Oftentimes, businesses don’t focus on how they’re capturing
lead or customer information, if they are at all. This is one of the biggest
mistakes you can make.
Why?
You spend good money to generate leads for your business
through marketing, advertising, promotions and networking – both online and
offline. But without a consistent and systematic intake process, much of that
money and those leads are lost.
Here are the top three reasons you need to have an efficient
intake process:
Differentiating
Marketing Channels
There are many, many ways to promote your business. You
might experiment with a lot of these channels for your business, but without
documenting which channels are working for your business, there’s no way to
optimize your marketing efforts.
Here are a few of the ways new leads come to your business:
- Coupon Websites (Groupon / Living Social)
Obviously this list goes on and on.
Documenting where your leads come from not only helps you
know where to spend your marketing dollars, but also lets you know where those
leads might be best reached in the future.
For example, if they come in through an email marketing
campaign, email might be the best way to connect with that lead in the future –
whereas, if they came in through a Facebook ad, setting up a retargeting
campaign might work better than sending them an email.
Continuing
Communication
It’s easy to think about capturing information online. You
fill out a form with your name and email and you’re sent an eBook or you
complete an order.
But capturing information in person is just as crucial.
That’s why at almost every store you go to, they ask you for your email address
at check out. That way they can send you coupons and other offers via email
after you’ve left the store.
This illustrates perfectly why capturing your lead
information with an intake form is so important. If you have no way to contact
someone after they come through one of your marketing channels, you’ve
essentially lost them… and the money it cost to get them there.
Automating Follow-Ups
Based on the information you acquire during your initial
intake, creating automated follow-up communication is much easier.
For example, if you know that a lead was interested in your
offer and downloaded a guide, you can set up an automated email that will send
them an offer for one of your products after 3 days. This reminder adds no
extra work for your sales team but may be the push the lead needed to make a
purchase.
This type of follow-up can be done with leads and customers
alike and is very effective at helping to sell more and keep customers engaged
with your business.
Summary
The sad truth is that many companies pull out all the stops
to get new customers, but then stop paying any attention to what happens once
those new leads come into the company or if they make it into the company.
By creating a consistent and systematic intake process, your
business has the best chance for converting more leads, making more sales, and
keeping customers happy.
If you’re looking for help organizing your intake process or
you’re still trying to get more leads in the door, call Sales & Marketing
Technologies at (407) 682-2222 for a free strategy session.