Turning potential customers into loyal buyers isn’t just about having a great product or service – it’s about guiding them through a journey that builds trust and interest. This is known as converting a lead to a sale.
In this guide, we’ll break down how to convert leads to sales, the lead conversion process, strategies to improve your success rate and best practices to turn interest into revenue so you can understand how to convert leads to sales.
What does it mean to convert a lead to a sale?
Converting a lead to a sale is the process of turning someone who has shown interest in your product or service into an actual paying customer. This process starts when a potential customer (the lead) first interacts with your business
Gaining a lead doesn’t automatically mean they’re ready to make a purchase right away. Conversion involves nurturing that interest and guiding the lead through various stages, addressing their needs, concerns, and providing them with the right information at the right time.
How to convert leads into sales
Converting a lead into a sale is a journey that takes your prospect from initial interest to final purchase. This process isn’t a one-step action but is actually a series of stages that guide your lead through their decision-making journey and build trust.
Understanding these stages is essential to building a smooth and effective sales process that nurtures your leads, addresses their concerns and turns them into loyal customers.
Lead generation
The first step, of course, is to generate leads. The aim is to find ‘qualified leads’ – people who will be genuinely interested in what you offer. You might find them at networking events, seminars or trade shows, they may come in as referrals from other customers or businesses or you might gain leads from cold-calling, your website, social media or offline advertising. Read our case study on how an independent car dealership in Keighley generated over 1,050 leads with our Accelerate Solution.
Lead qualification
Not all leads are created equally. Some may be just casually interested, while others might be actively looking to make a purchase. The next step is lead qualification, where you assess which leads have the potential to become paying customers. A qualified lead, also known as a “sales-ready” lead, has shown a clear intent to buy.
Nurturing the lead
Once you have a qualified lead, the next step is to nurture the relationship. This involves building trust and providing value through the right communication. Lead nurturing usually takes place over time and involves sending relevant content, addressing the lead’s pain point and offering helpful solutions. Whether through email, phone calls or personalised follow-ups, your goal here is to keep the lead engaged and move them closer to making a purchase. It’s about building rapport and creating a strong connection at this stage.
Closing the sale
This is the stage where your efforts pay off. After nurturing the lead, it’s time to close the sale. You make your final pitch, offer a solution to their problem and ask for the sale. This step is all about ensuring that the lead feels confident in their purchase and knows they are making the right choice.
Post-sale follow-up
Once the sale is made, the journey doesn’t end. Post-sale follow-up is important to make sure that the customer is happy, that they’ll recommend you and create customer loyalty to generate business in the future. This is something that a lot of businesses skip, throwing away the opportunity for more business in future.
Strategies for lead conversion
Turning online leads into paying customers doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does need a few smart moves. If a prospective customer has shown an interest, you need to follow up quickly. It’s surprising number of companies fail to do this, putting enquiries ‘in the pipeline – and by the time they’re followed up, the prospect has lost interest or taken their business elsewhere.
Instead of offering a one-sided sales pitch, be sure to discuss with the customer exactly how you can help them. Listen to the customer’s needs and address any objections they might have. Make sure you have all the facts to hand, and follow up promptly with more information if needed.
It’s about a full experience from start to finish, from the initial visit to your website through to listening to the prospect’s needs, providing information, building rapport and addressing any objections they might have.
Segmenting your audience to tailor different messages to different types of customers can work well, as can personalising your messages and building trust through reviews and testimonials. Stay consistent with your branding and messaging to keep your business looking professional and reliable too.
How to convert your sales leads
When it comes to lead conversion, having a clear strategy is key. Start by following up promptly and keep the relationship going with valuable content that builds trust and keeps your business top of mind. For example, share helpful resources or offer exclusive deals to move them further down the sales funnel.
Don’t forget the power of timing either. Know when to push for a sale, but be careful not to rush the prospect. Lead conversion is about building a relationship, so be patient and guide them through the decision-making process with the right messaging at the right time. Use automation tools to maintain consistent contact without being too pushy.
Read more in our Guide to Improving Conversion Leads, where our experts share how to improve your conversion rate and the bottom line.
Example of a lead nurturing campaign
Here is an example of what a basic lead nurturing email drip campaign might look like. Remember, what you send and how you send it depends on your product, processes and the needs of the customer. Your drip campaign might be longer, shorter or structured differently to this:
- Day 1: Welcome Email – intro to your brand, what you offer and what they can expect from your emails. Include a special welcome offer or discount.
- Day 2: Educational Content – share a blog post, eBook, or guide that provides valuable, relevant information to the lead. Focus on solving a problem they may be facing.
- Day 4: Social Proof – send a case study or customer testimonial to show how your product or service has helped others. Add a call-to-action (CTA) for the next step.
- Day 6: Product Demo/Offer – provide a demo of your product or service, or offer a free trial. Include a CTA to take the next step, such as signing up or booking a consultation.
- Day 8: Reminder of Offer – send a reminder about the special offer or discount from Day 1, along with a sense of urgency (limited-time offer).
- Day 10: Address Common Objections -share content that addresses common concerns or objections, such as price, implementation, or long-term benefits.
- Day 12: Final Call – Send a last reminder or exclusive deal to create urgency. Encourage them to take action before the offer expires.
Our Beginners Guide to Lead Nurturing goes into more detail what to do once you have subscribers signed up to your email list.
Understanding conversion rates
Understanding conversion rates helps you to understand and measure how well your efforts are working. A conversion rate is simply the percentage of leads who take a desired action, like making a purchase or signing up for more information.
It helps businesses figure out how effective their marketing and sales are. For example, if 1,000 people visit your website and 50 of them make a purchase, your conversion rate would be 5%. Keeping an eye on this number helps you see what’s working and what might need some tweaking.
The average lead-to-sale conversion rate for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) can vary depending on factors like industry, sales process and the quality of leads. However, on average, SMEs can expect lead-to-sale conversion rates to range from 1% to 5%.
Respecting data protection legislation
You need to remember at all times to respect the law and best practice when it comes to privacy and data protection. Understanding data protection legislation such as GDPR is essential, so make sure you familiarise yourself with the rules before you get started.
Essentially, you should only contact those people who’ve agreed that you can – this has the dual benefit of helping you stay within the law, and making sure you don’t waste time on contact which won’t lead to a sale.
Measurement and targets
Many businesses don’t measure the number of leads they get from different sources, and how many are converted – but it’s extremely valuable to help you understand what is working and what is not.
Once you have your figures, set targets to increase your number of conversions – say by 10% in six months. This can really help to focus the sales team’s mind, and can lead to big improvements. Keep track of these targets to help you set goals for you and your team, and monitor progress.
If you need more guidance on why your marketing matters when it comes to converting leads, download our free Digital Marketing Guide. You can also use our free Website Checker to scan your website and get marketing recommendations in 60 seconds.
