How To Best Convert Your Internet Leads Into Customers

Internet generated leads are an effective means to attract new customers and grow your business. And although Premiere Lead Systems works hard to deploy best practices in generating leads, it is just as important to understand that your internal processes need to be in place and effective in order to convert those leads into customers.

Bad leads tend to have three major causes:

• The targeting of the audience for the ad campaign was executed improperly.
• The offer in the ad was not enticing enough to elicit a response. This can be due to a badly designed ad, the offer costs too much, or some other problem in how it was offered and/or written.
• Zero or weak follow up once the lead was generated.

A genuine sales lead, from a potential customer, contains their contact information -- name, phone, and email. As well, there must be some level of interest [strong to weak] of what was offered to them via the online offer.

The fact is this: the vast majority of internet leads require follow-up, persistence, and a bit of time to nurture and convert. Why?

Not all leads are of the same level of quality

Internet leads are not the same quality as referrals or walk-ins. Thus, internet generated leads require certain follow-up actions which referrals and walk-ins do not necessarily require to convert them into customers.

Each source of a lead should have its own system of actions. How one addresses referrals would require a different set of systems and protocols than how one converts internet leads, or even leads generated from Yelp reviews or from local events.

Our Best Lead Conversion Tips

One: Nailing the sales call.

Technology is important to help you turn new and old leads into appointments. But having competent personnel in place is much more vital. A powerful closer, following up with a genuine lead and making a genuine, personalized connection with your prospect, is vital to generating more conversions from internet leads.

Nothing is more powerful than your personnel being motivated, speaking in a positive and warm manner, and who are well-versed in how to make appointments.

According to a study in Harvard Business Review, just 37 percent of companies respond to their online leads within an hour. Another study revealed that 47 percent of leads never receive any type of response. This research then sheds light on why so many internet leads end up being perceived as “bad leads”.

Fact: Time Destroys All Things

When your company phones a prospect within five minutes of submission, you are 100 times more likely to reach this person than if you reach out after 30 minutes later.

One of the keys to lead conversion is speed, tenacity, and scripting what you say when you do get a hold of them. Call quickly, call often, and know what you are going to say before you say it.

On the phone, you lose the advantage of physical presence and the element of body language that is so crucial to human communication. This makes your tone and content (words) all the more valuable.

Assigning this as a specific duty is crucial within your organizational planning. Place a competent individual to call and schedule your leads. Educate and train them to become better at it and help them to learn how to overcome common objections.

The better you follow up with good communication skills, the better results you will experience in your converting internet leads into customers.

Two: Email Is Your Digital Workhorse.

As you generate leads, you will be getting their email address. Email is a proven marketing strategy in keeping your brand and offerings top of mind with your new leads, as well as your entire email database.

Again, speed of response is key with your email as well. Ideally, you have an autoresponder setup with your email company or CRM system. Even if only the immediate email gives a “thank you for your request” and your contact information, you are letting your leads know that they are their and you want to reach out to them.

It is best if you have a CRM system to import your leads into, allowing you to send a pre-set series of follow-up emails. But do not worry if you do not have this yet.

Minimally, have a simple email system setup and operations, such as iContact.com or MailChimp.com. There are many email providers to choose from and the best one is the one which you will use.

The best email content which attempts to sell, but content which informs and educateson what you do, as well as the results you do achieve. Great email content would typically consist of:

• “How to” content with tips
• Newsworthy trends
• Answers to common questions
• Links to any of your YouTube videos or new web pages
• Best practices in solving common challenges
• Success stories and positive reviews
• Share any accomplishments or new hirings
• New service or product announcements
• What you are doing in the community
• Events and parties

The point of these emails is to to keep your brand in front of your prospects, so that when they are ready to take action - there you are in their inbox. Always include your contact information at the bottom of email as well as link to your websites.

>>>> Here are some other tips on how to create engaging, effective emails.

Three: Video Content Is Your Best Brand Ambassador

Video content is by far the most effective content that you can share on social media, email, and even through text.

Vast amount of research and studies support the fact that video content is the most powerful way to elevate the status and desirability of your brand. Video content is easy to consume and it can communicate rapidly and effectively faster than any content.

The best video content is simple content which answers questions and showcases the results that you have achieved. Videos which are two- to four-minutes in length are best.

Here’s a simple checklist of how to come with effective ideas for your video content:

• List out the top 20 to 30 questions you most frequently encounter. Each question should be answered with a short video. One question, One answer, One video.
• Every time you get a success story or a rave review from a customer, get a 60-second video made of the person telling their story.
• Think like a reporter, not a salesperson. Share news and insights on relative trends and topics.

These videos can be uploaded to YouTube and those links can be shared and/or embedded in the following ways:

• Email the link to your database and leads.
• Share the video on social media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
• Embed the video into your blogs.
• Create a unique page on your website for your best videos.
• If your video answers common questions, add these to your FAQ page.
• Show you staff your success videos so they can use them to sell your brand.

In Summary

Businesses, large and small, around the world are increasing the number of new customers that they are bringing aboard with internet leads. Life everything else in business, success comes to those who are prepared, work hard and take the necessary actions to build and execute effective marketing and sales systems.

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Edwin Dearborn is the CEO of Premiere Lead Systems