A website is a critical tool for any business, be it the Retail, B2B or Service Industry. It is not only your virtual shop window but is also your virtual sales person! And just like any sales person you employ, it’s important to get a good return on investment and convert more sales from your website.
Converting a chance visitor into a loyal customer is one of the main goals of your online marketing campaign. While an attractive website interface is important, there are some key adjustments you can make to increase your website’s sales conversion rate and convert more visitors into customers.
Here are 5 of our top tips to convert more sales from your website:
1. Introduce a Live Chat Service
Give your potential visitor the chance to enjoy prompt and knowledgeable answers to their queries regarding your products and services. A live chat service is a great way to grab their attention, capture their details, and ensure a high conversion rate.
Remember, current internet users want fast results, and if you won’t give them a prompt answering service, they will switch over to your competitor’s website.
2. Images
Attractive product images are a must to grab the attention of a chance visitor to your website, and ensure they convert into a loyal customer. Besides product shots, images of people using your products or services also adds a touch of trust and sincerity to your brand, and helps your potential customer relate to your offering.
Good quality, attractive, engaging and inspiring images are a must to convert more sales from your website.
3. Videos
Go the extra mile and add video to your website. Adding a visual element to your website is a great way to attract customers and stimulate interest in your offered products or services.
Video offers visitors to your website the chance to enjoy an engaging experience, and promotes your offering through a preferred audio-visual format. There is no better way to make a decision on a product or service than to actually see it in action!
The videos on your websites can be introductory films of your entire portfolio of offered products, or could be be how to use guides for some of the most technical products you offer to your clients.
One of the best examples I have recently seen of this is the online clothing retailer ASOS. They allow potential customers watch a short video of the chosen product on a model walking down the catwalk. The impact this simple function has over a flat image is huge! It allows potential customers to really see the pros and cons of your potential purchase and is in fact an equal exercise in both customer service and selling power.
4. Know Your Audience
It is very important to understand that you need to attract the right audience and traffic to your website. You need to know who your target audience is, and only focus on attracting them to the website, instead of amassing a large traffic which cannot be converted into sales and loyal customers.
Once you define your target audience, it’s important to post quality content to attract them to your website over competitors, and remember – you must optimize every post for SEO! You want your content to be the first thing that comes up during a Google search. Keywords are important and using them correctly can be the difference between potential clients finding you and converting into a sale or being buried on page 10 of the results.
5. Opt For Usability Testing
Opt to get unbiased reviews about your website from strangers, who will give you valuable feedback about the different features of your site. In this way, you can improve the business site to ensure higher conversion rates.
Try implementing some of these top tips to convert more sales from your website and let us know how you get on! And don’t forget, if you are interested in Sales Training or yourself or your team, why not join us at our next Sales Success Workshop Friday 5th February. Click herefor more information and to register your place or call us on .
There is nothing more frustrating than a sales person trying to sell you something you don’t want! Don’t you agree?
If a prospective customer gives you a call, drops you an email or visits your store they are interested in your product or service. If they don’t make a purchase something has gone wrong in your sales process. And more often than not, the problem is that you have not uncovered your potential customer’s true needs.
With so much information now at our fingertips, and the ability to purchase almost anything online from the comfort of our couches, the modern sales professionals must really prove their value as consultants, rather than pushy sales people trying to sell their most expensive product. You must offer the right mix of assistance, understanding and advice to help clients make better decisions about what they buy.
By incorporating these 4 simple steps when first connecting with your prospects, it will help build their trust in you, guide them through the sales funnel faster, and if they’re a fit for your offering, it will most likely result in a sale:
Be Knowledgeable
To make the experience useful and genuine for your prospective customer, you must be an expert on the product or services you are selling and which they are interested in purchasing. Be one step ahead of your competitors. Advise your prospect about how your product or service differs from competitive offerings. Without this knowledge, the customer will soon see that they are better off going to the internet for answers, than talking with a sales person who doesn’t know their stuff!
Ask Relevant Questions
I cannot stress how important it is to understand your prospects needs. In most instances you are not selling a product, but rather a solution to a problem. Here are some good probing questions to get your prospect to open up so you uncover their real needs and present the perfect solution:
What are you looking to improve on?
Do you have any initial ideas of what you’d like and why?
Who will be the users? Do they need to be involved in the final decision?
How often will you use the products or services?
What’s most important to you?
It’s also really useful to discover what the budget is to ensure you don’t waste your own, or their time going through products or services they are never going to buy! A good way to open up this discussion is by saying:
If you’re working towards a certain budget, and are happy to tell me broadly what it is, I can try and point you to the most relevant options.
The point of these questions is to find out enough to be able to advise your customer well.
