Businesses spend a lot of time looking at how they can improve their sales funnel to shorten the time it takes to close a new customer. An article by Jeff Thull published a couple of years ago in Inc. Magazine, identified the primary challenges as awareness and perceptions.
When you boil it all down, there are really only two reasons why people don’t buy: 1) They do not believe their problem is significant enough to take action, if they recognize any problem at all, or 2) they do not believe the solution will work. – Jeff Thull
The traditional manner to overcome this was to train your sales team on discovering and uncovering pain points of the prospect. These skills are still important. But with the way buyers are first researching online today, they are probably not waiting for your sales rep to call to have that conversation.
Q How can you pre-seed your sales funnel so prospects already have an understanding that there was a better way to solve their challenge?
A Start blogging with a purpose.
Your blog’s role in uncovering pain
A blog that will help improve your sales funnel is one that focuses problems and solutions you know. Write about the questions that you get from customers everyday. For every question you get from a customer there are another 10 prospects online researching the same challenge.
Your blog’s role in pointing to a better solution
Discuss new trends, topics and how to solve a challenge with a more effective, efficient, less expense, longer lasting solution. This will help your prospect see there is an attainable solution to their pain.
Your blog’s role in building credibility that you can help solve the problem
Be open, balanced, and above all do not pitch in your blog. Your articles are an opportunity to demonstrate your organization’s knowledge and expertise – that’s it.
Think of it like a good conference speaker. The best demonstrate knowledge without selling. Still at the end of every session there are five people down at the front of the room asking the speaker for help. This value of credibility brings something critical to your sales funnel, a motivated prospect.
