At times, many sales consultants rejoice at the number of leads that enter into your pipeline. But the success of new leads is short-lived as many of the leads tend to be cold leads which technically are of no value.
You spend too much time and money chasing after these cold leads that don't respond. Leading you to re-evaluate your whole strategy and add a whole lot of pressure to the sales team.
We understand that getting too many cold leads is frustrating and a waste of energy trying to nurture them. So it is better if we change the focus of just getting leads to focus on ways to get warm leads and leads that have potential.
Here are 5 useful ways that work to fill in your sales pipeline with warm leads.
1. Differentiate between cold and warm leads
At the very beginning, the sales team needs to identify which are cold leads and warm leads.
Cold leads are essentially those that are not likely to convert onto customers any time soon.
So it is important to be able to qualify your leads to avoid wasting your time, energy, and company resources trying to nurture them into potential customers. Instead, focus on warm leads that want your support and are interested in your business.
Based on experience, you should be able to filter leads. Within the first meeting or phone call, you should identify them and remove them from your potential customer database. Because following up with cold leads is a nightmare for the salesperson and a waste of resources.
But differentiating between leads is not enough, you also have to find out the reason the lead is not interested. Here are 3 reasons why most salespeople have a problem in converting leads:
- The lead is not qualified enough
- The proposal or campaign is not working
- The sales team is unable to convert
Once you realize where you are going wrong, you can make changes to avoid such obstacles. Thus next time you get a new lead, you can qualify them based on your understanding if they are a match for your business or there is an opportunity of converting. Answer such questions to help in finding the right leads.
2. Research your leads in advance
Once you have enough leads to start nurturing- remember to do prior research to understand what strategy would work best to convert them.
Get information on how they got to know about your business? Have they been receiving your ads or part of your subscriber list? Learn which offer did they show interest in, have they been following you on social media. Have they heard about your business before? Answering such questions like this helps in increasing your chances of converting them into clients.
Doing research and collecting information may be time-consuming but they benefit you in connecting with the lead. So next time when you get in touch with the lead with prior information- you can build a trustworthy relationship and tweak your sales pitch based on their background and promote your product accordingly.
3. Create and offer valuable content
When you are gaining leads and trying to convert them to do business with you- start by providing them with valuable content and information.
It can be in the form of any lead magnet such as ebooks, videos, reports, and so on. Also, it has offers insights, the solution to problems, and relevant news that would educate the leads about the business and its products/ services.
The lead magnet should be relevant to potential clients. Through this, you should be able to build trust, showcase your expertise, establish authority, and create a brand reputation.
Focus on convincing the lead to purchase your product within few interactions. And this can be achieved if you offer valuable and expert information that you know your lead won’t tell NO to. This way you avoid following up with leads and wasting too much time and money in nurturing your leads.
4. Avoid a monotonous sales script
When the salesperson calls and talks about the business. They tend to talk in a monotonous tone- it sounds like they are reading or have memorized the script. They also make the big mistake of convincing the lead by talking about the products, pushing promotional deals, and not allowing the customer to speak. This happens because may salespeople are trying to reach their sales targets and not build relations with the customers.
If your sales teams are practicing any of these common blunders- be sure to know that your close rates drop by 20%. So, rather than just talking the hear off the customers- try to build a conversation with them, listen to their needs and wants, and keep the conversation flow naturally.
Make sure the lead is comfortable and open to ask any questions or issues they may have. Show empathy and be helpful- avoid using too many sales terms and force selling. Once you can solve their problem you are guaranteed to convert this lead.
5. Delegate responsibilities within the sales force
An obstacle that many business faces are within their sales force.
Do you know who is responsible for which lead?
Often some leads are not within the pipeline or have been missed out. To avoid such carelessness it is better to distribute the leads with the sales team. So, there is clarity of who’s lead is who and there is a smooth process in place.
This way the salesperson has responsibility and ownership for their actions and the conversion of their specific leads.
You may ask isn’t it better if everyone works together rather than dividing the leads? Doing so may not be the most ideal situation for the sales team. There will be a replication of work and loss in focus. For one lead there would be around 3-4 salespeople trying to nurture them- which is a waste of resources and over-complication of work.
Instead when each salesperson is allowed to stand out and perform. The conversion rate is higher and more revenue is generated. They can put in more effort and improve their skills. The sense of competition among each other also helps in improving your performance.
Also, in case a lead has enquired they know who to contact and have a direct one on one relationship with the salesperson.
Conclusion
Implement these ways into your strategy and see results within no time.
Always remember that research is the key. Spend quality time learning about your leads before initiating the first phone call. And when approaching your lead don’t forget to create a relationship rather than hard-sell the business to them.
Even though these may look like a lot of effort and time, they will only result in warm leads and no more cold leads. Start today and reap the benefits in the future.
