Leads, new business enquiries, incoming queries via phone calls or emails…it doesn’t matter what you call them, but you want them. Although this influx shows awareness and interest towards your business and services, this may not translate directly to the number of sales you need to grow your business. Where is the disconnect? Having over 15 years of experience in the industry, I’ve accumulated my top five tips small businesses should consider when reaching their sales targets this year.
1. Build a professional website
Your website is where your brand’s reputation is built. If customers find your website difficult to navigate or understand, you will lose their interest and a potential sale. It’s like walking into a bricks-and-mortar store with ripped-up carpets and chipped walls…no customer will feel valued or want to engage with your products or services.
Better still, you don’t necessarily need a professionally built website to fix this. Simply get a family or friend to visit your website and ask them to perform a task on it. Watch them try to navigate your site and note where their mouse automatically goes. This will fix a basic foundation of your website experience.
Think of your website as your customer’s first impression. People want efficient, simple and clear navigation when it comes to business interactions.
2. Use tools to stay organised
For business owners who juggle multiple roles, it’s difficult to keep up with competing agendas and tasks. The best thing to do is engage digitally. There are multiple tools available online to support you when breaking down task delegations and keeping you on the right track. A website like monday.com can be helpful for tracking tasks and viewing deadlines. These tools are a great way of delegating some of those tasks that business owners may struggle to stay on top of.
3. Texts are effective means of communication
Employees are often told to follow up on enquiries by calling. Calls can be great, although they do not allow time for people to consider every detail of the call right on the spot. After a call people may be left questioning if everything was covered efficiently.
Text messages can be even more effective to chase up old enquiries as they are less intrusive and invasive. They can also be a lot easier to coordinate, as there is a clear history of conversation to look back on. Consumers are then more likely to respond via text messages as they have time to construct a thorough response.
Fun fact: people are more likely to tell you the truth via text messages. That emotive factor is taken away which can lead people to be more upfront with what they are expecting, and as a business owner, this is what you want.
4. Don’t let personal relationships ruin business opportunities
Networking is a fantastic way to meet like-minded people who share the same passions as you. Talking to people who are successful in business will allow them to be very open and honest with you, as long as it is not conflicting. However, getting too caught up in personal business relationships may jeopardise your success. Networking is important for business, but personal business relationships may need to be put aside in order for you to succeed.
5. Train your staff
A seemingly simple solution is to use call tracking on your Google Ads, an inclusion with all Localsearch Google Ads campaigns. This allows you to hear all your calls made as a result of your ads and how your team handles them. Hearing these calls can help you implement training for your staff to increase customer satisfaction and your conversion rate.