Offer Solutions
Now that you have a full picture of your prospects needs, it’s time to offer your thoughts and solutions. Frame your suggestions with phrases like “I think I understand that A, B and C are most important to you. With that in mind, you may want to explore products X, Y and Z as they most closely meet your requirements.” Explain the differences between each product so that customers can prioritise what’s most important to them. Remember to keep it simple though – you don’t want to overload your prospect with too many options as this could lead to confusion and delayed decision-making.
Be Patient but don’t forget to follow up!
When you have presented your solutions, don’t rush the sale. Ask their opinion and develop your listening skills to give potential clients the opportunity to tell you what they really want. It’s important to not apply pressure, just offers of genuine help.
Finally, not all prospects will be willing to close the sale there and then. This doesn’t mean the sales process is over. Make sure you get their contact details, follow up to see if you can provide any more help or assistance and check in to see if they are well enough informed to make their decision and follow through on the sale.
If you would like to learn more about perfecting your sales process, come along to our next Sales Success Workshop Friday 5th February. Click here for more information and to register your place or call us on 01 891 6220.
Raving fans are customers who are so over the moon with the business and the service you provide that they will not only tell all their friends and colleagues about you, but actually bring them to you and help you make sales to them.
It’s a frightening fact that we spend six times as much money attempting to attract new customers to our businesses than we do to up-sell, on-sell and generally care for, and retain our existing customers.
Another frightening fact is that 68% of customers who stop buying from an organisation do so simply because of a perceived indifference. The business actually didn’t do anything wrong; the customer just thought the organisation didn’t care enough!
Would you like your customers to shout your name from rooftops telling people why, if they’re not dealing with you, they’re missing out on something amazing?
Here are some simple tips that you can introduce in your business today. These tips will help keep your customers not only coming back with more repeat business, but bringing their friends with them as well:
Use their name frequently.
Send them thank-you cards.
Ask them to come back.
Sell them everything they need to gain maximum benefit from the purchase.
Call them just to make sure everything is going well.
Call them when something new arrives in stock that you know they would like.
Follow-up & follow-up again.
Under-promise and over-deliver.
Try to implement just a few of these tips. As a Business Owner, you must lead by example; your team will do what they see you do.
The bottom line is that if you care for your customers, your customers will care for you and help you grow your business. It really is as simple as that.
If you would like to learn more about Sales and then come along to our half day Sales Success Workshop Friday 4th September.
Click here for more details and to register your place today.
It is a good idea to try using a checklist or a questionnaire in order to increase the average euro sale. Use a Checklist:
Similar to Add On Selling, you simply run through a checklist with your client whenever they purchase a particular type of product. This list should be prepared in advance and used with as many different products as possible. For example if a customer buys a tin of paint, run through the list to see if they need brushes, thinners, drop sheets, stirrers, etc.
Here are some useful hints and tips on using a checklist:
Make sure every team member has the list.
Check to make sure it’s being used with every customer.
Have a reward system in place that acknowledges team members who make additional sales off the list.
Test and measure – if it isn’t working change the questions.
Use a Questionnaire:
Dig as deep as you can. Make sure you ask enough questions to leave no stone unturned. The more questions you ask the more chance you have of finding another need or want that you can fill.
Also, if you’re unsure of any additional products or services that you could sell, a simple questionnaire can be effective. Use it to ask your customers what else they would like you to sell. Don’t limit yourself too much. Ask the customers to get a little creative… who knows, there could be a whole new opportunity just waiting to be suggested.
Here are some useful hints and tips on using a questionnaire:
Make your questionnaire simple but effective as a sales tool.
Offer customers an incentive to participate, or just explain how what you’re doing will help them.
Fill it out on the spot with you acting as a sounding board, don’t be afraid to ask more questions to dig deeper.
Ask for their suggestions, and act as quickly as possible.
If you would like to learn more about Sales and the Sales Process then come along to our half day Sales Success Workshop Friday 4th September.
Click here for more details and to register your place today.
Without a doubt, sales are the lifeblood of any organisation. How well – and how often – your business makes a sale, determines its success. It follows then, that the proper management of the sales team and the sales process is critical.
There are a number of common mistakes that business owners consistently make when it comes to managing sales. Sadly, these mistakes inhibit growth and long-term success. Below, we look at what many business owners are doing wrong – and how they can fix their approach to sales…
1. Sales Targets
The number of companies that do not have clear sales targets in place is constantly surprising. It comes down to simply planning for success. Sales targets have to be developed to demonstrate the following:
The overall financial sales target for the company for the year.
Sales targets then need to be broken down by quarter, month, week as well as daily sales targets.
Sales volumes: it is a very good idea to break the sales target down into the number of products to be sold by product category as well. This way, sales teams can obtain a very clear view on what products to prioritise.
