By Kellie Byrnes
As the year draws to a close, it’s common for small business owners to start thinking about what they’ve achieved during the year and what they can try to accomplish in the new one. When you’re running a small business, there are only so many hours in the day and generally more tasks than you can actually get done in the time available.
As such, if you want to really grow your business in 2019 and turn it into a profitable venture that’s around for the long-term, you must be smart with your time and think strategically. This is particularly important when it comes to sales.
To maximize the number of transactions your business gets each month, you have to make sure you not only get as many leads coming in as possible, but that you also handle these effectively and convert a good number of them into customers. Read on for some tips you can follow in the coming 12 months to help yourself and your team get the best results from your sales leads.
Follow up ASAP
For starters, there’s no point in being focused on sales prospecting if you don’t then do what’s required to follow up with the people who seem interested. When it comes to following up, though, many businesses just don’t it soon enough. While you and your team may get really busy and struggle to find the time, if you want the best results you must check in with people ASAP.
According to information released by the Harvard Business Review, if you follow up with online inquiries within an hour of them coming in, you’ll be roughly seven times more likely to qualify the leads than if you wait longer.
In this tech-driven world where people can quickly move onto another business if they don’t hear back as soon as they’d like, each minute that passes by without you responding is a minute where people might speak with another firm instead. Consumers expect timely responses and are simply not prepared to wait around.
[amazon_link asins=’1494952327′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’succeedingi0d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d5a25fa3-f30e-11e8-adc2-9da8fb1cb57c’]Stay in touch with interested parties
Another good way to get more results from sales leads is to stay in touch with interested parties over the longer-term, too. You may have heard the phrase “recency and frequency” used in business circles. This is an important term because it refers to something that can make a big difference in sales.
Firms that win the most with leads tend to be those that speak with current and potential clients regularly to stay top-of-mind (frequency) and also be on-hand at the time when people are finally ready to commit to making a purchase (recency).
This concept is a good one to know because it will remind you that shoppers want to make purchases in their own time, not whenever businesses happen to try to sell to them. As a result, people typically buy from whichever company is most memorable for them when they’re keen to finalize a transaction.
To ensure your organization is this first choice, put systems in place to remind your sales team to get in touch with interested parties regularly and with relevant information or offers (that is, know which stage in the sales process leads are currently at). Helpfully, there are many great customer relationship management (CRM) systems to take advantage of these days to assist with this.
[amazon_link asins=’1925648354′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’succeedingi0d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’e1b7c953-f30e-11e8-9d9b-1fddb85fc824′]Use analytics to your advantage
Small business owners must keep in mind that a sales lead process should be improved and refined over time to keep getting better results from it. To make this happen, test and measure your processes and outcomes regularly. This is where using analytics can be beneficial.
There are excellent free and low-cost tools on the market that will help you track information, such as how many leads you receive, how long it takes to respond, the percentage of leads turned into qualified prospects then paying customers, etc. These tools will then measure and analyze it.
Use software to learn where your leads come from, which target markets make the most inquiries, which groups end up converting into sales most, which customers buy from you more than once, at what times of years you get the most leads, if you’re improving your response rates and what types of information helps people to complete an action and move further through the sales funnel, such as signing up to a newsletter, requesting a quote or placing an order.
Use what you discover to find ways to continually handle leads more efficiently and effectively. This way, as time goes on you’ll fine-tine your sales processes and enjoy increased revenues.
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Kellie Byrnes is a freelance writer, entrepreneur and published author who particularly loves writing content related to business, personal development, and travel. You can connect with Kellie on Twitter at @KellieJByrnes.
