Tips to double your Business Leads and Conversions

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Profits are the lifeblood of any business. To achieve profits consistently, a business has to prioritise the generation and conversion of leads. Without a steady stream of leads, it is difficult to sustain the momentum that is needed to have a successful enterprise.

Leads are people who are interested in your products or services, which means they are likely to become customers and ambassadors to your brand. Acquiring leads is the first step of the sale cycle – it informs business owners and sales people on who to contact and try to sell to.

In an ideal world, lead generation should be organic. This is where total strangers look for and reach out to your business to purchase products. However, in reality, it takes some marketing techniques to consistently generate leads.

While there is a myriad of techniques to find potential customers, some are outdated and less effective. To consistently find strong leads, you have to start thinking outside the box. If you are not sure on where to start, here are several proven ideas:

Try email nurturing

After generating leads, many business owners neglect to follow up, which leads to loss of potential sales. One of the most effective ways to follow up on your leads is through personalised emails – a marketing technique known as email nurturing.

This technique focuses on building the relationship between your brand and the potential customer, with the goal of turning them into customers or ambassadors. Research shows that companies that excel at email nurturing generate 50 per cent more sales-ready leads. Their leads also come at 33 per cent lower cost. In addition, nurtured leads make 47 per cent larger purchases than un-nurtured leads.

To personalise your marketing emails, consider addressing each lead by name, targeting them with specific information that meets their needs, making the content mobile friendly, and using an appropriate “from” name.

Create high value content

In a 1996 article titled “Content is King”, Microsoft founder Bill Gates predicted that most of the money generated on the internet would come from content, much like broadcasting. Decades later, his words are truer than ever.

The internet has grown exponentially over the last decade, increasing the demand for content. At the same time, according to research, human attention span has diminished tremendously. This means that it is no longer enough to merely create content if you want to sell products and services online. You have to create high value content that is optimized for search engines.

Bear in mind that today’s buyer likes to research a little on Google before making a purchase decision. A study from Demand Gen Report found that shoppers consume four to seven pieces of content before engaging with a sales representative.

To appear at the top of search engine results, and therefore have more lead conversions, you need to have content that is relevant and valuable. If you don’t have a business website, you can start by creating content on your social media platforms. Make it easy for your customers to find you by using the right keywords and hashtags.

Ask customers for referrals

Referrals are among the best ways to acquire quality leads for your business. Referrals don’t cost you a thing. And because satisfied customers are always the best brand ambassadors, referrals result into more loyal customers for your business.

Sadly, many business owners and sales people are reluctant to ask customers for referrals – thinking that it might come off as too aggressive or offensive. Don’t be shy. Most satisfied customers will happily recommend your products or services to potential customers in their network. In fact, study shows that 83% of customers are willing to give referrals. But only 29% of customers give referrals; mainly because many salespeople don’t ask.

Think of every customer that you serve as a potential referral source. Since most customers won’t spread the good word without your prompting, it is important to have a more formal referral program. For instance, you can offer them a small discount on their next purchase if they refer someone else. While incentives are incredible, you don’t have to offer them to get referrals. Most satisfied customers will happily refer your business for free if you ask.

Host relevant webinars

Hosting online events is another great way to build brand awareness and increase the number of quality leads in your sales funnel.

Webinars allow you to discuss a wide range of topics that are of interest to your potential customers. For example, if you have a small real-estate business, you can invite an expert to share on what customers should look out for when buying a house. This gives you a platform to market your products to a highly qualified audience.

People can either attend your webinars live or access them at a later date. This is a smart way to add to your content marketing strategy. Consider your target audience’s needs when deciding on a webinar topic. If your topic isn’t interesting enough, it will be more difficult to rack up attendance and generate high quality leads. A quick social media survey can help you get customer feedback on topic ideas.

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