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How Implementing SEO Can Help Drive Sales

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What is Search Engine Optimization? Believe it or not, there are still business owners who have no clue what SEO is. Or maybe they have an awareness, but they are either too scared or not interested enough to see the benefits in it. Well, today I’m going talk about how vital implementing SEO is for your business and how it can help drive sales.

SEO “The Foundation”

When it comes to Internet Marketing, SEO is the foundation. Without optimizing and having the most relevant content on your site, it might be difficult to drive the most traffic and get the most engagement from your current and potential customers. Implementing SEO techniques will help get your business’s website to the top of the search engine rankings and reduce your costs per lead or acquisition by establishing relevant content and quality links.

Link Building is “King”

Speaking of links….links can point to information on the same webpage or another webpage. Link building is your business’s effort to create links that point to your page or pages. And in the world of SEO, Link building is “King.” Without an effective link building strategy that is consistent with your company’s on-page optimization, SEO cannot be accomplished.

Optimize for Opportunities

Optimizing your website’s content will provide your company the best opportunity to gain more traffic and ultimately drive conversions. It would also be greatly beneficial to optimize based on customer segments and seasonality as well. For example, an insurance company would focus on their recreational vehicle insurance during the warmer months of the year. This practice will help to keep your site’s content even more relevant and thus more likely to be highly-ranked in the search results.

So, how can implementing SEO help drive sales? As I mentioned earlier, by implementing SEO and optimizing your website’s content, you’ll be able to create more relevancy and improve your overall search rankings. The higher you are ranked in the search results, the more likely you are to generate more overall site traffic. Ultimately, the more site traffic that you generate translates to a greater chance that a user is going to convert and buy your product or service.

If you would like to learn more about how implementing SEO can help your business drive sales, please comment below or call us at 610-743-5602.

The Ideal Sales Process

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A balanced and consistent sales process is critical to the survival and growth of any business, agency, or corporation. The fact is a company can only go as far as their sales will take them. This means that, if a salesperson or team is unsuccessful you can bet that the company will be as well. There are many different approaches and views on what the ideal sales process is or looks like. However, if you are looking for the perfect approach, you better be the most patient person in the world because there is no such thing. There are only opinions, judgments, and past statistics to try and guide you in the right direction. So from my experiences, here is my opinion on what the ideal sales process looks like.

The Initial Call

The initial call is one of the most important parts of the sales process. This is where you want to plant that initial seed in their mind and let them know that you are here. It is important to be confident and speak clearly. Control the conversation and show them that you know what you are talking about. The best call is a smart call. So, be sure to know their company, industry, and speak their language. By doing so, this will increase the probability that the call will go well. Sales professionals will get a prospects voicemail the majority of the time, and it is important not to get discouraged when this happens. Even though you did not speak directly with the prospect, a good voicemail is still a step in the right direction and a chance to get your name and company name out there. Also, too many salespeople attempt to sell to the prospect on the initial call. This approach most likely will fail 9 times out of 10. In my experience, the initial call is all about trying to set-up a meeting.

The Follow-Up Email

The follow-up email is a big part of the sales process. However, some sales professionals still do not seem to understand exactly how to send a follow-up email correctly or just how beneficial it can be. What many salespeople do not realize is that even though they may have gotten a prospects voicemail on the initial call and have not heard a response since, this does not automatically mean that they are uninterested. Many prospects are more comfortable communicating with people they have never spoken to before via email instead of over the phone. Also, many prospects are extremely busy and email might be the quickest and most convenient form of communication. So, it is important to be thorough when sending a follow-up email to a prospect. Make sure to tailor each email to those prospects specific needs. The same generic email to every prospect is boring, ineffective, and quite frankly is plain lazy. In my experience, it is also best to send your follow-up emails first thing in the morning because that is when everyone checks all of their emails. By doing so, this will improve the chances of your email being read.

The Follow-Up Call

In my experience, the follow up call is the turning point in the sales process. If are lucky enough to get a hold of the prospect on the follow-up call, you can usually start to gauge how interested or disinterested the prospect is. At this point in the process, the prospect has most likely looked over the information that you have sent them and has a pretty good idea on if they are looking to acquire your company’s services or not.

