When I talk to prospects, many have a familiar complaint: ‘I’m not getting enough quality sales leads.’
As soon as I hear that I ask them if they have an online sales leads system in place.
Far too often, the answer is no.
And THAT is a very costly NO.
Twenty-five years ago when the internet was ‘really neat’, prospects HAD to contact a company to learn more about the features of products and services they were interested in.
In those early days, the internet wasn’t packed with information they could use to compare one solution to another.
Prospects were forced to call up and subject themselves to mind-numbing, cheesy sales pitches in an effort to get more information that would help them make a buying decision.
Today’s prospects have all the product information they need!
And many marketers – primarily the ones singing the blues about a lack of quality online sales leads – haven’t adapted.
Understand this:
By the time today’s prospects hit your website, they are loaded with product or service information. They’ve done their homework. They don’t need more basic information.
So what ARE they looking for? The same thing they were looking for 25 years ago!
⇒ A solution to their problem.
But here’s the big difference: Learning about all your competitor’s before the internet came along was a very time consuming process.
Not anymore!
Today, prospects can find out in a heartbeat the basic information they need to know.
They’re waaaaaay down the track as far as that goes.
If you want to generate more sales leads and convert them into sales, you need to focus your messaging at the conversation that’s taking place in your prospects’ heads when they land at your website.
And here it is…
“I have a problem that I don’t want…I’m looking for a solution I want that I don’t have.”
Sounds simple right?
Yet many marketers fall into the trap of talking about their products and services…
…INSTEAD OF EXPLAINING HOW THEY ARE BEST-SUITED TO SOLVE THE PROSPECT’S PROBLEM!
That’s where the money is!
And it’s not a one-shot deal. You need a proven game plan.
In today’s post, I’m going to lay out 3 strategies for generating more online sales leads from qualified prospects.
It all starts with showing prospects you know what they’re looking for when they arrive on either your home page or landing page.
Fail to do that and NOTHING else matters.
So, let’s get started.
Strategy #1: Get immediate attention
Prospects coming to your website likely didn’t arrive by accident.
They have a problem. And something prompted them to visit your website in search of a solution.
Regardless of HOW they found you, your main objective is to make sure they stick around long enough so you have a reasonable opportunity to explain why your solution is the best one for them.
That means you need to grab their attention.
And when I say grab, I mean GRAB !
For that, you need a HEADLINE that speaks to their problem.
Like this:
Notice how my headline addresses the main problem my prospects have that they don’t want.
Why? Because that tells your prospects you ‘get it.’ You understand them. You know what their “pain” is. THAT’S what gets their attention and makes them stick around!
I see many marketers drone on and on about their ‘stuff’ – their products and services. BIG MISTAKE.
Let your competitors churn out the blah blah about their product or services features.
Focus your copy on how your prospects’ lives will change if they pick your solution.
Okay, back to Strategy #1.
Notice the supporting copy under the headline in the example above.
That is a SUB-HEADLINE and it plays a very important role in determining whether or not your prospect will read on.
What’s its purpose?
It strongly suggests that you can deliver the solution or result your prospect wants but hasn’t found yet.
Here’s another example:
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Many of your competitors will lose visitors within 3-5 seconds because they don’t understand this critical first step.
The rest of the copy on your home page or landing page is important but only if you manage to grab their attention with your headline and sub-headline.
RELATED POST: 5 Ways To Generate Online Sales Leads
Use the rest of your copy to explain how and why your product or service is superior to your competition. I’m not saying to slam the other guys.
Just present your visitor with the reasons why they’d be silly to do business with anyone else.
Build your case. As you’re going to discover in the next strategy, this is just the first step on the road to generating qualified online sales leads.
Let’s move on…
Strategy 2: Include a FREE offer
In the early stages, when your prospect is just learning about you, it’s important to present a compelling offer – commonly referred to as a “lead magnet” – that your prospect will find hard to resist.
Here’s why:
Most first-time visitors to your website will not buy from you.
