We all want more revenue, but the tough reality is accepting that not every business deserves it.
Businesses who do manage to increase their revenue flow do so by paying their dues first, which usually comes down to one action: improving customer touchpoints. Fortunately, this isn’t an impossible task and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune.
Redefining the Buyer Journey
No company is perfect, but when things get difficult and problems arise, there is nothing like combating stress with more revenue. Have you ever heard that expression – Sales Fixes Everything. At least when you have positive cash flow, less important issues seem to be more easily manageable.
But are you making as many sales as you could be?
It’s impossible to answer this question until you change something you’re already doing and see how that change affected your sales.
Consider this:
Studies reveal that only 50% of marketing leads are ready to buy. The rest need to be nurtured and supported to help them make the decision to purchase.
Where do you put your leads? On a notepad? Your iPhone? A Word doc?
When Salesforce came along, it changed the game for sales and marketing departments. It plugged holes where quality leads were leaking out of the sales funnel. You can make the most of every lead by running them through Salesforce – creating tasks for follow up, track what they said, what you said, when to follow up again, send helpful information, send a quote, and most importantly, close a deal. All by walking with them through the journey.
Lead nurturing isn’t complicated, especially since Salesforce exists. Did you know? It’s unlikely that the first time your customers come across your brand they’ll be completely ready to make a purchase.
It’s far more likely that over time, through interacting with your company and learning about what it is you do, they’ll slowly generate more interest, knowledge, and confidence in your company before making a purchase.
Every lead travels through various stages:
- Awareness (they hear about your brand and learn more about you)
- Interest (Starting to realize why your products and services are worthwhile for them)
- Decision (Choosing to engage with you)
- Action (Buying something)
- Repeat (Keep buying something)
Thing is, customers get stuck somewhere along these stages in your funnel.
In today’s online era, buyers are more diligent about getting as much information they can in their journey before making any attempt to contact your business directly. It’s as if speaking to a human directly is a last resort.
Gartner stated that by 2020, customers will manage 85% of their online activities without talking to a human being. Many are already doing that.
This makes it especially challenging for you to sell, as most of your touchpoints with your customers don’t require any interaction on your part.
This factor alone has made it increasingly important to maximize every channel your customers will use to make a buying decision.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation helps you create a cohesive strategy that ties together several areas: forms, landing pages, emails, and other assets can work together to create a smooth, consistent workflow without fail. You can set up automatic emails to customers when certain actions are triggered. This would nurture each person in their journey right down the funnel, leading to a purchase.
Using a Solid CRM System
In addition to improving sales cycle touchpoints, Salesforce has also helped companies improve their customer relationships after the sale.
One thing that keeps your customers coming back is quality customer service. Studies show when you let them down, it could be years before they come back, if ever.
Salesforce helps companies maintain good customer relationships and keep in touch with the right people at the right time. Whether you want to create top of mind awareness or check in after a period to see how things are going post-purchase, Salesforce is the vehicle that continues to drive your customer relations long after they’ve handed over the payment.
The key to improving your customer touchpoints, whether for leads or paying customers, remains the same: treat them like real people, not transactions.
Nurturing every lead and every customer relationship is important. They’re real people, not business to business, to consumer, to robot. Human to human.
Help people along as they learn more about your brand. Put yourself in their shoes – in their world. They have challenges and problems that your brand can solve. It just takes enough encouragement to help them act. The trick is to be friendly, helpful, and personable. It’s all about the journey. Don’t stop believing.