One of the things that has stood out to me over the years is the simple fact of how many people – successful business owners – struggle with sales.
Not a specific number of sales, or a specific monetary value, but an actual distaste for the sales process … when the talking’s done and it’s time to put up or shut up.
In prettier words, it’s called “lead conversion,” but the fact of the matter is this: As an owner and entrepreneur, your true job is to understand the prospect and the steps that have brought them here, to this point, where they are now contemplating becoming a client with you or your team.
Let me go ahead and point out the pink elephant in the room.
We’re talking about sales. Generating income. Converting new clients.
In other words, this is ALL. ABOUT. SALES.
Now, some people might not like that word, but nothing happens in your business until you sell something. Money is exchanged for goods or services. Period.
Up until that point, it’s merely an exercise in prospecting and lead generation or a hobby cleverly disguised as a business.
Sales are the ultimate proof of concept.
And those sales will come from one person – your prospective customer.
Who are they?
Well, you already know that – you’ve spent time learning about them, understanding their motivations, digging into the reasons they need your company and the promise your business offers.
On the other hand, a lot of small businesses can’t specifically point out a true “lead conversion process” they have documented and follow. The truth is, it doesn’t have to be a difficult process. In fact, it really only needs to accomplish three specific things:
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Create revenue
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Gather information
3. Be able to refine the systems that produce revenue and information.
That’s it.
Now, number one isn’t that difficult. Remember, your client has a reason for being interested in your product or service, so by the time they become a prospect, they may already have already “converted” in their mind.
But, teaching you “how to sell” simply isn’t what this email is all about, – after all, it is different for nearly any business and secondly, it’s not nearly as hard as most people make it.
Remember, too, the sales process is one that takes place over a much longer period than most people think about.
No, the much harder part in the process is to be able to intelligently gather information to allow you to further refine how you and your team generate and think about leads. Remember when I mentioned the “old” idea of building rapport in an earlier email?
In a larger transaction, like the sale of a house or car, you’ll have the chance to learn far more about your prospect than in, say, the sale of a hamburger.
…But just because a sale doesn’t have a huge price tag associated with it, or the transaction doesn’t take a long time to complete doesn’t mean you and your team can’t build rapport and provide some enjoyment to your prospects, leads, and customers.
The point of this email today is simple – if you’re frustrated by the volume of sales you’ve got in your company, one of the first places to look is at the overall sales process. Do you have one? Is the one you have “too big?”
Take a few minutes today to think about that, and I’ll bet, when it’s all said and done, you’ll see where the “happy medium” is in your business and from there, recognize the small changes and tweaks you can make to generate more sales, more easily.
