Implement a Lead Conversions Strategy for High-Cost Products

Not all sales strategies are created equal nor lead conversion strategies.

Getting to the top of Google requires great lead conversion strategies. And we’ve got them for you here.

When you’re selling a high-cost product to a high-end buyer, you need a system that is unmistakably yours and that increases your lead conversion in the middle of the funnel.

It’s changed dramatically. What got you your success today in 2019 isn’t going to cut it as we move into the 2020s.

Today’s leads know more about your competition than you do. And for high-end products and services more than any other, you need to know how to win and keep the hearts and minds of the ultra-informed buyer.

We’ve compiled a list of key questions to help you run an objective diagnostic on your high-end sales system, whatever that looks like for you. By the time you’re through answering these questions, you’ll know exactly what steps to take to strengthen your sales efficacy and close twice as many deals this year.

Think about as you develop your marketing plan for how the campaign will be tested with multi-variant test elements.

Social selling is big, does your marketing department help with social media marketing?

Make The Complex Sale Simple with Better Lead Conversion Strategies

Everyone wants the prestige (and of course, payout) that comes from closing a million-dollar transaction. But few understand how hard they’ll have to work for it.

Because the days of “I got a guy” are over.

Today, there are 6.8 buying influences involved in a single complex sale, and that doesn’t count all the other peers and “experts” whispering in your buyer’s ears. You need to take the time to get to know, understand and educate each one of them about how your product makes life better for everyone.

Start by taking a hard look at your current pitch to see:

• What internal processes are adding doubts, questions or red tape for your buyer?
• How many people will be affected by this decision? Who are they?
• Do your marketing and sales teams really understand your buyer’s risk in making this decision?
• How can you pre-empt these challenges and shorten the conversion timeline?
• What does your buyer need to know to make the buying process as smooth as possible?
• How can you use tools like videos, one-pages, or live

Break The Team Silos

Alright, it’s clear—the higher the ticket, the more people you need to sell to.

So why do you still have one rep managing the entire transaction?

Preston Guy, CEO of Myrtle Beach real estate company CRG went from $27 million in 2016 to $47 million in 2017 with one simple addition to his team: a dedicated Client Care Coordinator.

Here’s how he did it:

• Reduced the number of automated messages and focused on personalization
• Made the Client Care Coordinator responsible for tracking Inside Sales Agent (ISA) follow-ups
• Put the Client Care Coordinator in charge of all post-closing follow-ups
• Included the Client Care Coordinator in all closing meetings (bringing along a basket with goodies like coffee mugs, local honey, and a handwritten thank-you card)
• Trained the Client Care Coordinator on the latest market trends so they can pass knowledge on to existing clients and leads

Whether you’re selling a luxury home or a premium software product, you need to not only know who is involved in the decision-making process on the client’s side—you also need to take stock of who you have on your team that can deliver the right information to the right people and makes your offer a true must-have.

Here are the questions to think about:

• How can you close the gap between sales and marketing? Can you align your sales and marketing teams? And between sales and customer support?
• Where are the bottlenecks causing the lead conversion to be below standard?
• Do your salespeople really need to be sourcing their own leads?
• How can you offer better content, information, or service to your leads and customers?
• Are you measuring your team on what matters? Do your performance metrics unite or divide your teams?

Don’t Automate What Doesn’t Work (and Yes, We Mean Email)

Remember the days before automated email campaigns? It used to work great for lead conversion downstream. Not any more.

We know, it’s tough. But think back. You probably had a handful of emails from friends and family with fun little quips and updates about work, life, etc.

Yeah, the good old days…they’re over. It’s predicted that by 2021, we’ll be sending and receiving a whopping 320 billion emails per day.

While the “spray and pray” approach to email automation may have worked well enough in 2015, today’s high-end consumers require much more convincing.

On the flip-side, personalization does work.

In fact, according to a widely cited 2014 Experian study, personalized emails generate up to 6X more revenue than non-personalized emails. But many marketers have over-corrected so much in this direction that we’re now segmented to the point where we’re only sending emails to leads who are red-headed Geminis at exactly 1 pm on their 35th birthday.

It’s getting out of control.

If you want to double your conversions, how you budget your time and energy is everything.

Today, true personalization is turning left when everyone else goes right. Here’s how the Graham Seeby Group grew a list of just 279 contacts into $90 million in just 4 years using a simple four-part follow-up campaign while everyone else was busy over-automating.

1. On the 15th of every month, the team sent a postcard to everyone in the database
2. On the 7th of every month, they sent a short 90-second video email
3. On the 21st of every month, an email
4. Once a quarter, all contacts on the list would get a phone call

No matter what line of work you’re in, these questions will help you avoid the trap of over-automation:

• When does your prospect really need to hear from you? What are the most pivotal points in the buying journey?
• What don’t your leads know yet? How can you be the first one to teach them what they actually need to know?
• What intel do you have on your leads? How can you use that to drive meaningful follow-up at every step of the process?

