Maybe you don’t need more leads
“I just need more leads!”
Of all of the questions, comments, and desires that I’ve heard expressed over the course of a nearly 20-year career, this is by far the most common.
It’s a natural and automatic assumption. When people are trying to increase business, the one thing they feel will propel them towards success is getting more leads.
It makes sense…
Leads = Customers; Customers = Money; Money = Success
So… More Leads = More Success
At face value the equation feels true, but the one thing missing is what happens during the “equals” part.
Leads = Customers. What is actually happening with the leads you have now?
Are THEY turning into customers?
Focusing on conversion – that sneaky ‘equals’ part that turns leads into paying customers — that’s the first thing you can do to build your business FAST.
Pay attention to every inbound lead. Any person who raises their hand to express interest in your business, whether they commented on a social post, dropped into your email inbox, or submitted a query to your website… Those are active leads waiting to be converted into customers!
When things are quiet, every lead is handled with the utmost care and attention. You follow up relentlessly with every single person because you have to convert that into a sale in order to keep your business flowing.
But when you’re busy, leads get overlooked. You run out of appointments, you delay in answering that voicemail, or you only have time to follow up once, then you move on.
Maybe you set up some time in the morning to respond to messages… but do you realize that about 90% of phone calls go to voicemail? 90%! Are you going to try only once to get in touch? Are you going to slide 90% of your leads into the “oh well I tried” category?
It seems obvious when you read it, but this is one of the sneakiest profit leaks I’ve ever seen in business. And I mean businesses large and small, solo home service providers, owner operators, owner managers, CEOs… This is a consistent problem at every stage of business success.
If you don’t get that lead booked into an appointment, you are missing a whole FLOW OF MONEY that one lead can generate. Not just this project that they called you about, but then the next one they might need. And the neighbor that you get as a referral, and the person who sees your sign on their lawn, and that friend they meet for dinner. All from ONE converted, happy customer.
When you let any lead slip through your fingers, think about the amount of time, money, effort, and energy you’ve put into capturing that lead in the first place. Convert every lead into an appointment, and convert those appointments into sales, before you decide that you have a lead-generation problem.
Let’s look at another equation: Customers = Money.
There is a huge opportunity to increase sales with existing customers.
Did you know that past customers are 400x more likely to buy from you than a brand new customer?
Think of how hard it is to set up an appointment and close a brand new sale. Versus how easy it is to call an existing loyal, trusting, already-pleased client.
Your happy customers are a huge, huge source of money in your business.
I was working with a Window Treatment company recently which had implemented a post-installation call. This was a simple call campaign to every customer who had an installation within the last two weeks. It was a simple offer of a certain dollar discount or specific upgrade. It was a small offer, very small, the equivalent of a throw pillow or something, to entice them to book a second project. It opened a floodgate of opportunity right then and there in their business. The life cycle of a window treatment is typically more than 10 years! But they didn’t wait 10 years to follow up.
So ask yourself: Did you work in every room in their house? Did they buy your entire suite of products? Maybe you offer other services that will enhance what they just had done. Maybe you have floor covers. Maybe you offer interior design services. Maybe you offer lighting. Maybe you offer home automation. Did they buy everything that they could from you? And did they complete every project that they could with you? If the answer is no, then there’s opportunity sitting right there.
Recent customers are ready to buy sooner than you think.
Visibility, marketing,and building your brand are important parts of sustainable business growth of course. But you are working too hard and stepping over money if new leads are your only focus.