Finding new business opportunities is constant task for any business. Make sure you turn as many as possible into customers by making offers that win orders.
When you make an offer to a prospective customer, you want it to be as compelling as possible – so that you have the best chance of making the sale. The companies that do well at making offers are the ones most likely to win the business.
Making compelling offers can also give your lead generation a big boost, as experience shows that people are more likely to respond to such approaches. Here are just a few ways that you can make your offers to prospective customers as compelling as possible:
Offer a choice of payment options
This applies not only to the method of payment (invoice, credit card, PayPal, etc) but also to the time you make available to pay. A well-used example is furniture stores that frequently run the “buy now and pay nothing until Christmas” offer. The same can apply to business, where you might structure an instalment offer or even a “payment holiday” offer. Remember that not every business or consumer necessarily has the cash to buy from you right now, so taking away this obstacle can secure the sale.
Create action using a time limit
Even if people really want and need your product or service, they have many other things to deal with. You therefore want them to take action NOW, while they are thinking about your product or service. There’s nothing like a deadline to prompt action.
Create action using an “early bird” discount
As well as or rather than limiting the time of the offer, you can create early sales by offering a discount for orders received before a certain date. Many people love to feel they’re amongst the first to buy, as well as securing a bargain.
Give the customer a choice of offers
Here, you’re not saying “Would you like to buy from us?” – you’re saying “Which of our many different offers would you like to take up?” There is an implied assumption here, of course, that the customer will buy – it’s just a question of exactly what he or she buys. Giving people more than one way to say yes is a good idea.
Show your offer as a bargain
If your product retails at £79.50, offer it for £49.50 – and stress that this is a saving of 38% or £30. You can also offer further discounts for multiple purchases or orders whose total value is above a certain threshold.
Reduce or eliminate the risk
Buying decisions almost always involve an assessment of risk – Will it work? Will we make the savings we need to? Will I get the benefits I’m looking for?
You can reduce the feeling of risk for the purchaser by offering a free trail for a limited time. Most offers of this type are set up so that they automatically convert to a sale if the customer does not cancel the free trial. As long as you state this clearly up-front, you should not have many problems.
To completely eliminate risk you can offer a guarantee such as “If your business does not find extra sales opportunities after completing this training course, we will refund your money.”
Know your market
There are many different types of market in business – and perhaps one of the most important distinctions is whether you are looking for sales opportunities in the “business-to-business” (B2B) or “business-to-consumer” (B2C) market. Put simply, does your business sell mainly to other businesses (B2B), or to consumers (B2C)?
People in these two different types of market make their decisions on different reasoning. In fact in the B2C arena, buying decisions are often more emotionally based, with logic being used to justify the decision. It stands to reason therefore that some types of offer will do better in B2B than B2C, and vice versa.
So if you want to boost your lead generation – that is, find more potential customers, think about making your offer as compelling as possible.
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