Top 9 ideas to convert your sales leads to customers

In each and every business, having a healthy lead pipeline as part of Sales strategy is fundamental to the core value of a business or company. Especially, in today’s world, if you want to sustain and grow your business, then capturing and maintaining leads is very important. You may wonder how is this possible? Yes, it is possible in this digital world. Technology plays a vital role in enabling this. Specifically, digital marketing and online promotion play a major role in bringing leads to top of the sales funnel. Online platforms help you reach out to millions of viewers across the globe from America to Asia and from Japan to Jamaica.

Each individual lead generated from marketing promotions are different from the others based on their requirement and views on the products. There are three categories of leads. First category of the leads may immediately need your product and service. So, it will be easy for you to convert them. On the other hand, second category of leads may find your product interesting and would want to know more about it. The third category of leads may not have any idea on what your product / service is. So, the real challenge is how you convert the second and third categories of leads in your sales pipeline?

Your effort, time and investment spent on marketing will pay off only if you convert your leads into customers. You would need a miracle to convert all of your leads into your customer. It is a known fact that unless you have a strong sales process, you will literally struggle to convert leads in to customers. It is not an easy task for the lead to put their money in your pocket unless you make them feel satisfied with their requirement. Don’t manipulate your leads to buy your product or service, instead, help them with what they need and that will be enough to convert them.

Here are top 9  tips to approach your leads with effective engagement to convert them into your customers.

(1) Understand your leads

There is a general belief that all leads generated from marketing and promotions will be in need of your product and services. But in reality, it is not so. The purpose of their visit will be different. So, identifying their interest first, helps you to filter them and decide if they need to be pushed in to the sales funnel or not.

(2) Don’t make leads wait

It is important that we respond quickly to Sales enquiries/leads. This will create a positive impact on the lead and will help him/her decide. Please also be conscious of the fact that your lead is simultaneously also evaluating other competitive products/services similar to what you offer. So, responding quickly is the key to keep your lead engaged.

Using a lead management software like HelloLeads helps you to track all the leads from social media platforms and engage with them quickly and helps you ensure fail proof follow ups. HelloLeads also allows you to respond to your leads with instant text and greeting emails in an automated way.

(3) Qualify the lead first

Qualifying is tagging your leads under various sales parameters. For example, their potential, their possibility of conversion, B2B or B2C conversion, deal value, their products of interest etc. Getting all such insights of your leads will help you to plan your sales strategy appropriately and spend your valuable time on the right leads.

For a sales conversion, on an average you might spend anywhere between a week to a few months depending on the product/industry. Given the time that the conversion cycle takes, filtering your leads at the initial stage will help you to save your time, energy and make your conversion effective.

(4) Keep your leads warm (follow-up)

Once you qualify your leads, keep your lead in an active mode by following up with them via WhatsApp, text message, call and emails. Make sure to contact them every two days or at least once in a week. According to research, on an average it takes 7 to 10 follow-ups to convert a lead into a customer.

Set an alarm to remind you about your follow-up with your lead. If required, schedule a repetitive follow-up plan to contact your leads e.g., say every Monday or first Wednesday of every month.

(5) Listen and pay attention to your leads

Listening is very important in daily life. Especially, for a sales person, it is an important skill. So, first listen to your leads. Don’t push your lead to purchase your product or service during your follow-up. Instead, provide clarity to their questions and understand their requirement. Find a way so that your product meets their requirement or solves their problem. Once you get clarity about their requirement, your selling proposition makes your sales conversion successful.

(6) Understand your conversion process

There are multiple sources through which your lead would have come to know about your product, for example through email campaign, social media ads or from their friends and families. Analyse the data on source of your leads and which source is more likely to increase your lead to customer conversion ratio. Adopt at least 3 to 5 types of sales conversion strategy and find out which one suits you the best.

Make an in-depth analysis on recent wins to figure out which lead source gave you maximum conversions, which sales strategy worked for you, which industry does your product fit, what is the average deal size for your product/services etc.  This will help you and your sales team to plan and target the right kind of leads and improve your Sales conversions.

(7) Hold tight to your value proposition

You are not the sole person in this competitive market who sells a particular product / service. There are many companies / businesses which may be selling product / service similar to yours. So, you should have a unique selling proposition for your product and service and promote it upfront.

Your leads always compare your product over your competitor’s product. Know your competitor better and promote your product in such a way that your product/service is more visible than that of your competitors’ product / service. For example, it can be price, ease of use, customer support or any other factor which favours your product over your competitor’s product.

Providing adequate rationale will convince your leads to accept your product / service. If your product or service is priced high, explain why it is high, what are the features that it covers, how will it help them to meet their requirement.

(8) Gain their trust

You are the face of your product and hence it is important to gain the trust factor of your lead.  Be genuine with what you are promoting. Have a real and honest conversation to gain your lead’s trust. Make a sales conversation instead of sales pitch. Never hide anything from your lead for the sake of sales. Be clear with your lead on what is your product and how it works to avoid post sale conflicts.

(9) Bring your happy customers upfront

Promote strength of your product through your customer reviews, testimonials and popularity. Relate your lead requirement with your current customer requirement and showcase them on how they could benefit and derive satisfaction with your product. Your happy customer will be a good will ambassador for you and in turn could recommend your product to many of his acquaintances. So, promote your product with real time data and showcase happy customer experiences.

Every single customer is different and we need to put a lot of effort to convert each lead into customer. With these effective tips to convert your leads into customers, I am sure you can win more customers. At the end of the day, we need customers, as they help keep the lights on.

Wish you a happy selling at every possible opportunity.

HelloLeads lets you automatically group all your leads in single repository and set followup for your potential leads. If you wish to streamline your Sales process, increase your Sales, signup for HelloLeads or contact us.