the amount you contact them might cause some conflict. If you have to contact a prospect more than 8 times, then they probably aren’t interested. Of course it would be great if they could let you know, but often you just need to take the hint and shift your focus elsewhere.
