Use Your Sales Funnel to Target More Qualified Leads Online

Customer acquisition efforts are most effective when you use each stage of your sales funnel to target online leads. Capturing prospects in every part of the buyer’s journey ensures your sales funnel stays full and active as you push them toward conversion. However, the qualified leads at the bottom of the sales funnel are undoubtedly more valuable. Is your business doing enough to gather bottom-of-the-funnel leads online? Chances are that the answer is no — it can be notoriously tricky to reach these valuable prospects regularly. Here’s how you can improve your multichannel marketing and online lead generation with your sales funnel.

Use Your Sales Funnel to Identify the Most Valuable Leads Online

From a marketing perspective, let’s look at what “bottom of the funnel” means. The concept is simple: People move through your marketing funnel, learning more about your business until they’re finally ready to retain your services. When people start this journey online, they’re a much larger group — but their numbers get smaller over time.

At the top of your sales funnel, your business appears to most online prospects via search engine results. It could also involve showing an advertisement or sponsored content to specific online leads you’re trying to target. The middle of the sales funnel is even smaller as prospects peel away due to life changes or choosing the competition. The bottom of the funnel is smaller, but prospects still interested in your business are very valuable. Why? Because they know what your company does and how it works, and they are still interested in your services. They are warm leads, and you have a good chance of converting these into clients.

You need a strategy in place to target online lead generation as they pass through different stages in your sales funnel. Since the most qualified leads are at the bottom of your sales funnel, start there and work backward.

Tips for Getting Qualified Leads to Become Your Clients

Of course, using your new marketing strategy for online lead generation is step one for acquiring new clients. You also need to convert them to see a solid return on your marketing investment. Below are three ideas to help you close more clients every month:

1. Offer Free Consultations or Seminars

The bottom of your sales funnel holds a special place in acquiring new clients for your business. So any prospects who made it this far deserve extraordinary attention. Think of it this way: A new client could create an additional income stream for your business. That’s why it pays to go the extra mile when considering the best way to market to these qualified leads.

Offering a potential client a free consultation, inviting them to a dinner seminar or educational workshop, or saving them a spot at your upcoming webinar might be just what they need to become a client. Focus your attention on your online lead generation that’s made it to the bottom of the funnel with freebies and extras that can push them over the edge.

But don’t stop there! Personalized, handwritten welcome notes and thank-you cards sent out after your initial meeting or free consultation can be a very powerful tool in setting your business apart from the crowd.

2. Create Drip Email Marketing Campaigns

Drip campaigns are short emails sent to unconverted leads on a set schedule. These automated messages go out at strategic times to accomplish a specific business goal. In this case, use drip marketing emails to nurture your qualified leads until they reach the bottom of your sales funnel.

For instance, if you connect with a prospect online and they download information about your business, follow up a few days later with something else that might interest them. A similar collateral piece, a blog about the same topic, or something else that might push them to want to learn more. Continue this until the prospect converts!

Even better? It works. Drip campaigns can generate a 50% increase in sales conversions. Nurture those qualified leads until they’re ready to convert!

3. Outsource Client Acquisition Efforts

Don’t have a dedicated staff to manage your qualified leads as they pass through your sales funnel? Outsource your customer acquisition efforts. Maintaining a robust online marketing funnel for a small business or solo practitioner is often challenging. You’re so busy running your business and serving your clients that your marketing strategy is an afterthought.

Without dedicated staff to target leads online once they hit the bottom of your sales funnel, outsourcing is your best option. Partnering with a proven industry leader like LeadingResponse ensures you’ll get the best prospects. New client acquisition for the professional services industry is our focus, and no one does it better.

Whether you need legal leads sent to you in real-time or financial prospects connected to fill your webinars, seminars, educational workshops, or other marketing events, we have the experience and solutions to get you connected.

Let LeadingResponse help you get a jumpstart on your customer acquisition program with quality leads and marketing solutions that can grow your business this year. Contact us for your free consultation!