As a business owner, you know that leads are only just the beginning.

It's not enough to get potential clients interested; you need to convince them to buy from you. That's where sales conversion rates come in.

Here are three essential strategies to boost your sales conversion rates:

1. Establish Credibility

Before someone hands over their money, they need to trust you. To build trust-based relationships with your prospects, try adopting a "giver" rather than "taker" stance. Be generous with your bonuses, service, guarantees, and be upfront about the actual cost of your services.

Train your salespeople to practice consultative selling instead of high-pressure tactics, and ensure that your office or storefront (physical AND online) is clean, attractive, and inviting.

Additionally, ensure your marketing efforts are adequately supporting your salespeople by assisting in the establishment of their individual credibility, in the eyes of the prospect, before the sales process begins.

2. Leverage Social Proof

Demonstrating that real people like your prospects have benefited from doing business with your company can significantly increase your credibility. Always ask customers for testimonials, and then display them on your website, business cards, brochures, posters, flyers, ads, and direct mail pieces.

At the risk of coming off as 'self-serving', let me take a moment to illustrate the above concept (I practice what I preach!).

Here's what a client said about my business coaching as it relates to improving their sales conversion rate:

“Being a lead gen and marketing guy, I thought my sales process was down pat to be honest...

He [Trent] showed me his methods of conducting sales calls and strategy sessions, which turned out to be way more effective."

If a customer has put a review on your LinkedIn profile, for example, also leverage that across multiple channels. Having a review on one channel just isn’t good enough; get it everywhere to maximize the probability of your prospect seeing it when it counts.

For those with SEO as part of their marketing mix – do not be afraid of duplicating social proof content across your website pages.

The SEO gurus won’t like that suggestion, but the benefits of doing so (increased conversions) will almost certainly out way the costs (slightly, potentially zero, impact on page rank).

Highlighting your proven track record can help your prospects understand that they can legitimately expect to succeed with you.

3. Ask For The Sale

Asking for the sale can be intimidating, but it's a necessary step to improve your conversion rates. Don't be passive – proactively ask for what you want. Write simple scripts so you can be direct and confident. Practice your scripts with co-workers and friends, and hold training sessions for your sales staff that focus exclusively on asking for the sale.

To boost your conversion rates, identify an area of weakness in each of the three categories above and make a goal to improve it. If you need help, be sure to reach out to me; I’m happy to invest some time with you, FREE of charge, helping you improve your conversion rates.

Alternatively, if you’d like to know more about how business coaching can help in growing your business, get in touch with me. You can book an initial complimentary 15-minute call with me at this link here.