When I tell people that one of the best things they can do to grow their company is to establish processes to support business growth, they’re often surprised.
If you asked a number of business owners what would make their businesses grow, they’d often reply with the same thing – marketing.
And it makes sense to invest in marketing and publicity when you want to build new leads, so that you can get your name out there.
However, many businesses only focus on generating leads, and this is only wise if you have a solid lead response system.
If not, interest in your company will build and you’ll have potential customers getting in contact, but without a clear process in place to get back to them swiftly and efficiently they’ll be left waiting and potentially lose interest.
Having a large flow of potential customers doesn’t necessarily guarantee sales, as you need to nurture those leads and move them along the trajectory to becoming actual customers.
So, what can be done?
In order to make sure that your leads are efficiently responded to, your business needs to implement a system to ensure quick, personalised, and consistent engagement.
Here’s our summary of some key processes to support business growth in response to interest in your company’s services and products.
Immediate Response Protocol
What is it?
One of the main processes to support business growth is immediate response, which effectively makes sure that you strike while the iron’s hot.
Your chances of conversion are hugely increased by engaging your leads when their interest is highest – as quickly as possible after they’ve first made contact with you.
This will reassure your leads that you’ve received their enquiry and you’ll be in contact as soon as possible with the information that they require.
How can it be implemented?
Immediate response is all a matter of acting swiftly – the clue’s in the name!
So with this one it’s often best to set up an automated system which ensures contact within a specific timeframe, e.g. within 5 minutes, and then assigns each lead to a member of staff promptly so that they can send a personalised response too.
Personalised Follow-up Sequence
What is it?
A personalised follow-up sequence can either be automated or carried out by a member of staff, and basically means making contact shortly after your immediate response, but this time with a message which is more tailored to the lead’s specific enquiry.
This enhances lead engagement by following up again swiftly and builds stronger relationships by demonstrating that you are paying attention to each customer’s individual needs.
How can it be implemented?
If you’re able to spare the staff time to do this case-by-case, it can be a good option.
However, there are plenty of automated sequences which can help you out here instead.
You could develop tailored email sequences based on lead behaviour and demographics, using data taken through your website. These emails can then include personalised messages and offers which will appeal to the individual and relate to their specific enquiry.
Lead nurturing
What is it?
Lead nurturing is what we do with potential customers who don’t respond immediately with a purchase, but who are still in the system, and we want them to stay engaged.
If you can stay in contact with these leads over time, you’re much more likely to increase the likelihood of conversion in the future.
How can it be implemented?
There are many ways to stay in contact and nurture these leads – through emails, social media, content marketing and many more.
Whatever platform you choose, the key thing is to provide valuable content and resources to them, which will build trust by demonstrating your expertise in your field and reminding them about that initial enquiry they made with you.
It’s also a good idea to regularly assess lead progress, so that you can check up on these potential customers, see what they may have engaged with recently, and tailor your next contact with them to suit what they’re interested in currently.
Lead Qualification
What is it?
Lead qualification is one of the processes to support business growth which is often used by larger companies.
Perhaps you’ve had interest from a number of potential customers and you’re not sure where to start in terms of narrowing them down into those you want to work with and those you’re less certain about pursuing.
Establishing a system of lead qualification will ensure that only your high-potential leads are chased up, saving you valuable time and resources.
How can it be implemented?
You could implement an initial qualification process, for example an online form for potential customers to complete, or by using a chatbot.
By defining your lead qualification criteria you can effectively ‘score’ your leads and follow up on those who are most likely to benefit from your products and services.
Best practice for implementing processes to support business growth.
There’s a lot of information here, so it’s helpful to summarise with our three principles of best practice; the things which are foundational for these systems and processes to support business growth for your company.
Speed of response
This is the top priority of best practice here, which needs to underpin all of the systems you introduce.
Responding to new leads as quickly as possible – ideally within minutes – is key.
Using automation is often the best way to make sure that no new lead goes unanswered.
Consistency and persistence
Following up consistently with leads across various channels demonstrates reliability and builds trust, while reminding your potential customers of their interest in your business.
It’s good to have a clearly defined follow-up schedule across the company, and stick to it, but without being aggressive and pushy towards your leads.
Personalisation
About The Author: Zoe Wadsworth
Award Winning Business Consultant of Ask Zoe.
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