The Meeting

The Meeting is the most important part of the sales process. This is where you separate the men from the boys. When a sales professional is lucky enough to get a meeting it is time to buckle down and prepare physically and mentally. Make sure to develop a presentation that briefly highlights your company’s services and how you can help the prospect address their major pain points. Also, too many sales people go into a meeting and continuously talk about their company and achievements.  This is a big mistake! It is important that when you go into a meeting that it is conversational. You need to find out everything you can about that prospect and what their needs or struggles are. Then you can speak to how your company can help to address that need. In my experience, if you go to a meeting and you are talking more than the prospect is that is not a good sign. So, be confident and engage the prospect! Finally, be sure to ask the prospect what the next step is and always leave something behind (e.g. business card, folder, etc.)

Do Not Give Up!

It is very important that a sales professional never lets a potential prospect fall through the cracks. If someone asks you to follow up in 6 months, then follow up in 6 months. If you cannot get a hold of a prospect or keep getting their voicemail, then continue to leave voicemails. Continue to let that seed from the initial call grow! One of two things is going to happen, either they are going to ask you to stop calling or they are going to finally give you that 30 minutes you need to show them what they have been missing. So, unless a prospect asks you to take them off of your list, keep trying to get that meeting and never give up! As is mentioned earlier, everyone has a different approach or view on how the sales process should be done. There is no perfect way to sell! In my experience, the most important thing is to be confident, be unique, know your product, and commit to the process. Selling is not always the easiest thing to do, but as long as you stick with it and commit to what works for you the future will be bright for you and the company.
Want to share your ideas and views on the sales process? Let us know in comment section below, or contact us at 610-743-5602.

Top 5 Ways to Drive Sales Using Social Media

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Social media is one of the biggest prospecting tools that companies and sales reps have. The days of solely relying on sales calls and follow ups are long gone. Today, there are a plethora of social media outlets to assist with prospecting leads, establishing contacts, and driving sales. When used properly, social media can be an extremely powerful and vital tool that can give companies an advantage over their competition. Below are my top 5 ways to drive sales using social media:

1)    Create a Branded Social Media Channel. When visitors look at a company’s Facebook page they are looking to have three questions answered: Who are you? What do you do? How can you help me?  If your page can answer those three questions for a visitor, there is a greater chance of generating a lead, identifying a contact, and ultimately closing a sale. In order to answer those three questions, companies must focus on creating a channel that is consistent with their brand, look, and feel and also create content that is relevant to what their target audience is looking for.

2)    Have a Social Media Strategy. One mistake that many companies make is diving head first into the social media pool with no clear purpose or strategy. Do this….and you will surely drown! If you are going to use social media as a tool to grow your business, then it is important to have a strategy in place before hand. Companies need to know what they want to accomplish when using social media platforms. Selling is all about attracting leads, qualifying contacts, and building relationships while continuing to nurture the relationships that you already have. If you are engaging in social media just to gain a large number of followers, likes, or connections then you are doing it for the wrong reasons. Focus on the people who fit your business goals and objectives and you will be more successful.

3)    Expand Your Reach! Using social media outlets can be a great tool. However, in order to use social media effectively and efficiently, you must know exactly how to use each specific outlet. You should spend time researching all the tools and capabilities that are available with each social media platform you plan to use. For example, Facebook is different from Twitter and LinkedIn is different from YouTube. Therefore, knowing the differences and advantages of each platform is the key to success. Also, it is important to use as many social media platforms as possible. This will expand your reach and visibility, broaden your brand awareness, and drive sales.

4)    Remember Social Networking is a Two-Way Street. If someone comments, responds, or wants to connect with you, it is vital to respond back to them. By doing so, you can engage and build upon relationships as well as build new ones. It also puts you back in the driver’s seat and leaves them with the opportunity to keep the dialogue open and ongoing. Also, when you respond back to a tweet or comment it is greatly appreciated and is more likely to create a business opportunity. So, just as you would follow up with calls….follow up with social media!

5)    Track Your Results! There is a lot of great technology available to be able to track your social media campaigns. Tracking your social media platforms will help you to gain insights and grow your business. Be sure to keep track of your outreaches, responses, and close rates from social media interaction. By doing this, you will be able to make adjustments, evaluate your content, eliminate processes that aren’t working and embrace those that are.

Social media is a phenomenon that is and will continue to grow for years to come. In order to drive sales and experience the greatest success, it is vital that companies engage with social media platforms. Generation Y and beyond will be constantly involved and entrenched in the social media world. By adhering to the information that I have shared, companies are sure to drive sales. The rise of social media has provided businesses and sales professionals with many tools to attract new business and drive sales. I guess we can thank Mark Zuckerberg for that!

Have more ideas to add to the list? Let us know in the comments section below, or contact us at 610-743-5602.