Article Written By: Simon Ackland | SMI Business Impact CEO | Business Impact E-Zine # 8
One of the quickest ways to boost your sales results is to convert a higher percentage of your prospects and 'window shoppers' into paying customers
In the last Business Impact E-Zine, I discussed that marketing and innovation was the ultimate leverage for any business and that it is essential...no, critical...to know and understand your business statistics. How many leads, how many conversions to sales etc. In this edition, we continue the theme with 10 Strategies to Increase Conversions.
SMI Business Impact have an encyclopedic list of strategies to boost your business...strategies to suit all types of businesses, all industries. It is true that what works in retail may not work in professional services, so I have put together 10 Universal Strategies that will work with almost any business. Of course, we can prepare a plan suited to your business, so feel free to give us a call or email if this article whets your appetite or see our website for more information.
1. Unique Selling Proposition
Why are you different? What makes you stand out from the pack? If you look the same as all your competitors, why would someone choose to do business with you...price! That's right, in the absence of any differentiating factors, what else can a buyer do but go for the lowest price?
If you have one, are you properly recognising and shouting about it? Remember, to be effective, it must convey and offer real value as perceived by your prospective customer. USP is the number one strategy to increase conversions for any business.
2. Testimonials
The direct marketing industry has this strategy nailed. They have to make sales in print without being able to 'sell' the prospect. There is plenty of evidence to show that conversion rates increase when testimonials are used.
Why do testimonials work? Because it is a form of proof where other objective parties attest to the quality, service, the great buy. So start asking your clients for testimonials and use them in your sales process, advertising, letters and newsletters.
3. The Guarantee
Speaking of proof, what better way to prove to your prospects and customers that you stand behind your product or service than with an iron clad guarantee.
Of course, you need to assess exactly what you are going to guarantee and under what terms. But, this can have an amazing impact in overcoming buyer resistance by eliminating the fear of making the wrong decision and being stuck with the result.
We find the biggest concern most business owners have about a guarantee is the risk of having to refund money. This should be a concern, but if you sell quality and actually deliver on the promise, your increased sales will outstrip any returns.
4. Carry An Exclusive Line Or Product
What better way to operate in a competitor free market than to offer a product no one else has? Prospects have no choice but to buy from you.
This may not be that easy to pull off, but remember being the first creates an almost unassailable market position for your business...and provides something to 'crow' about.
5. Sell Value Not Price
The bottom 5% of any market might be totally focused on price, but research studies consistently show that the top concern of shoppers is value.
By focusing the sales process on value prior to mentioning price, you have the opportunity to demonstrate that the value exceeds the price. And remember that perception is reality in this process. The big retailers and chain stores can compete on price because of the volumes they buy, but if you are not one of them, you can't possible beat them at their own game.
Demonstrate exactly why your product or service is better value than the cheaper model and remember, a lot of people still believe that "You get what you pay for."
6. Make An Offer
Speaking of building the value for the buyer, what about making an offer rather than just listing a price. Even with a guarantee or building the value or showing testimonials, you should still make an offer to cement the deal. For example, 'buy one, get one free' is an offer. Consider what can be added to your offer which will not cost your business a lot but carries high perceived value by the customer.
What about free delivery? You could enter your customer's name in a prize draw. What about "but wait, there's more...Free steak knives". You get the idea and it can be done in any business with a bit of careful thought.
7. Payment Plans And Financing
This could be as simple as accepting credit cards. Making it easy to do business with you will remove a lot of buyer resistance. What about internal funding like a deposit and 3 monthly payments? Or you can enter into commercial financing arrangements...if you can still find them in the current market.
8. Audio And Visual Demonstrations
How many more prospects could you sell to if you could duplicate your sales team by a few thousand clones? Well, with video and the web today, this option is highly viable and cost effective. Or DVD's can be sent by mail to warm up prospects before telemarketing. Introduce a celebrity interviewer or speaker for extra credibility. Interview happy customers...the ultimate testimonials. But do make sure you use professionals...this is not a place for amateur camera operators.
9. Sales Scripts
Do your sales team have scripts that they are trained to use? What about your tele-sales or customer service operators? It seems logical, but sales scripts are often overlooked. Find out what works for your best sales converters or appointment converters and duplicate the scripts for others...they will usually improve overall results.
And don't be put off by those team members that say they can't or wont use scripts. There is always room for originality so you don't need to create a group of robots, but the principles of the script and process must be followed.
10. Appeal To Emotions
Emotions tend to dominate human behaviour. Even the most analytical prospect will ultimately make a decision based on some emotional reasoning. People buy for the needs and wants that they have so you should frame questions to illicit emotional responses. But stick to positive emotions if you can, it is much safer.
11. Remember To Ask For The Sale
If you followed your sales team around and listened in to all their conversations, how many closing questions do you think they would be asking? Sometimes this is simply overlooked because they don't want to appear pushy or presumptive. But, nearly all salesmen need to get a bit aggressive at some point.
Simple questions can get them going..."So can I wrap that up for you?" " Will that be cash or charge?" "Shall we give it a go?". Of course there are many many books and experts on this subject, so when was the last time you trained or reviewed the closing process with your sales team? Are they at least asking for the sale?
So I Can't Count
This turned out to be 11 conversion strategies not 10. I added the last one because it just seems so obvious that people tend to forget it. But there are many, many more ideas in our kit, so feel free to get in touch or visit the SMI Business Impact website.
And of course the process for your business could incorporate a number of these ideas to improve your conversion rates even more. Don't forget to track your statistics so you can measure and improve and please remember, what gets measured, gets done.
To your business success.