Is your small business struggling to convert captured marketing leads into successful sales? If so, your business is not the only one!
Although you might have an extensive sales process that includes creating a quote, conversion of leads can still be a struggle. In fact, data published on https://www.grazitti.com/ shows the following:
- Although the marketing department forwards 61% of leads directly to sales, only 27% of those leads get qualified to begin business with.
- When it comes to verifying business leads before forwarding them to sales, only 56% of B2B organizations conduct a verification process.
- Lack of follow-up and lead nurturing causes 79% of leads to be dead-end. These leads never get converted into successful sales.
This data clearly shows that even if your business generates enough leads and captures them, they are not necessarily converted into successful sales.
So, what can you do to capture the right leads and increase your sales?
Pre-Qualify your customers even before you provide a quote.
Here’s how you can do it with these tips from a business advisor Melbourne.
Tip#1: Get to Know Your Customers
Even before you provide them with a quote, get to know whether they are your target audience or not. Why would you spend time creating a quote when they are not the ideal audience for your business?
Remember, time is money! And you can use this time to gather valuable leads from your target audience.
Tip#2: Get to Know the Type of Services They Need
Even if you offer several services to your customers, some services may not be making much profit to you, or you are not good at it or you may not have ample resources to deliver the services.
Although these services can act as great fillers, make sure you don’t make it a big priority as you aren’t getting much business in it. So, even before you quote the customers, get to know the services they need and if you can offer them efficiently.
Tip#3: Get to Know Their Budget
Knowing the customer’s budget is critical to understanding whether the service they are asking for is deliverable within the said budget. If you know you can’t deliver the service within the requested budget, you will waste your time creating a quote for them.
Most customers won’t go over budget and aren’t flexible, so ensure you don’t waste time generating a quote for them.
Tip#4: Reason to Get Quote
It is important to know why a customer wants to get a quote. If your small business is B2C, chances are your customer is trying to check out some options in the region before making a choice.
However, if your small business is B2B, your customer might ask for a quote to make their tender process easy but won’t hire you for the job. Hence, knowing why your customer is getting a quote can help you determine whether it is worth creating a quote or not.
Tip#5: Number of Quotes They Already Have
It is important to know the number of quotes your customer already has. This will help you understand whether you are just one of the several options and won’t be chosen over the cheapest option.
If you are providing the cheapest services, sure you can go ahead on quoting. However, if your main aim is to provide value and quality, creating a quote to just be another option for many is a waste of time.
Tip#6: Have you quoted for them before?
A business coach in Australia suggests that you should know if you have quoted for them before. If you have quoted for them before and have got hired for the job, you can quote for them again now.
However, if you had quoted for them before but never got hired, you are most likely going to waste your time.
Tip#7: Are there any objections?
Knowing if the client has any objections about the completion of the project can help you understand if you can manage those objections while delivering the services.
If you can’t, it is best to decline their request to get a quote, as you would be wasting your precious time, which you can spend on delivering services to those customers whose objections you can manage.
Tip#8: When will they start taking your services?
While providing a quote to a customer, it is important to know when they will start taking services. You can do so by providing fair validity on the quote. For example, the quote is valid for 7 days, 15 days, or 30 days. This means the quote won’t be valid after the validity period, and prices are bound to change.
This will help you create a sense of urgency among your customers to buy your service. Remember, this will be different for tenders as they are spaced out over time. So, consider the reason to give the quote.
Otherwise, you must provide a quote to a customer who is actually ready to buy your products and services.
Wrapping it Up
Although this might seem counterintuitive to not provide a quote, you must understand that it is not about providing a maximum number of quotes, but it is important to provide quality and valuable quotes to qualified customers. Only this can increase your conversion rates and sales, providing you with profits.
If you want to know more about and get guidance on increasing your conversion rates, get in touch with us at Keystone Executive Coaching. We are a team of experienced and professional business coaches providing coaching programs for budding entrepreneurs, small business owners, and more. Our business coach Melbourne will work with you to understand your challenges and provide you with the right guidance.
Contact our team now to learn more about our coaching programs.
