When is the best time to start bringing in more leads to your business? NOW! Service businesses that do not have a steady stream of new leads can quickly fall behind the competition, losing out in the all-important public sentiment. It’s not enough to simply do a great job and expect your clients to recommend your business.
You need to take immediate action to ensure you keep your business in the (virtual!) limelight. With access to local lead generation software, you can be confident that you’re spreading the word about your amazing products and services!
Common Problems with Lead Management
Did you know that 80% of consumers say that the customer experience they have ultimately impacted their purchasing decision? That means it may only take a single negative experience to lose a lucrative new account. If you haven’t fine-tuned your lead management machine, your prospects might be getting hit with unnecessary messaging or ads that are off-topic for their needs, such as a homeowner getting a specific offer that was meant for business owners.
Are you missing opportunities that should be a slam-dunk for your team? Sales and marketing groups cite a variety of reasons why this happens:
- Unsure how to capture new leads
- No workflow in place to nurture leads once they’re identified
- Challenges with qualifying leads
- A disconnect between marketing and sales teams
Unfortunately, growing your business is not simply a matter of having more names in your database. It’s vital that you’re finding the right leads that are going to be a fit for your product and service offerings — and who are willing and able to buy!
There’s a Difference Between Getting More Leads — and Getting the Right Leads
Business owners who are getting hundreds of leads per week should be congratulating themselves all the way to the bank, right?!? Not necessarily. Having your message in front of the right individuals or businesses is the best way to grow your sales. More than just warm bodies or social media views, you need leads that are:
- Interested in the products or services that you offer
- Open to exploring new brands
- Have a defined timeline for purchasing
- Are interested in the value of our offering (luxury items or services versus low-cost shoppers)
- Trying to solve a problem that you can help with
When you are able to successfully utilize local lead generation software, you are taking the next step towards growing your revenue in a sustainable and meaningful way.
Consider this scenario: You own a roofing and siding business that works only with selective groups of high-end homes where the owners are willing to pay extra for quality products. Would you be interested in reaching out to local contractors who are building low-rent townhomes? Probably not — even though a lead that comes in with hundreds of units might be tempting to your sales team. While your sales professionals spend hours on the phone or in person qualifying the lead, they could have been working with prospects who are a better demographic fit for your business.
With proactive, local lead generation software, you’re able to more tightly define your ideal customer and target your marketing efforts in that direction.
Boosting the Efficiency of Your Lead Generation Engine with Local Lead Generation Software
If you’re relatively new to marketing, you might be working on a variety of fronts such as building your local presence online with social media, Google or Bing ads and referrals. Which of these activities are bringing in the greatest number of qualified leads? Without insight into each channel of communication, it can be extremely difficult to determine which marketing efforts are yielding the greatest returns. When you consolidate your marketing and lead generation strategies into a local lead generation software platform, you’re able to gaze across the various strategies and make informed decisions about what to continue — and what should be paused or discontinued.
This greater efficiency allows your team to focus the majority of time on the most successful tactics and in delivering the most highly-qualified leads. From driving new traffic on Google via SEO best practices or pulling together a cohesive content strategy, combining these activities helps ensure your time is always being spent in a way that drives revenue opportunities to your business.
Greater Marketing Efficiency = Better Customer Experience + Increased Sales + Improved Marketing ROI
As a consumer, don’t you get frustrated when you repeatedly see the same ad — for something that didn’t even interest you in the first place? When you introduce a greater degree of efficiency to your lead generation efforts, you’re not only enhancing your marketing ROI but you are also presenting the right message to the right audience. Without exceptional local lead generation software working for your business, you risk wasting time and effort on people who are not your target audience or who are not in the right mindset to make a purchase.
Happy customers become loyal customers — and these are the people who will help boost your revenue over time. These magical customers are happy to help promote your business online through social referrals, are eager to engage more deeply with your brand and delighted to expand which products or services they purchase. Building these relationships doesn’t happen overnight, and they can be quickly damaged if you aren’t paying attention to these VIPs.
Obsessing Over Customer Experience? You’re Not Alone!
Creating an emotional connection with your consumers is the stuff of legend, but it can be accomplished when you’re using local lead generation software to help guide your path. Not only can you see the number of leads generated in real-time, but you will also be able to view notes for specific accounts and quickly identify where the greatest marketing ROI is being delivered. Each of these data points can help you create a superior customer experience that will reinforce the value of your brand in the local marketplace.
Instead of frustrating consumers with inaccurate messaging or ads that don’t apply to their unique needs, you’re able to quickly deliver educational content, create targeted offers and help usher prospects to the next stage of the buying journey.
This obsessive focus on the customer experience starts with defining your ideal customer, including understanding your competitors and ensuring that your business listings are always up-to-date. Customers deserve (and demand!) a consistent experience across physical and virtual channels, so your hours of operation and other key aspects of your business should always be correct.
Consolidate Platforms and Boost Engagement with Local Lead Generation Software
As your company grows organically, it’s not unusual to have a variety of marketing platforms. Typical grow-minded businesses might have:
- A software platform to manage your website
- Another for your email list
- Google and Bing local ad accounts
- Content development with staff or local writers
- Google My Business and Bing Business accounts
- Google, Bing and Yelp reviews
- Google Analytics or another analytics package
- Spreadsheets to manage upcoming marketing campaigns
Even with all of this confusion, you are probably also using a range of tools to track your competitors, keep a content calendar updated, manage contractors and more. It’s not surprising that small businesses are constantly challenged with finding new leads! Even if you are fortunate enough to have full-time marketing staff, staying on top of these details can be more than they’re able to handle effectively.
Replace this chaos with a single solution that provides you with the small business-specific tools that will help drive new, qualified leads to your business. From creating campaigns across multiple channels to organizing your online reviews and ad spends, Surefire Local has been helping small to midsize companies with their lead generation activities since 2009. Finding a cost-effective way to keep your marketing on track and your lead-generation engine revved up to high gear is our priority!
We know first-hand the value of creating an emotional connection with customers. We help locals create a ‘Surefire’ strategy for driving highly-qualified leads — putting your business in charge of your marketing by forming a clear and consistent message across all communication channels. When you are ready to learn more about how Surefire Local can support your small business growth, contact our professionals at 703-884-8442 or request a demo online anytime. From reputation management to lead generation and beyond, Surefire Local is dedicated to creating a cohesive marketing infrastructure that allows businesses to stop waste, increase productivity, and see the true ROI of your marketing efforts.