Why don't my leads convert?

The following is a LyntonWeb guest blog post from Rick Roberge, sales coach and evaluation expert with Kurlan & Associates, an internationally sales assessment, training and growth strategies company. Rick is also the author of Sales Anecdotes and Their Antidotes. LyntonWeb recently finished up a series of sales webinars and training calls with Rick where they learned to evaluate and heighten their sales skillsets, along with finding more effective ways to locate, contact and interact with prospects and clients to generate and close new leads.

In the old days, there was the local blacksmith, the general store, and the saloon, and all the locals pretty much did business with these neighbors of theirs. Decades later, the needs that couldn’t be filled by local businesses were often solved by the mail order catalog. As the population grew and technology became more advanced, so did the competition, and we started seeing a slew of auto dealerships, restaurants, and department stores vying for our business. And as travel became easier, geographic markets grew. As geographic markets grew, so did those money magnets called shopping malls. So, newspapers and other print sold advertising. Media like radio and television were used to drive consumers to the malls, and clerks were hired to help customers find their way to the items that were advertised. These clerks ranged from part-time school kids to pointers (”It’s over there.”) to people who learned how to sell by watching the movies to a variety of other ‘styles.'

My most popular post last year was Selling in the 21st Century. A year later, I have to say, it’s worse than that. There are no neighborhoods any more. “Buy local” may be your mantra, but if your website isn’t found before the guy in China, you’re not getting a chance. So, there’s a lot of attention and money going to inbound marketing and generating leads on the internet. Awesome! Everybody should. (That’s what this blog is all about.) But what if you generate leads and can’t close them? More and more companies are learning how to get found, but leads aren’t sales and most of us are gonna get one shot to differentiate ourselves from the millions of other websites that claim that they’re better than we are.

In that first contact, can you get past the shopper and get to the decision maker? Can you uncover the actual budget? Can you and do you learn why your prospect would buy and how they would buy? Can you make your prospect comfortable talking about money? Do you recover from rejection? What are your self-limiting beliefs? Can you and do you get your prospect to agree to make a decision? Are there put-offs that you can’t handle? Do any of your proposals not result in a sale? Do your prospects not return your calls after they get the proposal?

Trying to wing it or selling by the seat of your pants when the competition is available with one click of the mouse is craziness. Sales training can be expensive, and the schedule can be grueling. The owner of this blog, Hubspot, and Kurlan have joined forces to offer this special, paced On-Demand Sales Development Webinar Series and at a great price. Enter the name of this blog to get the partner/alumni price. It starts June 3rd on your own schedule. At the end of 12 short, fast-paced weeks, you’ll have a sales process that will help you close those leads.