Here’s the truth: If your business fails to close on any leads, you won’t see any profits or establish a customer base. Many business owners fall into the trap of thinking that the leads that are currently in front of them are the only leads they should pursue. They get caught in a situation where they focus solely on the lead that just called in 5 minutes ago. If that lead doesn’t buy, then they begin to focus on the next lead that calls in or walks through their doors. While this method might work on occasion, it’s not an effective way to grow your business. To see that desired growth, you’re going to need to use long term strategic planning.
To start, ask yourself what happens to the leads that aren’t closing. Assess each lead and consider if they were just investigating your company to decide if they truly want to purchase your product or service. Even if they’re not ready to buy that day, you need to consider the idea that they may be ready in 90, 180, or even 365 days from the moment they walk into your business.
To truly figure out how much money your business is leaving on the table, you need to figure out how many people buy immediately. Let’s say 50% percent of people will make a purchase from you in the next 18 months, but within that 50%, only 7.5% will make a purchase in the next 90 days. Think about that for just a second. If you’re playing the short game and are only trying to capitalize on the leads right in front of your face, you’re missing out on way more than half of your potential leads.
When you actually take some time to reflect on this strategy, you’ll realize that you play the long game for just about every other aspect of your business. You don’t simply hire an employee and think that they’ll bring profits to the business on their own. Your employees are an investment, and you have to invest time and money for them to grow to their highest potential. Even with the business as a whole, you don’t start the business and expect it to be successful. It takes dedication and hard work. So why only focus on the short game when it comes to leads?
If you focused on just this one thing for the next few weeks or months and tracked and ran a long-game system where you followed up and built relationships with leads, you could double your business within the next 18 months. How would that change your personal life? Could you spend more time with your family or on vacation?
By playing the long game, you can see a huge improvement in your overall quality of life. You don’t need a new system; you need to simply fix what you’ve already got and make it work better. If you don’t know where to begin, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. Newsletter Pro CEO Shaun Buck developed an 8-step plan to effectively play the long game and close leads.
Step #1: Send ‘Edutainment’ Follow-Ups.
You need to continue to inform potential clients about your business and its products or services. There are a number of ways to do this, but you should make an effort to connect online and offline. An email marketing campaign that educates potential customers while providing them with offers is quite beneficial, but supplement it with an offline follow-up, such as a print newsletter to really make your efforts count.
Step #2: At 90+ Days, Make A New Offer.
Only 7.5% of potential customers purchase a product or service within 90 days, so when that 90th day comes, you need to capitalize on your other leads. Create a new offer that incentivizes the customer to walk through your doors to see what’s new.
Step #3: Continue To Follow Up Through Phone Calls.
It helps to put a voice with the business, so don’t focus all of your efforts on following up through email or mail. Phone calls go a long way; have a salesperson reach out to them and figure out if there is anything your business can do for them.
Step #4: Send Personalized Mail.
If you received an email that wasn’t addressed specifically to you, would you even open it? You need to personalize everything that you send out to clients. If you don’t, they won’t feel any sort of connection to your business and could go elsewhere to purchase a similar product or service.
Step #5: Add Value To Their Lives On A Regular Basis.
It’s important to communicate with your potential clients, but communicating just for the sake of saying you reached out is not going to bring them back into your business. Make sure that everything you send actually provides some value and isn’t a waste of time.
Step #6: Build The Relationship.
Through all of your follow-ups and other efforts, you have developed a relationship with your potential clients, so keep connecting with them, personalizing offers, and inviting them into your business to discuss their needs.
Step #7: Help Them Get What They Want.
You need to make every effort to provide your clients with what they truly want from your business. If you help your clients get what they want, you’ll get what you want.
Step #8: Make A Sale.
You’ve put in all of the work — you’ve developed the relationship, sent out offers, and made sure to answer any questions they had, and now, it’s time to close the sale. There should be nothing left for you to do but assure them of their decision.
One of the easiest ways to implement this plan is with a digital or print newsletter. It’s a quick, easy way to send educational, entertaining content and build relationships while providing value and fresh offers. With this incredible tool at your disposal, you’ll start closing leads faster and better than ever before.
