A common topic of conversation with business owners is how to get more sales into their business. It can often be assumed that t more sales and marketing strategies are needed to increase the number of leads. However, the key area to focus on is how to increase conversion rates. You can be generating a huge amount of leads but if you aren’t converting them to actual paying customers – what is the point?

Let’s take it back to basics…What is a conversion rate?

Conversion rates are the difference between the people who contact you as a result of your advertising and those who actually buy.  You could be running several adverts and spending a fortune but if you aren’t converting people into actual buying customers, you are wasting money.

For example:

An advert in a local newspaper may cost £500 and bring you in 100 enquiries, but if only 10 of them convert into actual paying customers, your conversion rate is 10%.

But if you run a Facebook Advertising campaign, spending £60 which generates just 30 enquiries and 15 of them convert, then your conversion rate is 50%.

So which advert are you going to place again?

But it isn’t just the metric of number of enquiries per advert. It is HOW those enquiries are being converted. Is it through follow up sales calls, emails, letters or personal appointments? This means that there is often more than one conversion rate and once you start measuring, you will start to identify areas of improvements to increase your conversions.

Here’s some simple strategies on how to increase conversion rates:

  1. Niche Mastery – This is having your USP and your guarantee defined and clear so that all marketing activity, such as adverts and campaigns communicate these messages loud and clear. Have a look at your marketing messages and adverts. Is there tweaks you can make to make it clearer what you offer for your customer? Is it obvious what you are selling? If yes, then this should be helping to increase conversion rates.
  2. Sales Scripts – No matter your business, you should always have a sales script. They are essential and the number one priority in the sales process.  Whether a telephone script for answering calls, making calls or for welcoming potential customers into your store. Asking the right question and the right TYPE of question can have an impact on your conversion rate.
  3. Know the killer questions – These go much further than open ended questions (which you should be asking instinctively), these are the questions that set your intention and which find out what is important to them – what is it they need from you in order to make a decision. Once you have this information, you know what you are dealing with in terms of providing assurances.
  4. Follow Up Follow Up Follow Up – This may seem obvious but so many businesses don’t do it. They become order takers – just waiting for someone to call or ask. It is vital to have a process for following up leads. Don’t be afraid to follow up – see it as a gentle reminder. If you aren’t following up – you can almost guarantee that your competitors are!
  5. Know who you are selling to and talk in their language – This is more than just knowing their name and what they do. Establish what their DISC personality is: D Dominant, I Influential S Steadiness and C Compliant. Are they people orientated, task orientated, reserved or outgoing?  Knowing their profile will help you to communicate and predict behaviour. You will know what you need to communicate in order to convert them to a buying customer. For example, Dominant personalities like to be in control. They are result focused and driven and a direct manner and very confident. To convert a sale with these people, be fast paced, know the numbers and the results and be confident that you can deliver what you say you can.

But the biggest tip for increasing the conversion rate – is to be measuring it in the first place!