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How to turn your prospects into customers

4 things you should know

Every business has a sales funnel. Did you know that understanding the sales funnel for your business can help you to identify and eliminate any blockage points that are stopping prospects from becoming actual customers? Eliminating these blockages could increase your sales and revenue.

Here are 4 essential things you need to know about your sales funnel, and how you can turn more prospects into customers.

1. What is a sales funnel?

The sales funnel charts the journey that your customers take before purchasing your product or service, from the moment that your brand or product catches their attention, to moment they make a purchase.

It is possible to break this journey down into several different steps – these different steps your customer’s take make up your ‘sales funnel’.

2. What are the different stages of the ’sales funnel’?

• Discovery and awareness – this is where all customers start. Customers begin their journey here as a result of interest generated through your marketing and promotional strategies. This could be from being visible in Google’s search results, through seeing a banner advert on another website or by being active on social media. It could even begin via offline marketing such as adverts, flyers or billboards.
• Contact – Once a customer has discovered you it is likely they will visit and spend time on your website, researching your products and services. At this stage of the journey this prospect becomes a potential lead. So it is crucial to make sure your website showcases your business at its best.

Important things to consider at this stage:

• Is your website optimized for mobile users? Many people search for businesses on their mobile – is yours ready? Can your customer click to call?

• Do you make it easy for people to contact you if they have any questions - are you contact details displayed on every page? Do you have an online chat function?

• Choose – At this stage of the journey the customer has made a decision and is ready to convert – this could mean purchasing your product online, making an appointment or visiting your showroom / shop.

Important things to consider at this stage:

• Once a customer has made the decision to go with your business, make sure you follow up as quickly as possible.
• Encourage them to write a review and refer their friends.
• Do you have the right tracking set up on your website to make sure you can record the conversion?

3. Why does a sales funnel matter to my business

In order to make sales and revenue, you need to ensure that people who find your products and services online can easily move through your ‘sales funnel’ to become customers. If they have a bad experience in the middle of the funnel and drop out, it is time and money your business has wasted.

One way to see the impact that your sales funnel has on your business is to use an online tool, like this Marketing Math Calculator, created by ReachLocal services. This online calculator can help you to model how small changes to your marketing can directly impact the number of leads who stay in your sales funnel, which in turn impacts on your sales and revenue.

How can I lose customers?

No business can afford to lose time and money – so it’s crucial that you identify the gaps in your sales funnel where you could be losing potential leads.

According to digital marketing experts ReachLocal, here are some of the top ways you could be losing potential customers:

• Does your business show up in the search results in Google? – If not people might not be able to find your business when they research their purchase.
• Are you active on social media – or are your profiles dormant and unused? If a customer comes across an out-of-date and irrelevant social media page they will likely leave and move onto the next company.
• Do you have your contact details clearly listed on all the pages of your website and are they up to date? If a prospect doesn’t know how to get in touch with you, it is likely they will leave your website.
• Do you follow up enquiries from your website promptly? Customers don’t wait for brands to get back to them and will often go with the first business that responds to their query.

Turning prospects into customers is one of the most important things you can do for your business. ReachLocal’s services can help you to identify all the potential leaks in your sales funnel and work with you to fix them, speak to one of their online marketing specialists today.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by ReachLocal UK .