Month: February 2018

Posted on

14 easy simple steps to turn prospects into customers

Lead Generation

This week I’ll be focusing on how you can turn your prospects into customers and then ensure you also retain them for future marketing.
While your marketing will be doing its job as it always has been, you need to ensure you’re also working on turning any prospects you may have into customers. You may have hundreds of leads who are interested in what you sell but just haven’t bought from you yet and you haven’t really been selling to them all that much.

Turn Prospects into Customers

These could be people who sign up to a monthly newsletter, people who follow you on social media or friends of friends. There are a few key ways to draw them in and seal the deal. You need to be:

  • Inviting – draw customers in so they want to buy from you and not your competitors, you need to have a good USP
  • Informative – provide information on the benefits of your products or services so prospects can see what you can do for them
  • Enjoyable – always give the best customer service possible so your new or potential customer will keep coming back to you

Buyer’s Remorse

The biggest fear most new customers have is the dreaded buyer’s remorse. You want to ensure you avoid this at all costs. This should be mitigated if you have provided a quality product or service that delivers on the marketing claims you’ve made.
However, there will always be some buyers who just aren’t certain they’ve bought or chosen the correct product or service.

Buyers remorse

There are two ways to deal with this:

  • Offer to refund money with no questions asked
  • Offer a bonus they can keep even if they return the product

These above offers will mitigate a buyer’s remorse as this customer will trust you more, they know they can request their money back if need be or they may even get something for free.

Take, for example, a customer who would like to purchase a new computer from a computer shop. A computer is a quite a big purchase and one not to be taken lightly. It can be a big decision on which one to buy and when, however, if there is a 30 day money back guarantee if the customer isn’t happy, they may be more inclined to buy sooner. This customer would be able to trial the computer for those 30 days before actually making the definite decision on whether to keep it. The majority of buyers would end up keeping the computer once they’ve gotten used to using it and by doing this it just confirms you have faith in the products you sell.

What if you also offered the prospect a free mouse mat when purchasing the computer and they didn’t need to return it if they weren’t happy with the computer? They’d have more trust in the service you were providing and the products you were selling. It could also be a way of marketing your business if you have it branded with your company logo and contact details.
This kind of service also ensures these prospects turn into repeat customers and their volume of transactions are likely to increase due to the service you provide.

Prospects into Clients

There are number of other ways to turn a prospect into a customer:

1. Offer a special price as an opportunity for you to test the market.
2. Offer a lower priced product rather than the more expensive option.
3. Offer a referral incentive where they get something for a lower price or free on a certain volume of referrals.
4. Offer a smaller, more inexpensive product first to build trust.
5. Offer package deals for them to have a group of products for a special price.
6. Offer to charge less for their first purchase if they become a repeat customer.
7. Offer extra incentives-longer warranties, free bonuses if ordered by a set date.
8. Offer financing options, if applicable.
9. Offer a bonus if they pay in full.
10. Offer special packaging or delivery.
11. Offer ‘name your own price’ incentives.
12. Offer comparative data or other comparison tools.
13. Offer a trade-up or upgrade to something they already have.
14. Offer additional, educational information to help them make the decision.

If someone is interested in what you sell or offer, they are likely to become a buyer at some point, they just may not be a NOW buyer. A NOW buyer only counts for 1% of the customers who will ever buy from you. The other 99% will buy from you at some point but not right now. You need to ensure you keep in touch with these customers so that when the time comes for them to buy they think of you and not one of your competitors.
The way you can do this is by offering them something they can’t refuse. The offers above give you some ideas of what you could do to entice a prospective customer to buy from you.
How can you be memorable to these customers? Are you unique? Do you have a USP? It may be time to think of one now so your prospects remember you and choose you as their chosen, number one ‘computer shop’.

Offer a USP

Customers don’t always buy for price, they will buy for value, if you can offer something that’s valuable to them then you’re on to a winner.
The options really are as limitless as you make it. You can use these or other ideas to find what works the best for your business, products/service and target market, what works for one type of business may not be the best thing for another one.

