Many small business owners get frustrated when their companies don’t expand rapidly, but to make sustainable progress, you should be aiming for a steady increase in sales, not for sales spikes. This will allow you to scale your operations up gradually.
However, you’ll need to continuously attract new leads, qualify them, and nurture them so that they become customers. The best way to do this is to develop a lead generation system that you and your staff can follow with ease.
If you aren’t sure where to start, here are our top five lead generation and conversion tips.
1) Work Out Who Your Customers Are
If you want high-quality sales leads, you need to know who is likely to purchase your products and how you can target those people. Studying the information you hold on your existing customers will enable you to create realistic buyer personas so that you can design marketing campaigns with them in mind.
You’ll need to consider the age, gender, location, financial situation, purchase habits, and likes and dislikes of your typical customer to build a picture of your ideal prospect.
We offer a Buyer Persona Workshop to help you do this.
2) Design A Comprehensive Marketing Plan
Put together a marketing plan detailing how you intend to reach prospects and persuade them to become clients. List the activities you’re planning to engage in and the results you’re hoping to get. Use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Based) goals for optimal results.
While it’s essential to employ a mixture of methods, we recommend focussing on inbound marketing techniques, such as search engine optimisation, paid digital advertising, and content marketing. Inbound techniques are designed to draw potential clients to you, so the leads you get are ‘warm’.
3) Create A Sales Pipeline
Your leads will only translate to sales if you nurture them effectively – and that means being organised. Organise your typical customers’ journey into steps using the sales funnel model, and establish what actions you need to take at each stage to drive them on.
Use a reputable platform, such as HubSpot, to record each lead’s progress through the funnel, plan your sales teams’ actions, and track your results.
4) Use Email Marketing Campaigns
Nurturing your clients takes time and effort, and busy sales teams can find it hard to keep on top of everything. Utilising automated email marketing, however, will allow you to send sales messages to your prospects at key points in their buying journeys.
Not only can a platform like HubSpot help you automate your emails, making the process hassle-free, but you can personalise them to give them added appeal and improved open rates.
5) Harness The Power Of Social Media Marketing
There’s a reason why so many companies use social media platforms to promote themselves – and why you should join in. These platforms are excellent for enabling relationship-building. If you post engaging content regularly, you’ll attract followers who you can then drive to your website.
You’ll be able to converse with current customers, strengthening your existing bond. This could allow you to upsell and cross-sell more frequently, as well as to find new leads.
Next Steps
For more advice about how to generate leads and sales, get in touch with JDR. We can help you design and deliver a successful marketing strategy you can start implementing right away.
Image source: Pixabay
