Most businesses spend a lot of time and money generating new leads — to get strangers to raise their hand and say “tell me more”. But if your marketing ends there, a lot of potential customers slip through your fingers. Unconverted prospects offer a goldmine of opportunity if you stay connected and patient.
Timing Is Everything
Not everyone who shows an interest and would benefit from your products or services is ready to buy right now. They may not have the money in their current budget or simply have other priorities today. Or may be satisfied with their current suppliers. They may have a contractual agreement in place. In other words, the timing is wrong.
Fortunately, time has a way of changing things. A ‘no’ today does not mean forever. So it is important to stay connected with warm leads or prospects who represent a potential goldmine. After all, you…
- Know they have a need because they already called, visited your website or stopped by your location.
- Already invested money and time doing the hard work.
- Captured their attention and gave them a compelling reason to call or visit.
Isn’t it worth staying in touch to continue to build the relationship and create future sales?
Stay Connected To Convert More Prospects
Here’s the good news. It takes little time and money to stay connected with unconverted prospects and turn them into paying customers. Here are a few keys to generate future sales and profit.
Develop and Maintain a Database. Whether you use Outlook or Google Contacts, ACT or other CRM systems, a database for customers AND warm prospects is essential if you want to stay connected easily and effectively. Make sure you use the tools in your system to categorize contacts as customers or prospects for more targeted and specialized communication. It will help you avoid sending a ‘VIP customer special’ to a prospect or a ‘give us a try’ message to a long-standing customer.
Create a System. A structured and systematized program allows you to connect with all warm leads at once and can supplement individual calls. Some simple ways to connect include newsletters, letters, postcards, flyers, social media, and email – with special offers, free information, savings or simply a holiday wish. The method you choose will depend on your target audience. How do they prefer to receive information? The frequency of your communication will also depend on your industry and target. With that said, my B2B clients get the best results when they connect monthly; B2C clients often benefit from weekly or semi-monthly communication.
Plan It, Then Do It. You probably plan your marketing to attract new prospects or sell more to current customers. You need to do the same with unconverted prospects. Determine the frequency for your program, come up with the dates (for the entire year), and brainstorm possible themes and offers for each effort. If you take the time to plan it, you may find what many of my clients find. It will be more innovative, more effective and will actually get done. And that’s the key to getting results!
Educate To Sell. Use your stay-connected efforts to educate and continue to build relationships with unconverted prospects. Remember to include an offer and call to action like you would if you were targeting new prospects.
So what would your sales look like if you did a better job staying connected with prospects who already expressed an interest in your services? How many new customers could you get if you converted just 5% of your warm leads? For most small businesses, the answer is a lot! So start tapping into this potential goldmine and watch your sales and profits grow.
More Ideas to Grow Your Business
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