Dominate the Competition

Remember this…
“By making it inviting, easy, informative, non-threatening, educational, inspiring and fun to do business with you, you’ll loft your company above the competition.” Jay Abraham

Do you need help with figuring out the best strategy for converting prospects into customers? Contact sarah@pzazzinnovation.com
For tips on lead generation please visit www.pzazzacademy.com where you can have a set of free videos emailed to you.

Posted on

10 Simple Networking Tips for Beginners

Beginners Networking

Networking can be daunting, especially when you are really new to it.

My aim here is to give you the reader, a guide into the pitfalls of being a networking virgin.

I have been networking for about seven years and I can still remember my first business network meeting. It was at City College Brighton, (now Metro College) and the event was put on by the students from the catering and business departments.

It was quite scary and that was before I walked into the college. Would I know anyone there? Would people want to talk to me? Let alone want to hear what I had to say about the business I represented.
Was I dressed appropriately? Was my fly done up etc?
It would have been easier to take the cowards way out and go home again but I didn’t. I walked into the college and covered myself in the cloak of “blag it”. Yes I was nervous, but I walked in and just pretended that this was something I had done many, many times before.

Networking Tips
Networking can be daunting, especially when you are really new to it.

So what happens next? How do I meet and get introduced to the people in the room? Do I barge into a group, introduce myself, and hand out a business card to each of them? I really had no idea, not a clue.
The cardinal sin of networking is forcing people notice you, it is rude, and not something you would do at a party, or other places where groups of people get together.

In time, when you, my reader are an old hand at this the networking game, you will meet the pushy networkers, that show their own inexperience.
Flying around the venue, muscling into groups, swapping business cards and promising to email you tomorrow, (which they will do). They are remembered only as the pushy ones trying to do the hard sell.

I waited, on the periphery and hoped that someone would come over and introduce me to the others.
A rather lovely lady (Tanya) did approach me, and said “Did you used to have a moustache?” (Bit of a line?).
Well, I did once have a moustache, but I didn’t recognize her at all, so the “Ice breaker” conversation was my long gone over-lip hair.

This is the best tactic, or so I feel.
When you enter the room with other networkers, have a look around, is there anyone you know?
If so, Your IN……Go up to them, say hi and start a conversation. They will introduce you to the other networkers, brilliant, now off you go.
Or you have surveyed the room and bum, you don’t know a soul there.
Here is what you do.

Beginners Networking

Look around the room again, slowly, slowly, take your time. If someone looks at you, make eye contact and smile. Nooo, not that great cheesy grimace, that would certainly put someone off.
Make eye contact, and a little genuine smile.
Walk over to them and start that conversation. Something like “Hi I’m Ned and this is my first networking event”. A bit cheesy I know, but it does work.
Oh, and don’t say your name is Ned, unless it is. It could cause embarrassment.

Today I have attended hundreds of networking events, and love it.
Meeting so many people, and making some great connections too.
If you live in the Brighton or Hove area, you could try this very friendly weekly networking club http://brightonnetworking.co.uk Oh yes and your first breakfast here is free, yes free.

Below is a small list of how to prepare for a business networking event.
The next blog will cover the pitch and how to make it really memorable.

Tips

  1. Turn up early. There is nothing more daunting than walking into a crowded room where you might not know anyone.
  2. Know what you are going to say, or at least have some idea.
  3. Have you pitch ready, you might be talking to a group of two or three people, or standing up at some point and talking to an entire room.
  4. Do not barge in, this will alienate you from the others immediately.
  5. Wait to be invited into a group of people, it will be worth the wait.
  6. Remember, if people like you, it doesn’t matter what you are selling, they will buy from YOU because they like you.
  7. Don’t think from the word go it will be a great success, again you will have to gain people and potential customers confidence.
  8. Keep going to networking events, as people get to know you, this will really help you gain their trust.
  9. Try as many events as you can, and see which ones you like. They may not all be for you.
  10. Dress to impress and you will be not left out for long.

Yes it can be terrifying, but you can do it, you really can.

James Wright (2018) ©
Brighton PR