In a survey of 1200 business owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), SalesForce found that 77% are optimistic and hope to grow their business. Sales generation is one of the key hurdles standing in their way.
A successful sales funnel enables SMEs to maintain and grow sales. A sales funnel is a representation of how leads are generated and nurtured throughout the sales process. The funnel is wider at the top to allow for all incoming leads to the business. The funnel then narrows as leads are converted.
In this article we outline seven tips to help your SME achieve sales funnel success:
-
Drive Data From Multiple Sources
The amount of data you have depends on the size of the company you work for or run. For larger companies using Sales Force & Dynamics 365, you might benefit from learning more about Salesforce Microsoft integration.
You will also need to fill the top of your sales funnel with more leads if you are to see an increase in sales. According to HubSpot, a typical website converts approximately 1-2% of its total traffic. To increase traffic to your website you will need to use a variety of marketing channels.
SMEs will tend to see a lower cost of customer acquisition through online data sources. Sources include organic search, blog posts, and pay per click (PPC). Including more data from more sources will help you see an uplift in overall conversions.
-
Build Trust
Customers want to be able to find out about your business before engaging with you. You should be transparent about your organisation’s values and goals on your website. Provide as much information as you can and add new content regularly to keep your site up to date.
Potential customers will look at your social media sites as well. Make sure you’ve got attractive and professional profiles. Share your expertise and engage with the online community. Your prospective customers rely on their social networks, and your business needs to be there to build trust.
-
Optimise Your Landing Pages
When traffic arrives at your landing pages, you have the opportunity to convert visitors to leads. Make sure that these pages are optimised for conversions. Whatever the purpose of your landing page within your sales funnel you need to keep it clean and simple.
-
Call Your Visitors To Action
For every landing page, ask yourself what action you want visitors to take. Ensure there is only one call to action and that it is repeated multiple times on the page. You can increase leads by offering something for free if they take the required action.
-
Retarget Lost Visitors
It’s important not to lose sight of traffic that has bounced from your landing pages. Even a high converting landing page will only see a small percentage of converted leads on their first visit. Retargeting allows you to approach lost prospects again and increase awareness of your offering.
-
Manage Your Customer Relationships
Once you’ve converted a prospect to a lead, you want to ensure that you communicate with them effectively. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems help you to track customers through their entire journey with you. This enables you to send appropriate communications when they meet specific criteria.
-
Make Your Sales Funnel Customer Centric
It’s easy to focus your sales funnel on sales themselves. However, it’s important to focus your sales funnel on your customer’s needs rather than your own. If you can provide a visitor with what they need they’re much more likely to convert into a customer.
If you follow these seven steps you’ll be able to create a sales funnel that converts more customers.
What is your biggest challenge with regard to converting leads to sales? Let us know in the comments below.
