Business conversion

One way businesses look to increase sales is to spend more money on lead generation (marketing), through advertising, networking, telemarketing etc.

While there are some great lead generation strategies businesses should be implementing, I am always mindful that they can be among the most expensive business growth strategies to use and there are far more cost effective ways to increase your revenues.

At ActionCOACH we use a very simple formula to identify what strategies we should be using to improve our clients’ businesses:

Leads x Conversion Rate = Customers

Customers x Avg. £ Sale x No. of Transactions = Revenue

Revenue x Margin = Profit

Maximising margins should always be the first area you look at in any business.

This is to ensure you are as efficient as possible and there are no areas of wastage. Increasing average £ sale and number of transactions are strategies to ensure we are maximising the potential of our existing customer base, as they are on average six times easier to sell to than new prospects.

I always get my clients to look at these areas first, after which they can move on to improving their conversion rate.

There are many conversion rate improvement strategies and ActionCOACH has documented over 80 of them. Of these, there are five that are FREE and crucial for any business to implement:

Follow up

It is amazing how such a simple strategy can be so effective. Every quote, introduction, tender you do is just the start of your conversion process. So many businesses spend hundreds of pounds getting a lead, many hours preparing a quote and then, if they don’t hear back, just say “oh well,” and move onto the next lead. This is a huge waste of time, effort and money.

Just think of how many times you have been offered something and then life has got in the way so you did not get around to ordering it. How pleasant would it have been if somebody had reminded you and helped you complete the purchase? Also remember if you do not follow up, your competition will!

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Why should somebody buy from you rather than your competition? When times get tough you may find more people in your sector trying to compete on price. Educating your prospects about your uniqueness and how you add value is the only way to ensure you get the business and still make a good margin. If you can communicate with your prospect all the benefits they will get by buying from you, why would they go anywhere else?

Guarantee

One of the main reasons people don’t buy is that they have a fear they will be let down at some point in the process. It is your job to identify in what areas these fears may lie and then to guarantee that by buying from you they will not be let down. Just look to the big companies like M&S, Domino Pizza and DHL for great examples of this.

Benefits and testimonials

Another great way to alleviate people’s fears of buying from you is to show them what benefits your existing customers have received by buying from you by getting written testimonials from them. These should include real benefits to them, not just “they are great people to buy from.”

Measure it 

It has been proven that just by regularly measuring your results, they will improve by up to 5%. It is true to say that what you measure gets managed and improves.

Just by working on these strategies you can make an amazing difference to your revenues and it need not cost you a penny.

If you would like to have a conversation on how to improve your businesses conversion rates then please feel free to message me.

Does this resonate with you? If you would like to book a complimentary, no-obligation, coaching session to discuss this further, please email me at falgunidesai@actioncoach.com