Staying in Front of Potential Customers in the Sales Funnel

Having overcome the challenge of generating inbound leads is only half the battle. Nurturing those leads into potential customers and staying in touch with them when they need answers is your next assignment.

Now you ask yourself: how do we not lose these potential customers to the competition?

Here are some of the dilemmas they might be facing that you need to address:

1. Lack of decisiveness: Sometimes a customer just doesn’t know if they want your services. They are just window shopping, if you will. They are looking into the value of your services somewhat casually.

2. Lack of understanding about your services: Sometimes leads have only a general awareness, but don’t have a full grasp of the value what you are offering. They need more information. This is the time to send personalized collateral explaining everything you do.

3. Uncertainty about their own need: “Do I really need it?” customer asks. You tell them yes and why. Tell them that efficiency is a big factor for the success and bottom line of their business. To be efficient is to be modern. Rejecting modernization is rejecting competitiveness. Letting you manage their IT needs will help them achieve their goals.

4. Cost of subscribing to your services: Customers may be thinking that these services are simply an unnecessary expense. You can address this issue by telling them how much more expensive it would be if their security was breached and networks went down. Recovery after a disaster can be very costly. You can also offer some discounted trial periods for your services. They can then decide if your services will be worth it.

5. Trying to figure out if your competition is better than you: A customer is always looking for the best value for his buck. This is where you need to pay close attention to your customer’s needs. That way you can target those needs with a specific solution that is the best any one can offer. If you can do that the customer will see no need to go anywhere else.

6. Not sure about the timing to buy: Your customer is just exploring what is out there that may be useful. They might think that their business is running fine and don’t need to do anything right away. You have to make that customer aware of all the benefits of having your services. Prepare yourself with some case studies involving network failures and security breakdowns. Produce some statistics. That should get your customer thinking.

From the above mentioned issues it should be clear to you what you need to do. Remember one thing before you engage them: they entered the sales funnel for a reason. Now you need to capitalize on that. This is the time to prove what you are made of.

This is How You Can Help Them

To help them you have to know which of these six issues your potential customer is facing? First, you need to isolate that customer from the crowd. There is a tool available to assist you with that. This tool collects data about the customer from different sources on the web (Emails, Website, Social media etc). It is called Marketing Automation software. It analyzes customer behavior in the cyber space and prepares reports about it and presents them to you. From these reports you will know which of the six issues we have discussed needs to be addressed. Your target is clear, so aim with a relevant solution. Chances are you will bag a deal.

A few additional things to remember at this level in the sales funnel. The fundamental principle behind keeping your potential customer engaged is to personalize the whole process. Even though you have your best interest (sale) in mind you have to convince the customer that you have their best interest (success of their business) in mind. Create an atmosphere of loyalty. Discussion should be all about their business, not your sale. Make their concerns your business and the sale will take care of itself. Now go and make that sale happen..