Sunday, 20 September 2015

Business Tips: Shorten Your Sales Cycle

Conversation to Conversion
a and t
It is those two little letters that make the difference between an interested prospect and a paying client.
At some point, every business is in the business of sales, right? Is your list full of prospects but you haven’t converted them into paying customers yet? Or maybe you have several customers but you’re fresh out of new leads?
Wherever you are in the sales cycle, I want to share a few things that I have learned about getting more from your new leads, prospects, and customers. No matter how big or small, one thing remains consistent in every business: You must convert.
Think about it: You work diligently to maintain your social media presence, keep your websites updated with fresh content (you are doing this, right?). You might even take time to attend a few networking events all so you can build a rapport with people who either will do business with you or support you in business.
So here’s the critical question: Are you actually making money from these encounters? You should be.
Of course not everyone with a pulse is your customer, and certainly not your ideal customer. But when you have a purpose and a plan to have conversations with people and get to know them, you will learn to identify whether your products or services match up with their needs.
The key to this is Relationships. Even if you find that a prospect is not a customer for you, it is important they don’t feel like a number. By establishing and maintaining an open relationship, you can still provide value through free content, complimentary samples or simply by asking for a referral of someone they think might be a good fit. If they like and trust you, they will feel comfortable recommending you to someone who your products and services will serve.
But if your goal is simply to meet new people and get out of the office, then you’ll certainly meet it. There’s nothing wrong with making new friends who have nothing to do with your business. Either way, you’ll likely succeed at conversion when you take the time to understand what you want to happen each time you meet a business contact.
Do you have a system in place for tracking leads?
A way to keep in touch with warm leads and nurture them in a way that makes them feel comfortable?
This is how you keep your business above water – you must have clear and consistent systems and strategies so when it comes time for execution, you know what to expect.
Use the tips here to shorten your sales cycle and get better results, faster.
That is all –
David



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