Your website exists either to sell products or generate leads
that can be later converted into paying customers. In the former
case, unless you sell inexpensive commoditized widgets, it takes
several interactions with a prospective customer before you can
close the sale. Therefore, a top priority of almost every online
business is to gather, organize, and convert website leads to
sales.
1. Gather leads
Most of website visitors who are interested in your products or
services aren't ready to buy just yet, but they sure have some
questions and would like additional information (if it's not too
hard to obtain). Don't make them search for it -- put your
contact information right in front of them. Every page of your
website must have call for action and contact options that are
impossible to miss. Some examples include:
- Ask a question via email - Call your sales phone number -
Request an instant call-back - Sign up for special offers -
Contact for a price quote - Download product brochure - Submit
an inquiry form - Chat live with a sales representative -
Subscribe for a newsletter
When gathering leads, stick to the KISS principle. Don't ask for
more information than absolutely necessary. For example, if you
only need to know your potential customer's state of residence,
don't ask for a full mailing address. If you do all your sales
via email, don't require a phone number, or at least make it
optional.
Be sure to provide a clear, concise statement about how the
information you collect will be used. Assure your prospects that
their contact data will not be shared with other parties and
they can stop receiving communications from you at any time.
2. Organize leads and prospects
Leads are useless unless they are properly organized. First, you
must establish the systems and processes for recording all
pertinent information for leads collected via different
channels, such as website, incoming phone calls, trade shows and
so on. Aside from the contact information, each prospective
customer record should date and source, products and services of
interest, subscription and contact preferences, and any other
relevant data.
Your lead management system must also be able to record the
history of all communications with a lead, such as incoming and
outgoing emails, phone calls, voice mails, faxes, and items sent
via postal mail. Each lead must be assigned to a sales
representative, and categorized by the level of interest, size
of opportunity, and sales pipeline status (more on that later).
Sales reps should also be able to enter internal notes and
comments about the prospect, and set reminders for the future
follow ups.
Last, but not least, your lead system must be centralized. Every
person involved in a sales process should have the ability to
instantly access and update the information, without the need to
upload, download, and synchronize the data. This is especially
critical if members of your team are geographically dispersed or
telecommuting.
3. Convert leads to prospects to customers
This is where the rubber hits the road. There is a number of
distinct steps in any sales process. Below is a typical example
of a sales process. You can easily adopt its stages and
definitions to your situation:
Lead - a contact that has expressed an interest in your
product or fits the target profile of a potential customer.
Prospect - a lead that continues to express interest in
your product or service after a two-way information exchange.
Qualified prospect - a prospect that has participated in
a discussion with a sales representative and confirmed their
need.
Confirmed prospect - a qualified prospect who has the
info they need to make a decision and budget to go with it.
Committed prospect - a qualified prospect who has
reviewed your price quote or proposal and has indicated that she
is ready to move forward with you - but haven't yet.
Customer - ka-ching!
You can use your sales pipeline status report to not only
organize and monitor the effectiveness of your overall sales
process and individual sales representatives, but to forecast
sales as well. To estimate the dollar value of your entire
prospect base, multiple the average probability of closing the
sale at every stage of the pipeline by the number of prospects
currently assigned to that stage.
Establishing and managing your lead conversion process is all
but impossible without proper customer relationship management
(CRM) tools. You will need a system that captures lead
information from your website and other channels, and integrates
it with email, contact manager, calendar, and sales force
automation software.
The companies that have established the systems and processes
for converting leads to sales are already reaping the rewards.
About the Author Relenta is a web-based
CRM, email marketing, contact
manager, calendar, and sales force automation software for
small business.
About the author:
Relenta is a web-based
CRM,
email marketing, contact manager, calendar, and sales force
automation software for small business.
