Jan
17
What if you walked into a business premises to enquire about their products or services and the person you spoke to gave you the cold shoulder, handed you a standard brochure and showed you the door? Shocking as it may sound, this is unfortunately just the way many companies are treating their prospective clients who make online enquiries via the web, with a disastrous effect on sales conversions.
The thing is that sending a standard e-mail reply (often poorly-written) to prospective customers who have actually taken the time to fill in an enquiry form or e-mail you simply won’t do! What could be more disappointing from the customer’s point of view? And yet, we see it happening all the time.
To be successful in your online marketing, you must always keep in mind that every sales lead you get is a golden opportunity for new business – and it is up to you to take full advantage of it! And, because your customers cannot see you in person, you have to make that extra bit of effort to win their trust. Besides, your prospective customer has probably visited a few other websites and made similar enquiries there too, so you have to respond rapidly and effectively to seal the deal before your competitor does. But how?
1. Qualify your leads
Sort out the genuine enquiries from the potentially bogus ones (such as those by competitors or fake contacts) so that you can focus your effort on those that count.
2. Identify what your prospective clients want
It is useless to reply to your prospects offering a selection of apartments if they are enquiring about a country house! Take the time to understand what your client is after so that you can personalise your response to fit their requirements and budget, making them happy and saving everybody’s time.
3. Respond in a timely manner
Be quick off the mark and you’ll already have the edge on your competitors! Aim for a rapid and efficient response time of definitely no longer than 24 hours. For instance, at Sorted Sites, we receive an automatic notification as soon as an enquiry comes in and make it a point to call right away – even if we’re busy. Needless to say, this always leaves our prospects pleasantly surprised and positively impressed and means we get to be considered before the competition.
4. Call the prospect if possible
If you have been given a phone number, use it. Speaking on the phone will help you build a more personal relationship with your prospect and make it easier to win them over and you can also clear up any queries much faster in this way. If you have a lot of detailed information that you want to send, then e-mail it by all means but call the following day to discuss matters personally if you can.
5. Find out as much as possible about your prospect
Although your prospect may have already included some information with their enquiry, it is up to you to show interest and find out as much as you can when you make contact. Asking the right questions will help you appear more professional by offering viable solutions, rather than stabbing in the dark for a sale. At times, your clients may even be unsure about what they want and helping them to clarify this is one of the best services you can provide.
6. Offer alternatives
While you should always concentrate on what your prospect is after, you could politely suggest reasonable alternatives if you cannot meet their needs exactly. However, do this tactfully and out of a genuine desire to help or you’ll simply come across as a hard seller.
7. Measure and review the quality of your leads
Keep tabs on how well particular leads are converting so that you know both where your best leads are coming from and also which response strategies are working best for you. Your staff in charge of responding to leads should meet regularly to discuss their experiences and methods and consider different ways of overcoming and dealing with possible objections your prospects might raise when you get back to them (e.g. ‘I’m off to a meeting’, etc.).
How you respond to your online enquiries – be they directly from your website or via a third-party service such as www.propertybase.net – will have a very real and direct impact on the results you obtain from your online marketing. Your sales leads have cost you money to generate, and should be exploited to the full so that you maximise your return on investment.
We have seen cases where a company with a back street office gets 80-90% of their sales from the very same leads that another business with a glitzy high-street showroom just cannot convert – proof that the difference really lies in attitude and effort!
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