Every business in the world lives and dies on the amount of leads it can generate and convert.
Both of those things have to be happening at the right levels for your business to thrive—or even just survive.
Generating tons of leads but failing to convert is just as bad as not generating any leads in the first place.
To really master your sales process and grow your business the way you want to, you need to understand a few basic things about lead generation and conversion.
Your Sales Funnel
Sales funnels start where your buyer’s journey begins—with interest and awareness.
Once someone realizes they have a problem that your service can solve, they’re not necessarily going to turn to you immediately. They’re going to start searching for and learning about solutions.
So your first job is to make people aware of you in the first place. Then, once they understand you’re an option, you want them to start engaging with you.
Finally, you want to tell them your solution story, the story that convinces them your solution is the best solution to their problem, and then convert.
Easy to explain—hard to do. How do you make it happen?
Lead Generation Methods that Really Work
There are a few tried-and-true methods of lead generation that work really well, but ultimately, you have to just try things out and give them an honest shot (enough money behind them to be able to tell if they worked or not).
You also have to be willing to test things out, change tactics, and build on successes. Marketing for every business is different—what works for your neighbor won’t necessarily work for you.
Here are a few places to get started:
- Social media
- Paid ads
- SEO
- Direct outreach
- Networking
Depending on what you sell and who you sell to, any of these methods might work better or worse than others.
For example, if you have a very small pool of potential clients and sell a very expensive or niche product, networking might work far better for you than ads.
That’s why testing is so crucial. The only way to know if something won’t work is to try it.
When you’re trying these options, you’re going to have to create content—emails, ad copy, blog posts, scripts—that are speaking to your customer.
When you’re doing this, keep one thing front and center in your mind:
Nobody Cares About Your Business
It may sound harsh, but customers are only talking to you because of the problem they have and the solution you offer.
They don’t care about you or your business.
Everything you write or create needs to focus on them, their problems, and how they can solve those problems.
Don’t get lost in your own sauce—your features or what’s cool about your product. Don’t talk about yourself unless it’s a clear explanation of what you do for them.
Here’s what doesn’t work:
- Being quiet about yourself
- Refusing to repeat yourself across different channels
- Talking about your business instead of the problem
- Refusing to narrow your audience or offering (selling to everyone is selling to no one)
Once you’ve started generating leads and moved them down the funnel through some of these methods, now you have to actually convince them to buy.
Moving to Close
Someone who is interested in your solution or listening to you isn’t necessarily going to buy.
Most people will tell a salesperson “no” at least 4 times before saying yes. Most people need at least 8 marketing messages before they decide to buy something.
You need to be repetitive. Here’s how you can do that:
- Tons of social media posts
- Retargeting ads
- Email drip campaigns
- Text campaigns
- Direct outreach (phone calls)
You know what doesn’t work?
- Hoping every lead will just magically buy
- Feeling afraid to reach out directly
- Not proving your credibility with testimonials and reviews
- Not communicating your unique value
- Refusing to use a CRM
People need a push or a reminder more often than not.
Now, let’s say you’ve actually close the deal.
Time to get paid, right? Depending on the kind of business you run, maybe that’s taken care of at the point of sale, but maybe you’re invoicing.
Sending out a ton of invoices doesn’t pay the bills—cash does.
Here’s how to keep cash flowing.
How to Ensure Cash Flow Stays High
Sure, it’s easy enough to ask someone to write a check, but in most cases, customers want to be able to pay their bills easily and quickly.
Otherwise, those invoices might sit around for much longer than your business can afford them to.
Here’s what works:
- Automated billing
- Online payments
- Card and bank transfer options
Great, you got paid!
Now what?
Post-sale: Keeping Customers Around
Your customers have demonstrated that they like what you do. Why let them go?
They’ve seen your value, and they’re happy to pay what you charge.
Plus, it’s 3x to 30x times cheaper to keep a customer around than market to and find a new one—it’s far better to keep marketing to someone who knows you than someone new.
Here’s what works:
- Providing an exceptional solution
- Recurring/subscription offers
- Upsell/cross-sell offers
- Asking for reviews or referrals
Maintaining relationships can ensure that your sales funnel requires less work to fill over time.
Here’s what doesn’t work:
- Ending the sales process when they pay
- Failing to WOW your customers over and over
- Forgetting that repeat customers have a higher ROI than new customers
- Forgetting to highlight your customers’ wins
Need Help with Your Marketing? We’ve Got Your Back
If all of this feels overwhelming, we can help.
Learn more about what a Problem Solver Site can do for your business.