The Typical Business’ Sales Funnel is Broken
Infusionsoft Certified Consultants know this. Infusionsoft Un-certified Consultants (like me) know this. Existing Infusionsoft users know this and they know it well.
The typical business' selling life cycle misses the mark primarily because it misses out on opportunities that were all but yours and you inadvertently walked away.
You took all the right steps:
- You established a great relationship with the customer.
- You got to know them and they actually like you.
- You established credibility and trust with the customer.
- You educated them on your product / service and they would consider buying it from you.
The hold up is you caught them at a time when they were NOT ready to buy.
I'll give you a example. Years ago I served as director of IT for an organization that needed data center services. We had run out of room in our office and needed more space with more reliable power to reduce downtime. We had looked around for potential space at several different places and were close to making a buying decision.
What happened was that one of my key employees, someone hired prior to my taking on that role, wasn't the person that could take on this new set of responsibilities. In order to make the data center move, I needed to hire someone more qualified who could do the job.
The sales guy assigned to me was desperate for an end of year sales. He was wooing me, offering me incentives and even discounts. He wanted this deal badly.
I finally sat down told and told the guy, "Look. Even if you gave me the space for free, I cannot make the purchase now. I need to deal with this personnel thing first." I even met with his boss (at a very nice restaurant paid for by the sales guy) to explain the hold up. Again I told them both, "The sale is yours, but not right now."
You'll run into situations like this all the time.
- Someone is dying for a new car, but is waiting for their bonus check that comes in a few months.
- An company system engineer knows they need a specific IT solution, but until the next budget cycle comes around their hands are tied.
- Someone desperately needs that new apartment, but until they finalize their divorce, change jobs or get settled over their spouse's potential job move, no move is going to happen.
What does a typical sales person do? They write themselves a note or set an electronic reminder so they don't forget to follow up. This is exactly what they should do. What happens though is they run out of hours in the day. They get busy. Other opportunities take priority and they don't get around to.
If you know sales, you'll understand that it takes 7 to 10 different touches with a prospect before they make a purchase. Touches are individual meeting, phone calls, email messages, online interactions, etc. that put you and your business in front of them. Many sales people, and even the most persistent ones, fail because they stop their activity (or touches) after four, five maybe even six touches. It's like they are blind and a single step away from the edge of the cliff that represents the sale. If they only knew to take one, two or three more steps, they would happily arrive.
What a shame!
This is the problem Infusionsoft addresses for any sales team. I wrote a blog article "Infusionsoft Automation! What’s the Big Deal?" a few months back that very clearly explains the details. It contains two short videos that explain how by stopping short, not only do you miss the sale, but you educated the customer right into your competitors lap. You did the education and they closed the sale.
Again, what a shame!
As an Infusionsoft consultant, Infusionsoft expert and almost Infusionsoft Certified Consultant (I have an article "Infusionsoft Consultant: You Need One" that explains this one), I can tell you without a doubt that Infusionsoft's marketing automation "power", sets you up so you address this problem head on. I can trace 65% of my company revenue to Infusionsoft campaigns and the follow up they enable me to do.
I have customers that I meet and months later, sometimes over a year later, the decide to make a purchase and hire me.. And this happens because I Infusionsoft keeps me top of mind with my prospects and customers. I'm educating them patiently over time on all the products and services I can offer them.
And since it keeps me top of mind, when the time is right, I will be the one they call.
