I don’t know about you but I used to get overwhelmed and flushed after having a sales call. I would get so overwhelmed that I wouldn’t even know what to do next when a potential client says yes to working with me.
If this is you, I’m quite sure that your process needs reviewing.
After a sales call you just want to relax and get someone else to send the proposal, email the call overview and whatever is next in the process after all you’ve done the hard work right?
Most of the time, as a small business owner, it’s you doing all the work and sending the emails.
That’s why I believe that it’s essential to understand and know what your business process is.
Of course, having an SOP is vital. If you don’t know what an SOP is, it’s short for Standard Operating Procedure which outlines step by step the ‘how to’ of completing a particular task.
If you don’t have one, you can start by writing down what you’d do from the moment a lead books a call with you to the movement they become a booked client.
One of the most efficient ways to turn a potential client into a booked client is by using a Client Relationship Management (CRM) tool such as Dubsado. Dubsado is my favourite tool for coaches and consultants.
It’s easy to use and can make your processes quick and efficient. You can check it out here.
When we think about turning leads into clients, it all starts with nurturing your leads so that they will want to book a call with you. Most of the time, your lead will book a call to confirm if the service is a good fit for them.
That’s why the nurturing phase is super important. You should be providing information that is of interest to your lead.
Nurturing your leads should never stop however once your lead has booked a call, they become a potential client.
Now, this is the step you’ve got to get right when it comes to converting a potential client into a booked client.
When it comes to your sales calls, you’re going to be reviewing their file or their application, to ensure you know all there is to know about them.
This sometimes means that you put all your energy and effort into the sales call and haven’t prepared for what’s next, resulting in skipping some of the vital steps in your process.
This in turn can alter your client experience from time to time. Some clients might get excellent service while others might get a ‘not so good’ service.
Your client experience must be consistent all the way through and to do that you need a reliable system in place that will help you make sure that you don’t ever skip a step in your process.
Here are a few things you need to think about when it comes to turning your potential clients into booked clients.
1. Define your process
Like I said before during your sales call you’re mostly thinking about how you’ll conduct the sales call.
Well, to prevent you from dropping the ball or skipping steps, it’s time you defined your process from the moment your client applies for a sales call to the moment they become your client.
Here’s what that might look like for a service-based business:
Yours might look a little different but you get the gist. You need to know what comes next in your process. By doing this will allow you to know the tools you need to help you execute the steps.
Again, Dubsado can help you automate these steps without you doing or the work.
So, even if you forget what comes next, you’ll have a system that is already in place that will help you do the work.
2. Templates and Tools
Tools and templates can help you save time and help you to execute your tasks.
Your templated emails, forms and contracts will help save time from rewriting the same emails and intake forms over and over again. You’ll of course need a payment processor.
I like to make it easy for the clients so when I send my proposals, clients can pay with a click of a button.
Once they’ve paid, it will trigger the next action in my process which is to send a welcome email.
This means that I’m not waiting around to do the following action.
By using templates means you can create automated workflows and trigger actions in your system. Making the process much quicker with less effort.
3. Timely Responses
As a client or customer, I don’t really like waiting. I usually want to know the answer to a question now so I can make my decision.
It’s the same for your potential client. If a lead makes contact with you they want timely responses. While they’re waiting for a response from you, they’ll continue their research, which means they are likely to bump into your competitor.
Now if your competitor responds to them quicker than you can get to them then, they’re likely to win the business.
Timely responses are everything. You can provide timely responses in some ways such as FAQs. Your FAQs should answer your audience’s questions and doubts or you can use custom auto-responses to let them know you’ll get back to them as soon as possible and when.
Communication helps to ease anxiousness.
4. Track your leads
I love tracking where a lead is in my process. This lets me know if I need to take any action. If a lead has been at one stage for too long, then that means I need to do something about it to keep them moving across to becoming a booked client.
A potential client doesn’t become a booked client until they’ve paid and signed the contract.
If a potential client has been stuck at the stage where they need to sign the contract I’ll probably send a reminder email to help them move to the next stage of the process.
Keeping track will help you identify what stage your leads are and what actions you need to take to keep them moving forward.
Conclusion
Your sales call is not the only stage that converts a potential client into a booked client. It’s the whole process. From the nurturing to onboarding your clients and even after that, you want to continue to nurture your clients.
The most successful businesses are the ones that have structure and systems to help support the business.
A good CRM tool that meets your business needs enables you to work more efficiently, maintain your client experience and track your sales pipeline.
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start building your Dubsado CRM System.
Thanks for reading.
I'm Phebi, Online Systems and Business Management Support
I help online service-based businesses to build out their client management system that streamlines and automate their client processes Dubsado.
Learn more here