With tougher direct marketing laws for lead generating practices such as telemarketing, door-to-door solicitations, unsolicited email, and broadcast faxing, many small businesses are experiencing a painful, profit-whittling, shut down of their primary methods to generate new business. Even the old standby, direct mail, is being challenged with proposals for “do not mail” lists, similar to the “do not call” telephone lists.

So what can we do? Methods for lead generation revert back to more traditional advertising and publicity tactics in order to “pull” customers toward your business, rather than “pushing” your products and services toward the customer. Either advertising budgets will need to be larger, or campaigns must be more targeted.

For many of us, efforts to get new leads will result in a higher cost per customer. Those leads need to be carefully tended like seeds planted in a new garden. To achieve cost-effective results, it is imperative that your follow up practices produce greater conversion rates. In other words, “seed those leads” to make them grow!

Here are five ways to refocus on lead conversion for better profits:

1) Don’t take “no” for an answer, without asking, “why?”

If you’ve amassed a database of leads, then you have in your possession people who initially expressed a “yes, I’m interested” response to your offer. When you conduct your first follow-up with that lead, don’t simply take, “no” as the answer. You need to find out WHY they’ve suddenly lost interest in something that initially attracted them to your product or service. Only then can you begin to address objections, and refocus your approach to find out what they want – and give it to them.

2) Ask permission to keep leads on your follow up list.

Every “no” doesn’t mean “never” – it often means “not now.” The price might be more than they can afford, the timing may be wrong, etc. Accept a “no” for the immediate promotion, but be sure to reinforce the benefits of remaining on your follow up list (i.e., they can receive valuable information, notification of special promotions on other products and services, discount offers, new product or services being introduced, etc.). Give people a reason to want to hear from you again.

3) Create a follow up system that starts and ends with you.

Too often, businesses do everything right to attract new leads, yet fail to do much to keep them. Capture contact information to build your database of potential, future buyers.

If you have a retail business, you may advertise a special promotion to generate traffic coming in the door, but you must also give them a reason to give you their contact information so you can continue to market long after the initial promotion ends. Use prize giveaways, signups to win free merchandise, or a shopping spree, etc.

If you have a service business, you might generate leads by offering a free report, analysis, or quote. Don’t send out literature to inquiries and then sit back and wait for a response. YOU must follow up to make sure the information was received, remind them of benefits, advise them of discounts, find out their objections, etc.

4) Develop total recall.

Keep detailed files of customer feedback and responses so your future follow-ups are specific to their concerns and purchasing roadblocks. Prices too high? Quality poor? Selection too small? Service too slow? Hours of operation inconvenient? You can’t overcome objections if you don’t know what they are! The more you show your customers and clients that you listen to their concerns, the greater your chances for acquiring – and keeping – a loyal customer.

5) Ask for and reward referrals.

Word of mouth advertising rarely just happens. Promoting your business will seldom be at the top of your customer’s “to do” list. However, providing incentives for your customers to refer you to others, will give them a reason to consciously do so. Use your marketing and sales history to determine your cost to acquire a new customer, and the lifetime value of a loyal customer. Use these figures to determine the incentives you’ll use for both the referring customer, and the potential new customer.

The cost of attracting potential new business is high. Now, more than ever, lead conversion is a critical component of your sales process. Never let a lead go by without doing everything you can to convert it into a buying customer, or a paying client. Take the time to “seed the lead” and you’ll see a steady increase in your profit column.

Tags: generate sales, marketing tips, sales leads

This entry was posted on March 10, 2011 at 8:38 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Marketing & Promotion Ideas by Susan Carter No Comments Yet