Converting clients is the second stage of Lifecycle Automation that bridges the transition from a promising lead to a loyal customer.
Once you’ve pursued a prospect and they decide that your business can fulfill their needs going forward, it’s important to nurture that relationship, but there’s a delicate balance between coming on too strongly and building a gradual connection.
Check out the following strategic methods to identify how to engage with leads and guide them through their journey with enticing offers, eventually leading to a closed deal based on their experience.
Engage
This is where you get to educate your buyers about your products and services. It’s up to you to guide them properly so they look to you as a business they can trust. Instill the confidence in your customers that creates a monopoly in their minds so that they only associate the product or service they need with your business when it is time to engage. Some indicators that they’re ready to take action include:
- They visit pages on your website
- They interact with the content that you’re distributing
- They open an email and read it
- They respond to emails
- They click links in emails
- They request a consultation
- They schedule appointments
- They call or text you or actually respond to a form of outreach
You also want to practice lead nurturing, which involves listening to what potential customers need, providing valuable information and addressing their questions and concerns. Be an advocate for your customers, make it clear you’re putting their needs first instead of just trying to make a profit.
Subtly educate and increase awareness of your product or service through informative emails and by providing access to valuable resources or tools such as product demos, how-to videos, white papers and ebooks.
Building credibility with your customer base is invaluable, as it will create a robust influence on the prospect that is still in the decision-making phase and will need information on a topic or product they’re not familiar with yet. If your company can be the one that provides that education, not only will it give you a competitive edge, your prospects will remember you and appreciate you for it. Your goal is always to be top of mind in your industry.
Offer
Depending on your industry and your prospects’ behavior during the engagement phase, it’s important to get clarity on the most critical steps in your sales process and make sure they align with what your clients’ needs are.
Once that has been established, it’s time to present your offer. One common misconception about presenting an offer is that you’re going to “ask them to buy.” In the context of lifecycle automation, not all leads are created equal. In other words, it’s imperative that you be mindful of where they are in your sales funnel as to which step they want to pursue next. You want to make an offer that’s the next best thing for them by thinking about what the key milestones are in your sales process.
“When we’re making offers, we can get a little bit vanilla and then we don’t make it compelling enough for our buyers or customers,” said Clate Mask, CEO of Keap. “There’s a concept of stacking value when creating an offer that makes it very compelling to where the person considering your solution is engaged emotionally because they’re getting a good deal that makes a lot of sense to them.”
You’re solving the prospect’s problem so it’s compelling from that standpoint, but you want to make it really exciting and enticing for them to do business with you. You have to do all the work leading up to this so leads know, like and trust you. If you make an offer and they don’t trust you, it might come across as flat or generic. Don’t overlook the importance of making a really compelling offer that makes it a no-brainer for your prospect to want to do business with you.
Start stacking value by adding offers beyond what the normal price would be. Make it more compelling by associating timelines or urgency/scarcity with the offer. Supplement it with social proof where customers are attesting to the great value you’ve created for them with reviews, comments or testimonials. All of these things make it more compelling for your prospect to be emotionally engaged in what you’re doing that inspired them to take the next step.
Again, offers are not just to buy; you’re selling to people and making offers to them along the way. What will it take to get them to…
- Subscribe to your list?
- Engage in your emails?
- Schedule a consultation?
Be clear that you’re trying to build the value around why they should meet with you for a consultation.
Your offer presentation is the most important step of the sales cycle. In this phase, it is your job as the business owner to showcase your product or service in an informed, professional way that establishes you as the expert in your niche. What sets you apart from others in your industry? Why should your business be the one your prospects trust going forward?
As your leads express more interest in your product or service, present an offer so compelling that it naturally leads them to the next step, which is closing the deal.
Close
When it comes to closing a deal, reduce and eliminate friction in this process as much as possible. Closing the sale is more than a transaction. The close involves clear communication, good presence and written documentation. It’s always valuable to provide your leads with a robust paper trail of your correspondence and payment history.
Streamline a simple purchase process for clients by implementing tactics that align with where they are in the sales cycle. Action is driven by emotion and belief–it’s about identifying their needs and pushing solutions through in different ways to get them to move in the direction that is relevant to their customer journey.
“As someone moves through your funnel, there should be zero friction, it should be smooth sailing toward the sale,” said Scott Martineau, one of Keap’s cofounders.
When you’re presenting a proposal, it should be an easy decision for leads to accept said offer because you’ve already built that trust and given them a reason to be excited. Keep it simple by sending them a link that includes a call-to-action (CTA) such as “click here to make payment.”
In your proposal, summarize your business’ strengths by emphasizing how your product offering is different from and better than your competitors’. Focus on the main objectives you and your client focused on throughout the sales process and demonstrate how your proposal meets their needs and solves their problems. Ensure it addresses the reason the lead signed up in the first place. This is your opportunity to shine as a valuable solution for your leads that will convert them into devoted brand ambassadors.
With automated tools such as Keap’s CRM, you can collect more leads and convert clients in the most efficient way possible by:
- Setting up automated sequences to follow up with leads at the right times based on their actions.
- Sending offers at the right time in the lead journey through automation.
- Automating your sales process so you have a set cadence for how and when to follow up with leads in your pipeline.
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