Are your conversion rates disappointingly low? Are you getting reasonably qualified sales leads, only to see them slip away? You most likely have a leaky sales funnel.
This can be incredibly frustrating. Generating qualified leads is expensive and difficult. You want to convert as many as possible and make the most of every opportunity.
If you’re struggling with a leaky sales funnel, consider any of these three strategies to address the problem.
1. Bring in the Experts
It can be hard to audit your own systems. However, you could bring in a company like 360 Leads to evaluate every phase of your sales process and help you identify any problems. Their insights can help you find any leaks and address them right away.
These companies can thoroughly analyze your lead generation and qualification process, while giving your team targeted sales training or call shadowing.
2. A Lack Of Marketing Materials To Support Your Sales Team
Give your sales team the materials they need to nurture leads and close deals.
Make sure you have targeted content that your team can send to the customer at every stage of the sales process. Brochures aren’t good enough. You need specific content that can be used for leads at the top of the funnel, the middle of the funnel, and the bottom of the funnel.
Ask your team what would help them close more deals. Maybe you need to create a case study that showcases how your solution has helped other people. Or maybe you need a detailed fact sheet on one specific product or service.
3. Focusing on Marketing Tactics, Not Marketing Messaging
Maybe you’re struggling because the leads in your funnel aren’t actually qualified. This can happen for a number of reasons, many of which are marketing related.
The first issue could be that you are attempting shotgun blast marketing. You’re marketing your product to a broad audience, most of whom fall outside of your target audience. Sadly, neither side may know this until they’re in your funnel.
It’s also possible that your messaging isn’t speaking directly to your target audience. Have you done extensive research to discover what their actual pain points are? Or are you just assuming that you know what they want?
There are lots of free market research tactics that you can use to lock into the messaging you should be using. First of all, your most valuable asset is your front-line customer service and sales team. Ask them about the most common pain points they hear about every day. How did they close their last five customers? Why did they lose their last five customers?
Do extensive research online. Look at the comments in your social media activity and your online reviews. Now, do the same for your competition. Pay close attention to the verbiage being used. What words do people use to express frustration with their pain points?
These are the words that you need to use in your marketing materials and your keyword research. Too many companies arbitrarily define their brand voice, when they should be letting their customers do it.
Fixing your sales funnel is not a one-time activity. To ensure that things are running properly, you need to be constantly looking for people who can help your sales team, while ensuring your marketing materials and efforts are targeting the right audience.
Remember, success in this area is a journey, not a destination.
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