Turning Enquiries Into Sales

I was recently asked a question by a friend. He had a client who was awash with enquiries, but was struggling to convert them into sales.

And I had the answer. From bitter experience! A few years ago, I'd had the same problem.

And it's a really easy one. But first, this tip works best in business-to-business sales. It's really simple, but the answer is not always obvious.

It's all about conversion rates. The rate of enquiries you receive for example when you send a mailing. The conversion of those enquiries into appointments to meet the client. And the conversion of those meetings into sales.

Treat it like a relay race. To cross the line and clinch the sale, you have to keep hold of the baton. But it is so very easy to drop it.

The first baton change is often where it is dropped. You see too many people attempt to close the sale too far from the finishing line. The objective of the first baton change is to pass it to the next person without dropping it.

And that means making an appointment to see the prospective client.

Too often this goes wrong. And there are numerous reasons:

1) The person making the appointment is not skilled enough

2) Being overly-polite. Gently asking someone to meet can drop the baton. They will have numerous reasons NOT to meet you, even though they enquired!

3) Too many steps. For example, emailing the customer to ask them when they are free. This then needs them to think. And respond.

In our line of work, it is almost impossible to provide a quote for IT support, which reflects what the customer wants, without meeting them first.

So the first thing you need to consider are the reasons why you need to meet the prospect to take the enquiry forward. In our case, we need to look at their IT set-up. But think of your own reasons.

The second challenge is politeness and salesmanship. If an administrative assistant is tasked with making the appointment, they may fail simply because they lack the sales skills.

Remember, you are NOT selling your product or service at this point. Your objective is to make an appointment. So you have to sell the appointment.

If you don't have the staff with the skills, consider creating an email template which does the job for you. A message that will always deliver a consistent message and give reasons for the appointment.

And it needn't be long. Nor complicated.

In fact it needs to be polite, but assertive. And the most important element is that of suggesting the data and time of the appointment rather than asking when they are free.

This cuts out email or telephone tennis. It also does alot to cut out the most common objection - "I'm too busy". People say that because they feel busy, when their diary may be relatively empty.

So by suggesting a date/time, in a high percentage of cases, people will accept it if they are free.

We've found that around 60-80% will accept the first date offered. Those who don't, aren't saying no, they tend instead to either suggest an alternative, or state they are not free.

I'd suggest this format for either the telephone or as an email template:

Subject: Meeting following your enquiry

John,

Firstly thanks for your enquiry. To help us give you an accurate quote for our widgets, I have taken the liberty of booking you in to meet my colleague, Sue Smith, on Friday 29th August at 10AM.

During the meeting, Sue will run through a series of questions which will help us arrive at a proposal which perfectly meets your requirements.

If I don't hear, I'll assume you're free, and Sue will see you next week.

Many thanks etc

This simple approach works wonders. It is light and polite. And cuts out much of the telephone and email tennis which is generated by being too polite - i.e. asking when they are free.

It maximises the chance of a smooth baton change and passes it to your last-leg salesperson.

Your chances of converting enquiries to sales are therefore increased dramatically.

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