The journey from stranger to return customer is important for every business owner to understand. In order to convert leads to clients, use these four steps to ensure that you are converting leads as reliably and sustainably as possible.
Step One: Attract
This phase is the first step to growing. You’re getting your foot in the door - making first impressions. You have to find your potential customers where they go - social media, SEO keywords, a blog with a following, anything where you’re getting something with your name on it in front of people who don’t know who you are yet.
Keep at your blog. Continue using good keywords for people to find you organically through SEO. Know your audience, and target them with ads on social media. Create content that fits the type of person you’re going for, and above all, be persistent.
Step Two: Convert
Once you’ve gotten your content in front of your potential customers, you have to give them something to do. If all you asked them to do was like, comment, and share your content, you’d be pleased at how many social interactions you got, but without calling them to action, there’s a slim chance that you would see any of that turn into money to make it all worthwhile.
Direct them to a landing page. Ask them for their e-mail address, get their contact info, have them fill out an application. You’ve put the ball in their court - it’s now up to them to engage with you or not. This is where most people filter through, but it’s important to stay confident and keep your head up. Your product will speak for itself.
Step Three: Deliver
What you’re selling, whether it’s a product or an experience, is going to be the most important part of this journey for your customers. If you bit into an apple and it was rotten, you wouldn’t take another bite - in fact, you’d tell everyone you know to stay away, no matter how good it might look from the outside.
In the same way, when customers purchase your services, it is your mission to ensure that each one of them is as happy as you can make them. If you take care of your customers, they will take care of you.
Step Four: Scale
Reviews, word-of-mouth recommendations, and referrals are the lifeblood of a company - if people like it, they’ll tell their friends. Similarly, if they don’t like it, they’ll tell their friends how bad their experience was. Take advantage of the willingness of people to share with each other, and deliver them the best experience you can provide!
When done right, your customers will create a feedback loop that grows and spreads. With proper maintenance, this cycle will give your business an epic foothold that will encourage growth.
Using these methods, strangers become interested, feel engaged, and when the time is right, they sing the praises of your company for you - some of the most valuable marketing. Word of mouth and customer testimonies are massively important for your company.
