Empower your business to convert leads into customers in Affidavits

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okay so a lot of small business marketers they really enjoy that the the the hunt the chase you know the making the phone ring so now you made the phone ring and that's step one it's amazing how often this is a place where people will drop the ball so now what you know somebody actually called and they actually wanted more information so in my mind it is absolutely essential that you have a systematic approach to how do you you actually respond to a lead because one of the things that that all of your Market Mar has done to this point is it's it's set done correctly it's set a bit of an expectation of how they're going to be treated how the experience is going to go on what it's going to be like having a relationship with your business so the worst thing you can do at this point is to not meet that expectation so what I suggest you do is you actually have that that you break your lead conversion that's just a fancy word for what a lot of people might call selling but that you have your your actual selling and turning them into a client step broken down into three parts and the first part is what I call Discovery so that if you run an ad or if somebody responds to something and downloads that you have a step which allows you to discover who they are what their needs are if it's a good fit kind of quickly systematically and for some people that may just be done on a phone call or with a form or in some cases it may be that you would actually have an introductory meeting of some type it depends on your your product your business or your service but you actually have a way in which you're going to do that and here's here's one of the keys is that that if that is your way that you respond that everyone in the organization who is going to come into contact with the client in that way does the same thing there is nothing worse than when somebody calls up on the phone and they're responding to an offer and depending upon who answers the phone they get one answer or maybe that person doesn't know anything about it and and what a terrible experience so not only do you have this this way of this discovery step but that you also have it in such a way and maybe you even have a mechanism so that everyone can be taught it and certainly every one who is selling in your organization is taught to use the same tool now the second step is really the the communication of you know here's what we do so in a lot of businesses that may that may come out in say this first meeting or this getting to know you type of or you know come out and tell us about your business I mean everybody's had that kind of call so it's absolutely essential in my mind that you have um that almost scripted um and I hate to use the word script because that scares some people but that that you have a very set process for getting the information across that you know they need to hear now that doesn't mean you don't listen you don't ask questions you don't probe those are all the the selling terms that that people maybe are familiar with but it's absolutely essential and and there are some selling folks sales training folks that might differ with me on this point but it's absolutely essential for most business owners when you go in and make that introductory call of some time that that you stay in control of the presentation because what'll happen a lot of times is you'll show up you want to get that business you're hungry to get you know a new client and that client will just start firing off questions here can you do this would you do this would you do this and next thing you know all you're really doing is responding to what they think they know or what they think they need and you've probably discovered this a lot of your clients a lot of your best clients anyway really don't have any idea what they need um and so it's absolutely essential that you go there and you're able to conduct what I call an internal seminar and and really all that is is that you make sure that you have a process for how you're going to introduce them to what it is you do how you work how you expect things to go what they can expect from the relationship or from the product or service and as I said you don't have to be rigid about it there there can be room for questions and answers but you want to keep it on track so if that if you get there and you immediately start getting the you know how much is it can you do this that you have a way to back off and say you know what I found that the best way for us to introduce this and find this as a good fit is if I walk you through this process and in many cases that's all you need to do of course you have to have the process you're going to walk them through but in many cases that's all you need to do to make sure that you stay in control of the call or in the process so that they get the information that they need to hear now that doesn't mean that they will always be a right fit um and that doesn't mean that that you won't ask questions with that will help you determine that you can help them as well but if you don't have that process a lot of times that's where you'll get steered down a road and the expectations for what you can actually do for them and what they should expect in the relationship never get communicated and that's not a good way to start a relationship with a new client so then the third piece of this lead conversion system is that you then also have a step in the process for when somebody says yes they say I want to become a client and that's the step I call the transaction so and that's another case where a lot of times a salesperson will go out there's a lot of really really talented salespeople that that will go out and they're great at convincing people that that they should buy this and that this can help them and and that this will be a great relationship and then when somebody says yes I want to buy they lose interest so so it's really essential that you have a uh a process to get them started as a new client and I I like to use a tool I call the new customer kit and in that similar to say a marketing kit that you might produce in that we'll have pages that will say here's everyone in our organization that you need to contact for various reasons here's what to do next you know here's what we agreed upon um here's what we need from you a lot of cases client relationships can't get started because you're waiting on the client to produce something that you need to get started so having that kind of clear expectation that very professional approach to orienting them to becoming a client can really get the relationship off on the right foot and the last piece I always like to cover in there is here's how we expect to be paid in fact here's a copy of our invoice it's amazing how often small business owners will shrink away from the money question sometime um and and really addressing that upfront setting the clear expectations and anytime you do that I guarantee you you will greatly lessen the chance that there will be misunderstanding about how you expect to be paid what you expect to be paid and when and for the the ideal client that you're looking for you want somebody who really values that so have that conversation up front and be proud about it um because I I believe that any any relationship with a client is like a lot of relationships in life and that both parties have a role in the relationship so why not set that expectation right up front if you do so you'll never be disappointed now one of the things I have found is that that having this professional process for how you convert somebody to a lead how you bring them into your practice is the very starting point for where the next sale comes from from when the referral comes from because their expectations have not only been met if you follow this process they've probably been exceeded