By Susan Saldibar
I had a sales guy years ago (I’ll call him Greg) whose claim to fame was that he could make something like 30 sales calls inside five minutes. Heads would pop up like meerkats from surrounding cubicles, eager to watch him perform.
By around noon he was exhausted. Out of all that mayhem, he connected with maybe one or two (highly questionable) prospects.
It wasn’t Greg’s fault. It was mine.
I, like him, fell prey to the knee-jerk reaction of more leads, more leads, and if one-and-done doesn’t work, drop it out and move on.
Gotta get ’em on the phone right away; if we don’t, on to the next!
If you’re using any iteration of this antiquated approach to sales, it’s probably why you’re seeing bottom-heavy funnels and churning occupancy. Instead of nurturing quality leads who may be six months out, you’re closing desperate move-ins. Then, when your Google Ads budget runs thin, you run to A Place For Mom. (And they’re all too happy to help.)
So, when Scott Wells, CEO and founder of ConversionFormula (a Foresight partner), talks about “patience, not panic,” I have to smile. What could Scott’s ConversionFormula have done for a guy like Greg? Or me, for that matter!
Actually I can tell you. Scott sat down with Steve Moran recently for a Marketing Monday session (watch it here).
Scott created ConversionFormula out of a need for funnels full of quality prospects at every stage.
If you want stronger funnels, here are a few takeaways from Scott to think about:
- First, do the background work. You’re probably not taking advantage of all the free listings and other vehicles that are out there, like Google Business Profile. There are plenty more. Keep them updated.
- Speed-to-lead, yes. But don’t speed everything else up. Yes, you want to own the contact quickly. Scott suggests offering them pricing and floor plans in exchange for their name and email address. It’s fair, and it establishes the prospect as yours (not A Place for Mom’s). And, according to Scott’s client surveys, at least 10% of them go on to click to schedule a tour.
- Up your website conversions. You’re paying a ton on Google Ads to get folks on your site. Then you force them into a rigid choice of actions: Take a tour, get your newsletter, or contact you. For that, you’ll get a 0.5%-1% conversion rate. ConversionFormula can get conversion rates up to 13% or more with tools that help prospects clarify their needs and that then pass them along to your sales team:
- Care assessment tool: Helps them decide what level of care is best for them.
- Cost comparison tool: Lets them compare various living options.
- Lifestyle assessment tool: Used for independent living primarily; lets visitors shape the kind of experience they want in a community.
- Conversion widget: Quickly gets visitors to resources. That keeps them on your site, instead of making them do frustrating clicking that gets them nowhere.
- Meet every prospect where they are in their journey. Now that you know more about your prospects, you can ditch those cookie cutter emails and texts. Replace them with insights and resources. Answer questions you know they have. That’s what “nurture” really means.
- Ditch A Place for Mom. Using it is a desperation move, and everyone knows it. Follow the ConversionFormula, and you won’t need them.
The right response and messaging can make or break a sale.
Put yourself in the shoes of your prospects. Wouldn’t you rather get a text with a short video showing real residents enjoying their environment over “click now to schedule your tour?” Wouldn’t you rather receive an email that addresses a particular concern you have, such as safety, rather than the standard “we haven’t hear from you in a while” message?
I would. As Scott says, “Just because you didn’t connect on the first call doesn’t mean it’s a dead lead. How do you know what they need?”
Maybe instead of “more leads, more leads,” it’s time to start owning the leads you have.
To learn more about ConversionFormula, check out their video here.
