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converting leads

3 reasons that you aren’t converting leads into sales

When I talk to B2B companies about what they need to be more successful, they usually answer one of two ways. They either need more enquiries, or more conversions of existing enquiries.

Converting enquiries can be a difficult thing in some industries, but it’s only made harder if any of the following apply to your business.


Your marketing and sales are not aligned

What does your target customer look like to the sales team and the marketing team? Are the end goals aligned? Problems can arise if marketing is targeting prospects that the sales team cannot convert, or if sales are targeting prospects that marketing might not even have thought of! If this is the case, it is important that both teams feedback to each other regularly, in order to optimise messaging, approaches, and the leads that are being passed on, then meaning the leads are more valuable and focused.

On the flip side of this, you need to be careful that the sales team aren’t struggling to covert the leads due to a training issue or if the enquiry being outside of their comfort zone. If this is the case then it could be a training issue, or the case that the target market needs to be communicated through both the sales and marketing team and the messages are the same throughout the process. Similarly, it needs to be made sure that marketing have had the product or requirement explained to them in the way they require, otherwise they could be mis-selling the product. Either way, 1 side not being fully informed is nothing short of a problem!


You don’t prioritise

Prioritising is essential to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the any successful team. Leads can be prioritised in terms of value, product, service type, geographic location and more. By prioritising your leads, this will ensure that the sales team are spending time on good quality leads that can be converted in a timely manner. Of course, most good sales people should know the criteria for when a prospect requires an appointment versus a phone call, but looking at further data (such as when they enquired, or opened an E-shot or something along those lines) can help you to prioritise further.


You are not proactive

All too often, when incoming leads arrive, they are sometimes seen as a certain. “The customer obviously has a need for the product” or “their time to purchase is not far away”, but the worst thing you can do is take it for granted that you will get the order.

It would be naive to think that you are the only company that has been contacted, and customer service plays a much larger part in a customer’s buying decision than people like to let on. How you respond to the lead will play a big part – how quickly the quotation or price is communicated, how well the required information is presented, what level of expertise is demonstrated will all be factors in the decision making process.

It is also essential to ensure that if the potential customer goes quiet, then you are being proactive to find out why. Is it a price issue? Do they just not need the product anymore? Asking profiling information such as this will all come from the customer if you ask the sometimes tricky questions. You’ll then know for sure if it’s a dead lead, or it is still open and requires a follow up at a later date.

Whilst these all seem like simple thoughts, you’d be surprised how often they are overlooked. This is why we, and many other companies, look into the detail. If you don’t, you risk loosing out. Simple!

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