Leads are very important for every business. Leads are like a soul for any business without which a business cannot survive. One of the biggest keys to a successful business is the generation of new marketing & sales leads. A lead can be a company or it can be a person who fits a target group or criteria for what you are providing. Without leads, a sales team cannot be successful and without the success of the sales team, a business cannot stand.

Generally, the goal of every business is to fill up the top of sales funnel with ample of leads and then successfully get them down the funnel by various nurturing strategies and finally close the deal by converting the prospects into customers. This is a common practice followed by many marketers and it does work to a larger extent.

Companies generating more number of leads are always a step ahead of their competition. But only generating leads is never enough to gain a full competitive advantage. A lead has to go through the sales funnel matching all your business criteria.

Did you know that more than 65% of marketing leads never convert into sales? Lack of lead nurturing & funnel optimization strategies is the common cause of this poor performance.

According to Marketo –

• On average, 50% of the leads in any system are not yet ready to buy.
• Almost 70% of new leads never become sales.
• Companies that excel at lead nurturing and funnel optimization strategies generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.

Most sales & marketing organizations have a sales funnel that looks something like the one below.

A funnel is simply a tool for visualizing where your prospects are in the process of making a buying decision. A sales funnel is wide at the top because prospects with all level of engagement enter and eventually the most engaged ones are channeled to the bottom of the funnel to be turned into sales and repeat customers. The challenge that every business’s sales and marketing team has to face is to get these leads down the funnel to convert them into customers, which is not an easy task.

A properly planned and tested funnel optimization strategy is required for the same. Following are a few best strategies to increase conversion rate throughout sales funnel that can definitely help in the customer acquisition process.

1. Blogging

Blogging develops relationships with potential and existing customers. By blogging consistently, you give Google and other search engines new content to index and you create opportunities to plug in those all-important keywords to increase your visibility on search engine results pages.

People can’t buy from you if they don’t know you exist. They won’t buy from you if they don’t trust you. You need to get your name out there and establish your business as an industry leader. No matter how small your business is, you can build trust and clout within your industry by providing valuable, expert information in your blog posts. Over time, you become a “go to” resource for helpful, informative content, which can ultimately lead to higher customer conversion rates.

2. Social Networking

Social media is an essential piece of any business marketing strategy. More than 60% of the world’s total population has access to the internet.

It doesn’t matter if you run a small local shop or a big national company. Social media is an essential piece of your business marketing strategy. Social platforms help you connect with your customers, increase awareness about your brand, and boost your leads and sales.

Consumers today rely on their social networks to find advice, referrals, and reviews. They expect a business to be available for questions on Facebook and Twitter and look for tutorials on Pinterest and YouTube. So be there and grab the opportunity.

3. Follow-Up Calls and Emails.

According to Hubspot, 80% of sales require at least five follow-up calls before the deal gets closed. Since 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up, there really are a lot of lost opportunities for closed deals.

A follow-up call helps a salesperson know where he or she stands in a current deal. It also helps cement your connection with a prospect and helps to develop a relationship. Good follow ups keep the prospects informed and they value you as a more reliable and competent than your competition. Follow-up calls and emails help to build trust and trust in a business may turn into loyalty towards the whole brand, and that can lead to more purchases down the road.

4. Get Personal and know the exact requirement of the leads.

A common mistake that many organizations make when it comes to nurturing or in the process of converting the sales leads into customers is to use only mass communication techniques. While getting your message out to as many people as possible can be beneficial in many respects, but personal contact is just as important if you are hoping to develop a long-term relationship with your customers and clients.

The leads in your funnel will have different expectations and requirements w.r.t your product or services. It’s very important to understand their requirements and then to provide them with a solution accordingly. many leads escape the funnel at this point when they don’t find the features of your product matching their interest.

5. Define a Call to an Action plan.

Your call to action (CTA) is the chance to motivate your audience to take real steps toward becoming a customer or client. It can be the determining factor between a lead and a conversion.

Call to Action and sales funnels go hand in hand. The calls to action serve as transitions between the phases of the buyer’s journey. They instruct the user on what to do next, prompting them to take immediate action. Whether you want your user to visit your blog, give you their contact information, download an e-book, or subscribe to an email list, you must provoke this action with a well-placed CTA in the sales funnel.

6. Referrals

This won’t be a proper funnel optimization strategy but still, it makes a huge impact on sales for a business. Customer referrals are important to your company for many reasons and almost always have a positive effect on your bottom line. It pays to encourage your sales staff to seek out referrals.

In reality, your customers will be more than happy to send people your way if they are satisfied with your work. As such, it is important that you develop a good relationship with your clients and develop a plan to seek referral business from each and every one of them. So ask your customers if they know anyone else who would benefit from your product or service and offer various discounts on their next purchase if they refer a prospect who becomes a customer.

Final words…

It is a fact that sales funnel is meant to understand the customers and improve customer relationship and build company trust. It is a process of assurance to them that they are about to make the right choices. The more we are able to listen to our customers, the more we can create solutions to their specific needs – that’s why lead nurturing is important.

Apprise Marketing Services funnels optimization & lead nurturing services help clients design and execute lead nurturing campaigns to meet their specific engagement goals, to continue to communicate with prospects to nurture and grow those relationships with the company over time.

If you want to learn more about how we can assist you in your Funnel Optimization Strategies, kindly reach us at info@ams-in.com or visit www.ams-in.com.

Thank you.