For anyone involved in business or sales, you have most likely heard the term "The Sales Funnel". While the name may seem self-explanatory, there is a considerable amount of thought and planning that goes into a successful sales funnel. While each business's sales funnel will vary with the nuances of their business, there is a fundamental structure that all sales funnels follow. What are these fundamentals? I'm so glad you asked.
All funnels start with leads. These are people or businesses that express interest in the services you are providing. There are many ways to generate leads each with varying amounts of success depending on your business and potential customers. For us, leads have come in through forms filled out on our website, calls, emails and even going door to door (which we call boots on the ground). Each one has led to leads, which in return has led to our name getting out to more people and businesses in the community. One should not expect every lead to turn into a sale, but even if for every 100 leads, you receive 10 sales, the effort and persistence will be worth it.
This is what you want leads to turn into, an opportunity to sell to a client. This comes after speaking with your leads and finding out exactly how your services can provide what they need to find success. They are now beyond simply being interested and want to utilize you. This is great! To use these opportunities to ultimately gain a sale communication and engagement with the client are essential for this step. The customer has given you their trust and time, it is only right that you provide them all the right information they need to finalize their decision. Make them feel informed and at ease, as intimidation and being deceitful will lead to resentment and worst of all, a missed opportunity that will most likely never be recovered.
The client is happy. You offer them everything they need and they have signed up for your services. Congratulations! Even though the deal is done, your time interacting with the client is not over. In fact, communication should be kept up with your new client on a regular basis. Once a month is a good amount of time to connect with clients. This does not need to be anything complicated. A simple email or phone call, to check in and make sure they are doing well or if they need anything else from you is all it takes to show them that they are still in your mind and you care about them. When you look at clients as more than dollar signs, when you look at them as people who are just like you, looking to become successful in their business, you understand just how important you are to their success and well-being and them being just as important to your business. If the customer becomes dissatisfied, they become lost opportunity who will both not return to your business and will influence others to not use your services as well.
There is never a 100% success rate with a sales funnel. As stated earlier, each funnel unique to each business. It now falls upon the business to find which approach works for them. Luckily, this can be found through self-analysis, a clear understanding of your business' marketing and branding and to know who your audience is. It is with this and some good old fashioned trial and error can you find your own sales funnel that aims to bring in sales.
If you're interested in more questions about how sales work or seek the services of our own sales team, be sure to contact us at @BUSINESSPHONETOLLFREE@, email at @BUSINESSEMAILADDRESS@, or through our online contact form.