“I\u2019ve got a long list of people who\u2019ve expressed interest in our services, but my prospect-to client-conversion rate stinks. They just don\u2019t seem to be interested in buying when I\u2019m selling. What can I do?”<\/p>\n
– Claudia, WI<\/p>\n
Timing is everything in small business marketing. Get it wrong and you can\u2019t get your prospects\u2019 attention. Get it right and you\u2019ll see your revenue grow each month of the year.<\/p>\n
Do you know when the best time is to help your prospects make their first purchase?<\/p>\n
My daughter was twelve when we got a dog. She couldn\u2019t get enough of that cute, cuddly puppy and made good on her promises to take care of it \u2013 at first, anyway. The first week she fed, walked and brushed our new dog. The second week, she fed and walked her. After three months, she was keeping up with the feeding and that was it.<\/p>\n
When a puppy first comes into the house, its owner is enthusiastic and will do anything and everything for it. If you\u2019ve ever owned a dog, you know what I\u2019m talking about. It\u2019s called the \u201cnew puppy syndrome\u201d.<\/p>\n
The first time they sign up for your free offer, stop by for a test drive or visit your store, they\u2019re enthusiastic and this is the time they\u2019re the most likely to make a purchase.<\/p>\n
Your prospects\u2019 interest wanes with each day that passes. They go from highly interested to mildly interested or not interested at all.<\/p>\n
Are you struggling to increase your lead to client conversion rate? You can take your business to the next level by discovering the timing and follow-up marketing strategies that motivate more prospects to buy.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve got two opportunities to help your prospects buy.<\/strong> The first is during the 7 to 10 days after they became a qualified lead. This is the time you want to follow up with additional information and make an offer they can\u2019t refuse.<\/p>\n One of my clients periodically gives talks to coaches, health professionals and other trainers to promote his specialized athletic training business. His unique training system generates a lot of interest, and he collects contact information from many in his audiences. When is the best time for him to make the next contact with these prospects?<\/p>\n Immediately! These people are primed to become clients and customers. Imagine how impressed his new contacts would be find an email or free guide, or offer waiting for them when they return to their offices.<\/p>\n To help people remember you and act on your offers, give them helpful information along with a \u201cnew prospect offer\u201d they can\u2019t refuse. Do this once a day or once every other day for the first 7 to 10 days after you\u2019ve gotten their contact information. Your prospects will remember you and you\u2019ll convert more leads to clients.<\/p>\n I know you\u2019re thinking, \u201cThree to seven contacts per week? That\u2019s way too many! I\u2019ll lose all my prospects with this approach.\u201d<\/p>\n The opposite is true.<\/strong> Wait a week or more to follow-up with your prospects, and they\u2019ll have forgotten you exist. When they get your note, they\u2019ll have lost their initial enthusiasm and curiosity and won\u2019t even read it.<\/p>\n There is no exact right number of times to contact new prospects the first week they become qualified leads. You\u2019ll have to test this yourself and gauge the results. Obviously you don\u2019t want to be annoying. You do want to start a conversation with your prospects about their needs and how your products or services meet those needs.<\/p>\n Not sure how to follow-up with prospects, how often to do it and what to say when you do? Find out what works and double your business this year.<\/p>\n You know your business; tie your follow up with prospects to the business or seasonal cycles or the events critical to your industry or your customers. For example, immediate follow-up is critical when purchasing decisions are event-driven.<\/p>\n My client the athletic trainer can\u2019t wait to contact a new prospect because the athletes he works with are training for specific competitive events. If he doesn\u2019t sell his services soon enough, the event will have passed and he\u2019ll have lost the sale.<\/p>\n Depending on what you market, the purchase of your products may not be event driven. For example, if you\u2019re a financial advisor, no single event will prompt your prospects to pick a new one. Given that time isn\u2019t usually a constraint for your prospects what can you do?<\/p>\n What do you do about the prospect that continues to be interested after 10 days or so but just won\u2019t commit to a purchase? Some prospects won\u2019t buy for months or even years.<\/p>\n Keep the conversation going; continue to provide them with helpful ideas a couple of times a month. Continue to educate them about your business and your services. You\u2019ll increase their perception of need and convert them to clients.<\/p>\n Want to convert more of your prospects to clients? Follow-up frequently during the first 7-10 days and then regularly each week or every other week until you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How to time your marketing efforts to sell into the window when your prospects are most likely to buy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[36],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}