Generating leads is essential for business success, but this won’t help you if those leads don’t convert into paying customers. If this is exactly what’s happening to your business now, you need to understand the exact reason why so you can fix the problem before your company loses a chance at success.
There can be many reasons why your conversion rate is low, and in the majority of cases, the cause is complex, meaning that several factors are at fault at the same time. The following issues are some of the most common, so you should check your lead conversion strategy for them first.
You are pitching a product instead of the solution
For a conversion to happen the prospective customer must be interested in making an actual purchase. You know this and your whole marketing strategy is designed to persuade them that they need the product/service you offer, right?
If your answer is “yes”, you might be doing it wrong.
You see, people don’t really want your product, no matter how amazing it is. They want a solution to their problem. This is even more so for B2B customers who won’t be taken in with cool packaging. These business owners are looking for the outcome they need and, preferably, the easiest and most affordable way to get to that outcome.
This is what your marketing strategy should be focused on. Tell people right away what problems they will be able to solve using your products or services. Next, you can offer additional information on the benefits they will get using your specific product instead of the competitor’s. And only after this you should delve more into the description and promotion of the product itself. But at the first stages of the sale process, you need to persuade your B2B customers that this purchase is going to meet their immediate need.
You are trying to sell to the wrong people
Reading articles on the subject of B2B lead conversion mistakes you’ll often see that generating “not qualified” leads is the biggest issue. It’s true that attracting leads that aren’t interested in buying is a waste of your time and resources. But this point isn’t about this basic targeting mistake.
This particular type of the “wrong people” problem occurs after you’ve adapted your website for effective organic lead generation and used a reliable B2B sales leads database. This means that you have all the right businesses to target, but are targeting them on the wrong level. The right level would be to target those who have the power to make executive decisions. However, the majority of B2B businesses stop at “hooking” managers and other low-level employees.
Please, understand correctly, you need to target those people as a part of your strategy. Quite often, they are the ones tasked with finding new partnership options and solutions for the company. However, you mustn’t stop there. Getting noticed is enough to get a lead, but it’s persuading the executive at the top that will turn it into a conversion for your own business.
You need to provide your leads with materials they will be able to take to their bosses. And this content must be designed to target that specific group of people, who think differently than their employees.
This is where you’ll need to focus on pitching the outcome the company will receive if they use your solution. As you yourself do, other business owners are focusing on the future and try to see how every decision will affect their company on multiple levels and up to a few years down the line. You have to provide them with this information right away in order for them to buy from you.
