How can the web help my sales process? The web can play a number of roles in your sales process. In order to capitalise on the potential of the Internet you need to understand your existing sales process and identify which elements can translate to the Internet.
How much interaction do people need with you in order to make a purchase? Do prospective customers need to see a demonstration? Do they simply need to know the price of the goods or are there questions to be answered, questions which are specific to individual customers.
Information distribution If your purchase process is a complicated one and involves a number of stages, then your website might simply act as one of the first of those stages. The website could give prospective and existing customers information about your product range. If this is applicable to your business, then the role that your website would play would be that of up to date information distribution. Prospective clients could be directed to your website to access an information resource. This should help to consolidate a relationship that has already been initiated by you or by sales advisors, and could result in potential customers becoming actual customers. You could even provide a customer area on your website, through which existing customers would receive more detailed information. This would allow you to give improved customer service to loyal customers, thus encouraging them to stay with you. This is the stage at which the next step in the sales process should be considered. Perhaps the prospective client will want to speak to someone or see a demonstration of the product or service. If so, this will be possible through your website.
Engaging with prospective clients When putting together the contents for your website, consider what you want your website visitors to do next. If properly thought through, your web presence will make it feasible to be open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round. This is because it will allow people to view your products or services any time they like. However, to use the website facility to its fullest potential, you should try to anticipate the customers’ needs and check that you have catered for them. For example, you could consider if you should include a video demonstration on your website. Time is precious, and so the quicker and easier it is for potential customers to find the information they require, the better. This efficiency will give an enhanced perception of your website and of the business it promotes.
Building credibility Your website can help raise your profile and will be a demonstration of your professionalism to prospective customers and prospective partners. Irrespective of whether you have 1 or 100 employees, a professionally designed website will give you credibility and enable you to pitch for work with much larger businesses.
Lead Generation A skilfully formulated website can be a magnet for the right sort of leads. You should think about the information displayed on your website and who it will be likely to attract. The contents can be slanted to appeal to your ideal customer – or if there are different customer-groups to whom you need to appeal, then it will be necessary to ensure that each one of the groups is catered for on your website. If you receive poor quality leads, then the contents of your website need to be adjusted: your web presence will be an extremely efficient screening tool, and the majority of leads should be of high quality.
Selling Online Your sales process may be a simple one. For example, people may be happy to purchase your products without needing to speak to anyone. If this is the case, then it makes good sense to sell your products online. Your web solution will allow you to serve more than one customer at a time and offer a consistent level of high-quality customer service. Customers can even track the status of their order, see their order history and, if their purchase is one which they are likely to repeat, they can even be provided with an automatic reminder.
Integrating your website with your business It is important to realise that a website cannot operate in isolation. All parts of the business must work together so that the website can play an important role within the organisation. It is also important to realise that systems must be securely in place to fulfil the enquiries and orders generated through the website. Otherwise, your web presence will have a detrimental effect on your business’ reputation. Therefore, although your web solution can play an important role in your sales process, it cannot be your sales process in isolation. For ideas on how your business could grow through your web presence contact Zarr to discuss your requirements.
