Marketing experts tell us there’s science behind converting business leads into paying customers.
There's a formula for it. A marvellous mix of sophisticated theories that we can apply.
But I’ve come to the conclusion that while all this talk is great for helping us take conversion rates more seriously, the reality of how we get people to buy our products or services remains quite primitive.
Two people
Closing a sale is almost always about an interaction or connection between two people.
In a supermarket, you may be teased and tempted by their tricks to get you to browse for longer and buy more. But if an employee can’t help you with a query, you may walk out without spending. If a person at the cashdesk is rude, you’re likely to pack your bags elsewhere next time.
I’m a demanding sort of customer. I expect businesses to give me good service, listen to my concerns and always follow through on their promises. If they fail in any of these areas, I’ll go elsewhere.
Good, bad and ugly
When it comes to selling my own product - writing and creative services - my approach to closing sales has been shaped by both good and bad experiences.
Like a lot of writers, hustling for new business doesn’t come naturally. But a job in a credit card call centre as a straight-out-of-uni 21-year-old showed me there’s more than one way to skin a cat - and make a sale.
For eight hours a day, we took calls from credit card customers for a pitiful hourly rate. But if we could persuade them to transfer any balances from another credit card on to our own - we earned a juicy bonus.
Cunning
I thought I’d be lousy at it, but after a day of selling I found myself top of the leaderboard in my section. After the shift, over a beer in the bar next door, I realised there were several reasons for my Leicester City-like rise to the summit.
Mostly it was because I wasn’t being too ‘selly’. I’d taken a fairly natural approach to my conversations, helping the customer with their query before asking if our offer - which was pretty strong - interested them.
If they said yes, I closed the sale quickly.
Persistence pays
I also noticed that I was more determined than some colleagues. While they let a knockback annoy them and might not mention the deal again for several calls, I’d make my pitch every time.
Success was simple enough:
- being friendly
- simply selling the product in front of me - without frills or misplaced adjectives
- persistence
- making the sale there and then
When I started working in the media, I was given new opportunities to convert leads in the form of new business pitches.
Ca va? Er, no
My first was as far from pitch perfect as you can imagine. We’d flown to Paris early and were hoping for a triomphe.
But I allowed pressure, lack of experience and fatigue to get the better of me. I gave silly answers to simple questions, bumbled and tripped over my words and, although it’s humiliating to admit this, was a total imbecile.
It was the ultimate lesson in how not to sell. I was like the worst candidate on the Apprentice, without the misplaced self-confidence to brush it off. On the flight home, I made the decision to study what went wrong, work on my weaknesses and make sure it never happened again.
Back on the bike
I’ll be forever grateful to my boss of the time. Rather than give me the Alan Sugar finger and fire me on the spot, he threw me back in at the deep end for an upcoming pitch.
This time, understanding much better what was involved, I prepared well. We went in there armed with the knowledge, research and awesome creative ideas to win the business.
The confidence we had in our product and our keenness to work with this particular public-sector client created a strong and immediate connection.
Shared frequency
But what really sealed things was when the head of communications asked me more about my background. I’d worked in radio news for a station in Birmingham and it turned out that she had completed a similar apprenticeship a few years before.
We knew the same people and it gave her comfort that I’d thrived in the same tough environment that she had. It was the cherry on the cake, the flake in the 99, the cassis in the champagne to give her the final nudge to choose us.
Our common history had tipped the balance. There was science, but there was art too. A personal connection had seemingly sealed the deal.
Can sell, will sell
What I hope all that shows is that you don’t have to be the greatest salesman in the world to actually sell well. But there are a few things you do need...
1. Be self aware
If you’re not converting enough leads into clients, don’t blame them. You need to honestly ask yourself why people don’t want to work with you.
I’m quite partial to a good book on self-improvement so I can tune up the parts of me that run more like an old Skoda than a gleaming Roller. When it comes to learning to sell more, self-improvement is a good place to start.
2. Know what it takes to convert you
What makes you choose one supplier over another? For me, it’s a combination of liking a product or service, liking and trusting the people who are selling it and feeling like I’m getting value for money.
If I set out this framework for my own purchases, then I can be pretty sure my potential customers are doing the same.
Take a critical look at all your marketing materials - from your website and email marketing to the way you talk to leads on the phone. Do they really provide potential customers with the reassurance that you’ll do a better job than everyone else out there?
3. The art of badgering
It’s frustrating when contact dries up with someone you’re really keen to work with.
This is one time that it’s okay to ignore your instinct.
You may think the prospect has decided you’re annoying and useless. More likely, they’re at peak workload and don’t have time to respond.
Wait a few days and then email or call again. This time, ask your prospect a direct question, such as ‘have you had time to go over the materials I sent and made a decision?’
If you still hear nothing, I think it’s worth directly asking for the sale. Ask if they’re ready to start working with you and you might find more of them say yes than you were expecting. They became a prospect because they showed an interest in you. So don’t be afraid to be direct. Your competitors won’t be.
4. Be likeable, trustworthy and good at what you do
If a potential customer has shown an interest, it’s likely they’re suffering certain pain points with an existing supplier. In every connection you make with them, reinforce why working with you would eliminate those problems.
If you want to win a client, you need to keep reminding them how great it would be working with you - and how incredible you are at what you do.
5. Make it easy - and interesting - to contact you
Which of these calls to action would you be more likely to respond to?
Whether you're looking for answers, would like to solve a problem, or just want to let us know how we did, you'll find many ways to contact us right here?
or
Our competitors are hoping for a zombie apocalypse. Zombies eat brains you see. And it’s fair to say we offer more braininess than the average creative agency. Our team has qualifications in medicine, marketing, science… so be sure to pick our brains before someone (or something) else does.
I love the second one. Maybe it’s a tad wordy, but it tells you so much more about their business (a creative agency called Wellmark) than the first (Ikea). It demonstrates their creativity and ‘braininess’ in a fun way. It’s clever and clear. There’s art in converting clients.
Are the words in your business working hard enough? The Writing Lab can help