How Can My Website Affect The Sales Process?
The sales process of old was time consuming, intrusive and interminably frustrating. It involved cold calling door-to-door, blindly scouring the earth for appointments, revisiting to make a presentation that involved print-based sales materials, and then revisiting that same prospect to hopefully close the deal. This process severely limited not only the amount of qualified prospects that you were able to reach, but also the geographical area you were able to have an impact.
When done correctly, online-based communication and marketing strategies have proven to make the sales process more efficient, cost-effective, wide reaching and successful in qualifying leads interested in the products and services that your company offers. When you have the ability to be in front of your target audience when they pull their blinders down and have a need or want for your product and service, the success rate of closing sales becomes much greater.
The new sales process starts with making calls directly to your prospects with the idea of introducing your company and gathering decision maker names and emails. When your website is on point you're confident sending an introductory email that links your prospect to the areas on your site that will trigger their interest. These areas can include industry specific landing pages, case study pages, promotional areas, custom forms, resource information, etc. When done effectively, your prospects will start contacting you directly to set up sales appointments.
You now have the ability to utilize your email database of targets to blast segmented, consistent, content-based information and promotions that work to keep your company top of mind with a list of prospects you have determined good candidates to become clients.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is another opportunity to utilize your website presence to get in front of prospective qualified leads. The value of having prominent placement on search engines is obvious. It is a tremendous opportunity when someone is actively searching for keywords and phrases that directly relate to the goods and services you offer. When you have a positive organic search result presence, it is essential that the quality and organization of your site's content is establishing you as an industry leader.
A successful sales strategy always revolves around finding and getting in front of prospective clients when they have a need or want for the products and services that you are offering. An effective website presence provides your company with a tool that can accomplish this goal with remarkable efficiency. In conclusion, it is great to have a website that looks nice, but it is equally important that your website is providing you with the tools that are necessary to increase your sales.