Do More of What Works

Great. You’ve freed yourself from the automation straightjacket and committed to delivering value-driven touch points with your prospects.

What now?

Unfortunately, there’s no one answer to that. In these days of robocallers and millennial buyers, you can’t afford to paint all your prospects with the same brush. Whether it’s a personalized email, friendly SMS or the good old-fashioned cold call, you need to test and track what works with your leads and lead conversion.

But there are only so many hours in the day and we’ve all got our quotas to crush. You need a system that will let you see at a glance which methods work best with which leads so your team can act on that information.

“When you check inside your CRM and you can see if an email has been opened or not, you realize maybe email just isn’t this customer’s thing,” points out Jeffrey Funk of The Funk Collection real estate team.

If they find out a lead signed with the competition, Jeffrey and his team can take a deeper look to see where they went wrong and what to do differently next time. That’s the kind of intel that has taken their team from $0 to $50 million in production in just three years.

The right automation tool can help you put relevant long-term follow up on autopilot while showing you which leads to focus your energy on each and every day in the office.

A good rule of thumb is to use a sales automation tool that alerts you to a few key behavioral factors:

• When did my lead last engage?
• When did I (or a member of my team) last engage?
• What type of content does my lead engage with?

Narrow your focus to the simple things like leads who were on your website in the last 5 days but haven’t had a call, email or text. This way, you and your team can focus your energy on the highest priority leads, without getting distracting by the kind of trivial demographic or historical data that often gets baked into complex lead scores. Watch your lead conversion soar.

Bring Brand Back for Lead Conversions

Before you go rolling your eyes at yet another mention of the words “influencer marketing,” bear with us.

Ron Howard is the owner of Baltimore’s leading real estate team. He closed over 470 homes in 2017, without following the conventional “sales” advice. From the beginning, Ron understood that the concepts of social proof would be crucial in helping him create a bond with prospects.

But for Ron and his team, a great brand isn’t just about the number of stars next to your profile pic. It’s about the community.

60% of Ron’s business comes from his local community events. He also gets a slew of phone calls coming in every day from Zillow, where Ron Howard & Associates have over 700 reviews.

From email to Instagram, it’s easy to get caught up in the instruments of digital marketing. But with modern high-end consumers, your message matters most.

And that means brand.

According to the 2018 Edelman Earned Brand study, 64% of consumers now buy on belief—they will gladly choose, switch, avoid or boycott a brand based on where it stands on the political or social issues they care about.

So before you hit send on a queue of automated emails that look just like everyone else’s, sit down and give some real thought to the following questions.

• What makes your brand unlike any other and generates quality leads?
• What are the unique skills, knowledge or information you can offer your customers that no one else is offering?
• What’s the ONE thing you’re not afraid to take a stand on?
  Is that message clearly conveyed on your website, social media channels, and all other marketing material?
• What are the community and review sites or channels that matter most to your buyers?
• Have you informed your newest customers you’ll be asking them for a review?

Choose Your Tech Wisely for Lead Conversion

In order to know where you are going, you need to know where you are. So add your Google analytics track code for tracking conversions, measuring conversion, identifying sales rate conversion rate, landing pages, and helping to improve your sales process.

Yeah, we know. This topic probably doesn’t immediately light your fire.

Most sales CRMs were designed in the days when email automation reigned supreme. By default, many of those features can end up being nothing more than a clunky distraction to your sales team.

But if your team’s logging in and immediately getting hit with 150 to-dos, the wind will be knocked right out of their sales before they even get a chance to pick up the phone.

Sales tech is now a mainstream (if not mundane) part of every business workflow. But because of its history, there are some subtle yet crucial nuances to choosing a tool that actually makes your team more effective.

Here are the questions to think about:

• How will this tool support lead engagement and improve your lead conversion rate?
• How does it help me track meaningful connections between my reps and their prospects?
• Is it easy to see the right kinds of activities within my team?
• How will this tool support my team’s day-to-day workflows?
• Who owns this tool? What will happen to my data if the software company is sold?
• How secure is the data inside this tool?

Keep in mind, if your pipeline and revenues aren’t growing one of two things is happening:

1. Either there’s a problem with your tool
2. Or, there’s a problem with the way you’re using it

In the new game of sales, your team’s time and energy is all they have.

And the stakes are especially high with sophisticated buyers interested in your product.

If you really want to apply proven lead generation strategies to help increase the number of leads, improve your sales lead conversion rate, and have more sales qualified leads. It’s time to give your team everything thing they need to maximize conversions and stand out as stellar sales reps amid a sea of competition.

We’re listening.

Have something to say about lead conversion? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

General FAQ’s