Sales targets need to be detailed by region as well as by sales representative, so that sales management can track the actual versus plan on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
2. Sales Implementation Plan
Once the sales targets have been clarified, the next step in the process is to develop a very clear but simple sales implementation plan. This should include the sales call cycle, new business opportunities and how you plan to convert those opportunities into sales – as well as reviewing the progress being made in this regard. Here, a good idea is to develop a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that would include lead as well as lag indicators to success.
3. Clear Sales Process & Scripts
Too many companies do not have a clearly defined sales process. The importance of this element cannot be over emphasised. Having a clear process in place means that a sales manager can be confident that all his/her sales staff are following a common sales process. As a result, the company can now track sales conversion rates across various stages (e.g. Lead, Suspect, Prospect, Buyer) of the sales process – and is then able to take corrective action in order to increase conversion rates.
4. Sales Pipeline Tracking
Ensure that you are using one of the many robust CRM systems available to be able to track the progress of each lead in the system. This will ensure that you are keeping track of the very important next steps in the sales process, whilst also giving you the opportunity to build a trusting relationship with each of your prospects.
5. Identify Your Leads Personality style
It is very important to identify your lead/prospects personality style as early on in the process as possible. This enables you to adapt your sales style to meet their personality style: e.g. highly driven people do not want to be bored with all the details, and once they see the value will quickly ask what the next steps are. Alternatively, people who have a high attention to detail will naturally ask for more information, facts and testimonials before making a purchase decision.
6. Selling is about empowering prospects to make a purchase decision
There are three main parts to any sales process:
Build the relationship
Develop trust
Allow your prospect to make a purchase decision.
This process applies to any type of product, and every business must try to ensure that your marketing message and sales process takes a prospect through each of these steps if you want to ensure a good conversion rate. Increase your sales and take your business to the next level!
If you would like to learn more about Sales and the Sales Process then come along to our half day Sales Success Workshop Friday 4th September.
Click here for more details and to register your place today
Business owners are always looking at ways to maintain, if not increase their sales.
One of the most common way’s businesses look to do this is to spend more money on lead generation /marketing, through advertising, mail outs, networking, telemarketing etc.
While there are certainly some fantastic lead generation strategies businesses should be implementing, these can be among the most expensive business growth strategies to use. Therefore, it is worth noting that there are some far more cost effective ways to increase your revenues.
One simple way to do so is to look at your conversion rate and work on increasing it. Having a good conversion rate is the foundation of high sales volume.
There are lots of great conversion rate improvement strategies. Of these, here are five we recommend that are free and crucial for any business to implement:
1. Follow up
It is amazing how such a simple strategy can be so effective. Every quote, introduction, tender you do is just the start of your conversion process. So many businesses spend hundreds of euro’s getting a lead, many hours preparing a quote and then, if they don’t hear back, just say “oh well,” and move onto the next lead. This is such a waste of time, effort and money for any business.
Just think of how many times you have been offered something and then life has got in the way so you did not get around to ordering it. How pleasant would it have been if somebody had reminded you and helped you complete the purchase? Also remember if you do not follow up, your competition will!
2. Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Ask yourself, why should somebody buy from you rather than your competition? When times get tough you may find more people in your sector trying to compete on price. Educating your prospects about your uniqueness and how you add value is the only way to ensure you get the business and still make a good margin. If you can communicate with your prospect all the benefits they will get by buying from you, why would they go anywhere else?
3. Guarantee
One of the main reasons people don’t buy is that they have a fear they will be let down at some point in the process. It is your job to identify in what areas these fears may lie and then to guarantee that by buying from you they will not be let down. Just look to the big companies like M&S, Domino Pizza and DHL for great examples of this.
4. Benefits and testimonials
Another great way to lessen people’s fears of buying from you is to show them what benefits your existing customers have received by buying from you by simple asking for a short testimonial. Remember, these should emphasise the real benefits to your prospect, not just “they are great people to buy from.” Here is an example of our latest client testimonial:
5. Measure it
It has been proven that just by regularly measuring your results, they will improve by up to 5%. This works because by monitoring your results you are setting your subconscious brain to look for ways to improve that factor.
Just by working on these strategies you can make an amazing difference to your revenues.
So go on, take action and increase your conversion rate today! Good luck…
“This site uses cookies to improve user experience. We only gather general, non-personal information for statistical purposes. You can block cookies in your browser’s settings. “ Find out more.
queries regarding your products and services. A live chat service is a great way to grab their attention, capture their details, and ensure a high conversion rate.
engaging experience, and promotes your offering through a preferred audio-visual format. There is no better way to make a decision on a product or service than to actually see it in action!
ors, and remember – you must optimize every post for SEO! You want your content to be the first thing that comes up during a Google search. Keywords are important and using them correctly can be the difference between potential clients finding you and converting into a sale or being buried on page 10 of the results.
Business owners are always looking at ways to maintain, if not increase their sales.