Photo credit to Business2Community .com
I saw this question on social media recently and thought, I’ll bet there are a few of you out there who would like to know the secret to great conversions. I personally grew a bookkeeping business from a garage to 5 locations around Australia and taught my team how to ‘sell’ without sounding like salespeople, before I sold it for a tidy sum.
Need a business coach to give you tips and tricks?
Here are my 5 top tips on how to convert leads into clients:
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Sales is NOT a dirty word! I speak frequently to business groups and I’ll ask the question “are you in sales” and many say no. If you’re in business, you are in sales! Often also people have a negative feel about sales akin to that ‘used car salesman’ feel and you don’t want to be associated with that feel. I get that, but you have to lose that sentiment and understand that sales is about educating your prospect and providing them with solutions. Do that well and you won’t have to ‘sell’.
Be engaging! Yes you need to be good at what you do, but you also need to be personable and be able to communicate well. I learnt this early in the game; business owners (your prospective clients) are looking for someone who does a great job, but also is pleasant and communicates well. You need to appear organised, professional and easy to talk to.
That first call – what you do first … You don’t provide a quote or rate, instead you talk to them. Ask relevant questions, listen and then demonstrate your expertise. That might be by sharing a story of a similar client in the same situation and how you helped them. It’s only at the very end you talk about rates and I have great strategies to allow you to do this well, without it appearing you are avoiding the question.
Give something away. Give them some solutions over the phone, or tips or advice… FREE! Don’t stress that you’re giving away all your good stuff … there is plenty more there, but it’s another way of demonstrating you are the person for the job. For example, you’ve asked the question if they have a problem with getting people to pay them. They say “sure do!!” so you can give them tips on how to get the money in. Share your expertise.
Remember the purpose of the call. When someone rings you (or you ring them from an email enquiry – and please always ring, don’t just email respond) then your objective is to get to meet with them NOT to sign them up there and then. Sales is a process, if you cut out one of the critical steps, it won’t work!
Follow up. So often operators do not follow up. Do you know how many times I got a client who was shopping around? In the end I didn’t get them based on price, but purely because they are busy and I rang back. More than you’d think … people are busy, so make it easy for them to choose you and do business with you.
Are you the best you possibly can be at your sales process? If not, I have mini phone sessions specifically to help in the sales process:
Session 1 – Handling that initial enquiry whether it be via phone or email.
Session 2 – Acing the initial meeting – including getting right the questions you need to ask PLUS my top solutions you can share with a prospect to demonstrate your expertise.
Session 3 – Actioning follow up activities including handling objections, upsells and expansion.
Each session lasts 1 hour, then you will have homework, which I will review and give you practical and effective feedback on. You can select one session for $220, two sessions for $395 or all three sessions for $550. All prices inclusive of GST. If you want more business, you don’t necessarily have to spend more money on marketing, instead improve your conversion rate and you will have more work … at no extra cost. Getting in just one more monthly client will cover all three session/s – so what’s holding you back?
Call me at 0411 622 666 or 1800 77 65 61 or email at donna@donna-stone.com.au.
