Does Your Sales Funnel Have A Leak?

There are few things worse than having valuable leads and potential revenue leaking out of your sales funnel and slowing your businesses growth.  Leaks in your sales funnel can happen at any point between creation of a lead and closing the sale.

Finding the leak requires some investigative work.  If your ratio of leads to closed sales is low or there are a high number of stalled opportunities, that’s a red flag that you probably have a leak.

So how do you find and fix any leaks?

Here are 5 ways you can examine your funnel and make it stronger:

1. 1. Storyboard your current sales process from start to finish
      Take the time to write out each individual step of your buyer’s journey from lead to close. Understand what a lead needs to do in order to do business with you and how can you optimize that journey.

      Think about any roadblocks that could make it hard for them to do business with you – break down any barriers that you identify. Test all your systems to ensure there are no breaks that can have a lead fall through.

      For example, when we storyboarded the sales process for a client of mine who runs a web design agency, we quickly were able to identify the leakage point in their funnel. They had a good lead-offer that generated interest but it turns out that HOW they delivered the lead-offer was where the conversions fell down the drain. Once we discovered the issue we were able to quickly implement strategies that would not only plug the leak but fix it for good.

   2. Are you attracting the RIGHT type of prospect? 
      A couple of years ago, I was getting a tonne of leads coming through my business and yet the sales conversion truly sucked – big time!! When I assessed the situation, I realised that I was attracting the wrong type of client for my business…we just weren’t a good match. So I reviewed my marketing and started targeting the RIGHT type of client and conversions when back up again. So be really clear about WHO your ideal client is. Review your current marketing material to see if it resonates with that ideal client and if not, then make adjustments accordingly.
      
      
   3.  What’s your response time?
      According to InsideSales.com, 35-50 percent of sales go to the business that responds first which corresponds to the saying I’ve had for the past 25 years ‘an old lead is a cold lead’…in fact, today it’s probably a dead lead because getting there last is nearly worse than not showing up at all.

      
      Your prospects aren’t going to hang around waiting for you…they have Google at their fingertips and are looking for the next business who can help them.

      So check your response times.

   4. Track your touchpoints until conversion
      Response time is important, and so is understanding how many touch points it takes to get a prospect to convert. Research has identified that 6 to 9 is the optimal number of touches it takes to get a prospect to convert with a mix of phone calls and emails.
      
      
      

      Years ago I remember approaching an ideal client and seeing if they would be interested in our services. The decision maker at the time advised that they weren’t looking to renew their contract for that service for another 18 months at which time they were happy to take proposals.

      Rather than waiting 18 months, I continued touching base via phone, email and in person. A good thing as it turned out because the original person I spoke to in the role of making the decision changed not once, but three times. I was able to develop relationships along the way that ensured I wasn’t just a random, out-of-the-blue person hoping for a quick sale.

      As it turned out I tracked 26 touchpoints over the 18 month period and was able to develop an irresistible relationship that helped me secure the deal worth $250,000 for the business!

   5. Mind your language
      What you say during a sales call is vitally important. The simplest of words can make a huge difference such as changing and ‘if’ to a ‘when’.

      Sales does not come naturally for most people however the good news is that it is a SKILL which means that you can learn to do it well.

      Which is why I recommend that you have a sales script and you learn it by heart! Not so that you can go through the process like a robot, but so that it gives you CONFIDENCE in the process.

      Think about the language that your ideal client uses and ensure that you have that in your script and remove as much jargon as possible.

      And most of all be clear about how you can help…don’t waffle.

      Practice your sales script with your team or if you work alone, then practice it on a colleague, friend or family member so you can get some constructive feedback. Yes, it feels silly, but it’s worth it.

These are just a few tips to finding and repairing the leaks in your sales funnel, I’d love to hear from you, so please share your thoughts in the comments section below.