IMPORTANT TIP: Only about 1%-3% visitors to your site or landing page will be what we call “NOW” buyers – people who are ready to buy the day they visit.
Why? Because they want to get to know you first. Unfortunately, today’s world is full of con artists, pretenders and charlatans just out to make a fast buck.
That leaves about 95% who aren’t ready to buy that day but who COULD be ready to buy at a later date.
That’s where your sales lead magnet offer comes in. This gives you an opportunity to stay in touch with prospects who could turn into customers at a later date.
Here’s how it works:
Create a free, non-intimidating offer that gives them a chance to get to know you and the value you offer. Make sure this offer appears in a high-profile area on your site.
The top right hand corner of your web page is a great spot because when prospects arrive on your site, the offer will be visible – without them having to scroll down.
It could be a free report, a how-to guide, an e-book or an online course. Anything of value that earns you a chance to get their email address so you can keep the marketing relationship going.
Will they all take advantage of the free offer? Of course not. However, those who do are essentially putting up their hand and identifying themselves as a “warm” prospect.
Here are a couple of sales lead magnet examples:
This is the FREE offer I make on my copywriting website:
Now, if you’re visiting my copywriting + marketing services site and you saw this free offer in a little “sign-up box” on my web page, wouldn’t your curiosity be aroused if you didn’t know much about generating sales leads online?
You don’t have to talk to me. All you have to do is enter your email address and you instantly get some FREE useful advice about how to make your sales and marketing messaging more effective.
Here’s another one:
This is a stand alone landing page where I offer my FREE 7-Day Invisible Selling minicourse.
Notice that by using a landing page to present the offer, I have plenty of space to use more copy to “sell” the FREE course.
VERY IMPORTANT: Even though your offer is free, you have to ‘sell’ it. There are many marketers competing for your prospect’s attention. It’s critical that you give them a compelling reason to engage with you – a reason that is focused on helping them.
And your free offer is perfect for that job.
Strategy #3: Follow up
According to Hubspot, 80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls whereas 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up call.
Think about that.
If you’re a small business owner and you’re only doing one or two follow-ups, you are likely losing lots of business.
Consistent follow-up creates a predictable and profitable stream of prospects who eventually buy.
When I ask prospects and clients WHY they don’t follow up, I often hear responses such as, ‘I don’t have sales staff to chase down leads’ or ‘I’m too busy to do a lot of follow up.’
Huh? Let’s walk that back a bit. As a small business owner, isn’t making a profit one of your primary objectives?
As I see it, the problem isn’t that they don’t have the ability or resources to follow up with prospects…
…they don’t know how easy it is to do it!
Implement a follow up system!
A good follow up system for your sales lead generation efforts has 3 characteristics:
- It’s systematic – meaning that the follow up process is done the same way every time.
- It generates consistent, predictable results.
- It requires minimal physical interaction to make it run.
Which makes a sequential email autoresponder the perfect, economical solution.
Aweber is an inexpensive, effective, stand alone system – you can have as many follow ups as you want because using email is basically free.
RELATED POST: The Gold Is In The Follow Up
Each email should build upon the previous one and feature a call-to-action (CTA).
Sure, you have to take the time on the front end to create your emails (or hire a copywriter :-D ) but once your email campaign is done, your follow up system is on autopilot.
Here’s a simple Welcome Series Email Nurturing Campaign you can model:
⇒ Email #1: This email delivers your free offer link .
⇒ Email #2: Thank prospect for asking for it and remind him to open it.
⇒ Email #3: Indoctrinate them into your world by explaining how you can help.
⇒ Email #4: Send them an additional free resource.
⇒ Email #5: Send them another free resource.
⇒ Email #6: Send a case study that shows the kind of results you can produce.
⇒ Email #7: Explain how you got started. Open up a bit.
INSIDER TIP: Maybe include a P.S. with emails 4-7 that links your calendar so they have a way to easily set up a free consultation.
Following these three online marketing sales lead generation strategies will allow you to attract more qualified prospects and convert them into profitable sales.
