Nathan Yerian
As a small business owner, your company's ability to generate sales leads and close deals will determine your success. You can't win every "opportunity"; heck, you wouldn't even want to. But, you do at least want to be given a shot at it.
Many small businesses lose the opportunity to be considered for a sale before they are even aware that a potential customer is looking for their product or service.
Let's look at 4 critical ways small businesses unknowingly lose sales and how to fix these problems.
1. Customer didn't find you online - According to a recent study sited in Inc. Magazine, 86% of consumers ranked search engine as "very important in their buying process". That means that greater than 3 out of every 4 of your potential customers rely on search engines to find what you sell.
How much time , energy and resources are your dedicating toward search engine marketing? The average small business owner does very little, if anything to improve their rankings.
Not to worry, that is good news for you. All you have to do is start taking a little bit of marketing initiative.
Your first step should be to create a company blog and write blog posts that your target market will find value in. If you are targeting one audience, you will naturally be using a set of targeted keywords that surround their interests and your area of expertise. As they search for the topics that interest them, they will ultimately find you.
Also, be sure to share your blog content in social media areas where your potential buyers hang out. Your chances of getting found by your target market is amplified as your message is spread online.
2. Your competitor had a better website - You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but that doesn't stop us from doing it. The image your company projects online represents the value of your offering and ultimately your brand.
If a potential customer is trying to compare the value offered between two competitors, one with a dated design and old content, and the other with a attractive interface and relevant information, which will be perceived as "better"?
Don't be the company that looks like they don't care and haven't touched their website since the 90's. When you have your next website designed, make sure you have your site built on a user friendly content management system, so you can easily update text and images to keep your site fresh, current, and relevant to your target market.
Adding a blog to your website can also help to keep your site fresh, as you will be adding timely and relevant information on a consistent basis.
3. You had no content offers - The majority of visitors that come to your site are not ready to buy. They are usually in the information gathering stage.
You have to provide something of value that will entice this individual to engage with your company. Establishing contact with a prospective buyer in this stage can multiply your chances of successfully closing a sale.
Take a look at your competition. How many of them have a "How-To" guide, checklist, presentation, video series, webinar, or any other value based content piece that is offered for download in exchange for a little contact info?
If your competitors have these components, they are establishing contact with customers you will probably never meet. Hopefully you find that they don't have any of these lead generation materials.
Either way, it is time to get in the game. Produce your own valuable components and generate some leads for your company.
4. You didn't follow up fast enough - When a person fills out a form on your website, how long does it take for someone from your company to get back to them? If your company is like most, the true answer to this question may surprise you.
According to a study by Harvard Business Review, of the companies that do respond (23% never respond), the average response time is 42 hours.
In my opinion, that is just ridiculous, but here is the real take away: sales people who attempted to contact a sales lead within the first hour were 7 times more likely to qualify the lead by reaching the decision maker.
In order to maximize your wins, you have to have an infrastructure that supports quick response. Connect your marketing and sales efforts with closed loop marketing.
Are you going to continue to lose deals? Absolutely. After fixing these 4 ways that you're losing opportunities, the sting from each lost sale will be alleviated by the knowledge that your next opportunity is just around the corner.
