It’s the situation you know very well. You have a potential lead towards a sale but the customer has not committed to completing the purchase; they might be unsure about the purchase or they might have their eye on a competitor’s offer. Working out how to turn a lead into a sale is a process where your focus is not solely on the product you are selling but more working out exactly how you are going to sell it.
Purus Consultants has compiled five helpful tips on how to turn a lead into a sale, so that you can drive more profits to your business.
1. Design your website for the customer’s user experience
The internet is the place where your customer will do their research before ultimately purchasing any product or service. According to statistics compiled by Forbes, 70-90% of the buyer’s journey is completed prior to engaging with the business. Consumers also engage with 11.4 pieces of content prior to making any purchase. For this reason, the content on your website is absolutely vital and needs to address the requirements of the customer. You also need to make sure your website is loading as quickly as possible – if your site takes forever to load then expect a high bounce rate and not much action.
Your content needs to be precise, concise and should be there to educate the customer. Make sure all of your products are displayed through images to allow the customer to visualise the item. Lastly, you need to make it clear on your site how the consumer can take the next steps: add to basket, contact information or visit the shop. By making this as simple as possible you’ll be optimising the check-out process, therefore maximising your conversion rate.
2. Offer an incentive
Do you like free stuff? It would be surprising if you didn’t. Your customers certainly love free stuff. Offering a free gift is certainly a great way of turning a lead into a sale. Cannot afford to give away a free gift? Perhaps you should offer a limited time discount, giving your customer the reason to finally push through with the purchase. The discount doesn’t have to be incredibly high – just enough to make the consumer seriously consider making a purchase from you.
3. Ask your customer for the sale
This may seem ridiculous but have you tried asking your customer if they want to purchase? It is quite an obvious tip but you’d be surprised how many businesses actually don’t ask the customer for the sale. A lead has become a lead because they are interested in what you have to offer. So get your question out there to your lead: “Are you ready to purchase?” Watch how many say “yes”. If you don’t do this, your competitor will also so.
4. Ask for the next action
Part of the sales process is to enable prospective buyers to take the next step towards purchasing. Make sure you place a call to action on every page of your website where you can invite your lead to learn more, download a related document or request some more information from you about the product. This process of engagement can help convert those leads as it will show which leads are ready to take that next step to purchase and those who need a little more information before committing.
5. Remind the lead of the potential ROI
If the product you are selling has the opportunity to increase your lead’s return on investment then remind them; “when are you ready to increase your revenue?” After all, you are offering a solution that will make them more money, so push them to convert.
6. Have a standout email marketing campaign
You won’t be the only business sending marketing emails to your leads, your competitors will also. For this reason, your promotional emails need to stand out from the crowd that flood the consumer’s inbox. You don’t always need to be too promotional as anything that comes across as aggressive and pushy will put some consumers off. Include some fun facts about the company or relate it to something trending on the internet. The cleverest of emails grab the attention of the consumer and make your company stand out. Just make sure your subscriber base has been acquired by following the new GDPR rules.
7. Develop an effective FAQ page on your website
There are many leads who need their questions answered before they commit to the sale. Creating a helpful FAQ page which answers common questions is excellent for the consumer. Make sure it is prominent on the site and easy for the customer to access. Your sales and customer service team can help in putting together the questions they would expect a customer to ask.
8. Implement Salesforce for your business
Using the Salesforce CRM platform will help you find customers, close deals faster and grow accounts. With its intuitive software, which is bespoke for your business, you can use tools specifically designed to help drive sales.
How will Salesforce convert leads into sales?
- Salesforce Einstein allows you to build artificial intelligence right into the sales process. It will automatically capture data to give you instant insights like top leads, next steps and suggested actions.
- The flexible user experience allows you to sell from the field and sell from the inbox. In fact, it will allow you to sell the way you want to. You can also sell from any device from anywhere.
- With a 360-degree view the customer experience can be personalised – create a single consistent selling process to help you connect with every lead through their purchase journey.
- Your sales team will close deals faster with the optimised quote-to-cash process using the Salesforce CPQ.
Purus Consultants are UK Salesforce consultants. We are experts in Salesforce support, training, and implementation. To find out more information about how Salesforce can help turn your leads into sales, contact us today.