Avionics News May 2017 - 46
series BUSINESS BASICS B Y G R E G L A S L O Reeling Them In How to nurture your leads to meet your sales goals W hen you're fishing for new customers, it's definitely not catch and release. You spend good time and money attracting each prospect, so it should be hard to let any get away. Yet not everyone is ready - right then and there - to take the bait. Of course, the reality is that customers buy when they're ready, not when you are, and you undoubtedly have a list of leads that's fuller than your calendar. Indeed, the challenge has always been moving them from one to the other. To do that, you must do something meaningful with each from the start. The goal of lead prospecting is to take strategic action to move prospects deeper into your sales funnel and turn them into buying customers. Surprisingly (or not), it's something few small businesses do well. If anything is surprising, it's how outright bad most are at this critical task, according to consumer research. That's a problem, because customers often come to you further along in the buying process, and they're better-qualified leads than you'd expect. They need responsiveness, according to Myers Barnes, author of Supercharged Sales. And since you have already paid to 46 avionics news * may 2017 attract them, you might as well get your money's worth out of the effort. This begins with contacting them quickly, and it continues with communications and check-ins that keep you front of mind until they're ready. While they might not buy in three months, six months, or a year, they have done you the favor of letting you know you're on their radar, and that puts the ball in your court. Think of it this way: Follow-up is your first customer-service test, according to sales coach Nicki Joy. Passing the test requires knowing why lead follow-up is important, creating a personalized multichannel plan for staying in touch, and implementing that plan with some smart practices so customers feel connected when they're set to go. When you accomplish that, you have given yourself all the tools you need to reel them in. Always ready In a world of Google, Amazon and Netflix, shoppers have learned they can get what they want, anytime they want, according to Barnes. Like it or not, that luxury primes them to want fast service from you, too. Consequently, you should recognize those expectations,
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