6 Proven Strategies To Convert More Prospects Into Paying Customers

converting more leads into paying customers

Getting more prospects and leads don’t necessarily mean more customers. While your business may be seeing an increase in lead generation, the fight is not yet over until they make their first purchase and become full-fledged paying customers. 

Once a prospect has shown interest in your brand and offerings, how do you turn them into paying customers? This article shares 6 smart tips and savvy strategies to improve your conversion rate. 

1. Create And Follow A Documented Sales Process 

Lead conversion is all about building relationships, and to do that, you must gain your prospect’s trust and create interest in your offerings and sales processes. It provides a framework for your sales team, with repeatable actions that serve as an instruction manual or a guide from lead generation through nurturing and converting them into paying customers. 

So, if you want your team to convert prospects into paying customers and consistently hit or exceed sales quota, you will need to have a documented sales process they can follow. However, it is better to cover the bases and have several strategies for different sales scenarios. 

If you don’t know where to start, you can check this sample sales process and customize it according to your business requirements. 

2. Master Follow-Ups 

One of the most effective strategies to help increase your conversion rates is simply following up on your prospects. A prospective customer may think of buying your products or services, but sometimes life gets in the way. So, doing a simple follow-up can be the key to closing a deal. And you need to be persistent about it, especially if you consider that about 60% of prospects will say ‘no’ before giving a resounding ‘yes.’ 

This is why cold calling and email follow-ups are critical to converting more prospects. That said, how many times should you try to follow up with a prospect before you’ve had enough? While there is no general guideline for this, it’s recommended that you try following up until you get a clear ‘no’ or ‘yes’ from your prospect. 

In addition, your follow-ups shouldn’t be annoying by constantly asking prospects to buy from you whenever you call or email them. As mentioned before, lead conversion is all about building relationships. So, instead of being too focused on asking prospects if they are ready to buy, you can instead provide them with valuable resources, so they don’t forget about you and at the same time, learn more about your business. 

You can do this by signing them up to your email list and sending them: 

• Trends and news about your industry 
• Client testimonials 
• New promotions and offerings 
• Product reviews and how-tos 
• Projects that you’re working on 
• Greeting messages during holidays or their birthdays 

These things can help conceal follow-up while generating a reasonable recall rate and leaving a lasting impression. 

lead conversion strategy

3. Offer Incentives And Free Stuff 

Who doesn’t love free stuff? Offering a discount, gift, or free trial is a great way to push a prospect down the sales funnel and become a paying customer. 

The complimentary gift you offer doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant. Instead, it should serve as a welcome reward or a token of appreciation to your prospects. Most people simply can’t pass on free stuff, and it can ultimately help fuel their desire to purchase your service or products. 

Other than making prospects feel rewarded, some offers, like a free trial, can also help showcase just how fantastic your services or products are. Free trials help your prospects realize the value of your product or service, making it easier to decide and close the deal. 

That said, when you offer free trials, particularly with most software products, it is crucial to have a short timeframe, typically 7-14 days. Keep in mind that when you keep the free trial short, you motivate prospects to buy the product ASAP. 

4. Focus Your Sales Pitch On Pain Points 

When making a sales pitch, you should focus on a prospect’s pain points instead of enumerating the benefits of your products or services since this will help you gain more conversions. 

Research shows that humans are naturally loss averse. This suggests that people prefer to avoid losses than acquire equivalent gains. To make it simpler, the average person would become more upset about losing USD $50 than if they found USD $50 unexpectedly. 

So, if you can make potential customers feel like they are on the losing end if they don’t buy your product, you’re close to converting them. 

5. Leverage The Power Of Storytelling 

In terms of converting leads, storytelling has become a super-effective marketing strategy. Science reveals that humans are mostly driven by emotions. In fact, over 90% of cognition occurs inside the subconscious mind, known as the emotional brain. 

When using storytelling in your sales strategy, you are tapping into a prospect’s emotional brain. This allows you to persuade your leads more effectively. 

Aside from that, storytelling also helps make your ideas stick. When you create stories, you help prospects better understand and relate to your products and services. This helps build transparency and trust with both prospects and existing customers. 

If you are new to storytelling, you can quickly get started by telling prospects stories about how your services or product changed some of your customers’ lives. 

6. Set A Countdown Timer 

While countdown timers are often used in eCommerce stores, B2B businesses can leverage this strategy to create urgency, encourage their prospects to act, and ultimately drive conversions. 

However, it would be best if you were careful when using this strategy. You don’t want to go overboard and become too promotional and aggressive. Also, it is recommended that you only use it once in your sales funnel and ensure to use it with an attractive offer. 

Customer Conversion Conclusion 

The process of converting a prospect into a paying customer is both an art and science. Remember that not all of your leads will pass through your intended sales funnels and automatically become paying customers as you intend. And it often requires a little nudge with the help of the tips and strategies mentioned above to get them to bite and increase your sales.

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