Nurturing Your Deal Down to the Close

3 Website Tips That Guarantee You'll Connect with Customers - Part 3 of 3

Prospects, real qualified prospects, have one thing that works to your advantage. They want to know you better to see if you are a real expert and not just a poser. The problem is they aren’t just going to take your word for it. They want proof.

I worked for IBM in the ‘80s when doing business with them was a no-brainer. (Yes, I'm showing my age here.) People would say,

“No one gets fired for hiring IBM.”

The technology players in the market today have changed, but the phrase still applies. Buyers want assurance the suppliers, vendors and business partners they choose bring the expertise they need.  You have to do it like IBM did back in the day developing a solid reputation that convince any prospect that they were ones to consider.

You have to provide evidence in some tangible form buyers can use to:

• understand what you offer,
• convince themselves you truly have the expertise and
• explain this experitse to others involved in the decision making process.

If you fail in this step, the buyer's either on hold, they won’t make a decision or they will decide to go somewhere else.

So you have a prospect that’s shown interest. You’ve put a tick mark by their name. They’re now a lead. What do you do?

First, you have to recognize that they aren’t going to buy just because you’re ready to sell. They’re going to buy when THEY are ready to buy. Someone may show interest in buying a Mercedes-Benz by cruising the website, responding to an email solicitation and visiting a dealer for a test drive.  However, if they’re unemployed and struggling to pay my power bill, they’re not buying.

But please oh please, don’t count them out. They may not be able to buy one today, but they can certainly serve as your evangelist. They can be one to influence other buyer.  Keep in mind they won’t be unemployed forever. If they have an interest today and they've demonstrate it to you, it’s very likely they will continue to have that interest going forward.

When they:

• change jobs,
• get a raise,
• change bosses or
• get an increase in decision making power,

you can be the one they think to call because of the expertise you've convinced them you have.

Second, you need to remember that eighty percent of buyers do so only after seven touches.  Now don't think I'm getting kinky, folks.  Touches refer to the number of times they have heard about you or interact with you in some way.

They got an email from you.  They received a post card. They heard someone mention your name.  They received an invitation to attend your seminar. They saw you quoted in the paper.  They saw an ad you posted in a flyer. You get the picture.

So your move must be to continue offering them information continuously in as many formats as you can drilling into them the message,

I’m the expert. Let me know when you’re ready.

I’m probably not sharing with you anything  you haven’t heard before. I’m probably not convincing you of something that goes against what you believe.  You may, however, be thinking, “How do I make the time or get the money to do all these things?

Well if what you want to do is:

• send out multi-part articles to a list of contacts,
• invite people to your upcoming webinars,
• get people subscribed to a monthly newsletters,
• send people links to your YouTube product presentations,
• track registrations to in-person seminar or
• a whole lot of other techniques that promote your expertise,

there are available Internet solutions.  There are very affordable ones designed for small business owners for automating these activities.  And you'd be surprise how many new features are available today that even a few years back were cost prohibited.

These solutions help you discount contacts that fail to show interest, focus attention on prospects that are most likely to want to hear from you and get you out of cold calling mode.  Heck! Depending on your business, some will even close the deal and send you payment while you are sleeping.

If you’d like more information, please click here or start a chat using the link over on the right and I'll get you some more information.  We’d be glad to get on the phone with you to so we get you exactly the information you need.

Hope this helps.