How do I get a lead I’ve been nurturing for a while to actually buy?
This is the last article in my series about the 3 most common questions I get from the newly self-employed.
This week, we tackle the topic of getting a lead to actually buy. Specifically, how to get a lead you’ve been chasing for a while to finally make the decision to buy.
This is a very common question, especially from people who have just started to work for themselves and haven’t landed their first client yet. There are four main points I want to make on this topic.
1. Focus on getting your lead to make a decision, either yes or no.
One of a salesperson’s main duties is to get people “off the fence”. That means getting them to say either yes, or no.
So, instead of thinking, “How do I get them to say yes?”, focus instead on getting them to make a decision, one way or the other. The truth is, some people are never going to buy from you, and you don’t want to spend any more time with them than you need to. So the sooner you figure out that a lead who likely won’t buy is a “no”, the sooner you can go after leads that may buy from you.
On the other hand, your prodding may be just the thing someone needs to finally decide they will buy from you. Either way, you are further ahead, regardless of what their answer is.
So, instead of “How can I get them to hire me?”, think, “How can I help them decide whether they will buy from me or not?”. Believe it or not, this tactic will actually help you close more sales. That’s because you are helping leads to come to a decision sooner. If that answer is yes, great. If not, you’ve saved yourself lots of time because you’ll no longer be chasing a lead that is going nowhere.
2. Determine whether they are worth continuing to pursue.
Sometimes, we keep pursuing a lead, not knowing how good our chances are for actually getting them to buy. So one important thing to keep in mind is that you want to try to determine how good that chance is. Professional salespeople “score” their leads, making note of how likely that lead might be to buy. If a lead only scores, say, 4/10, then the salesperson may very well stop chasing that lead, because the chances of selling are so low that it isn’t worth investing any more time with them. On the other hand, a lead that scores 8/10 would be much more likely to buy and would be a better lead to spend time on.
3. Get them to say yes to the next small task
Sometimes the decision to buy is too big a step for your lead to take—for the time being. This is especially true for higher priced products/services. One way to approach this is to break the decision down into smaller ones and try to convince your lead to say yes to one of those. Not only does that move the business relationship forward, it also breaks down the “no” barrier (once a client says yes to one thing, it is easier to get them to say yes to a second thing).
Businesses do this all the time. Let’s say you are a website designer. It would be much easier to get a lead to say yes to a free demo, than to get them to buy one of your service packages. Similarly, it is easier for your client to say yes to a smaller, less expensive product, than to buy your main, higher priced one. An example: offering a $50 audit of their existing website to determine what is working and what needs improvement. Not only does this sale reduce the “no” barrier, it also gives your client a test drive of what it would be like to work with you. Both of those can help you sell more products to the same customer later on.
4. Perfect your Sales Pitch
You can’t sell if you don’t have a good sales pitch. So it’s important to spend time developing a solid one. You need to be able to justify exactly why your lead should buy your product/service, and why they should buy from you instead of from your competitors. You need to understand all of the benefits your product/service provides, and you need to know what your potential leads are thinking and feeling about the problems they are having—the problems that led them to consider your services.
* * *
That ends my 3-week series about the most common questions I get from new solopreneurs. I hope these three articles have given you some ideas and insight to help you move your business forward.
Cheers,
Tim
Helping you engineer the business of you
Information in this article is for general information and is not intended as professional advice.