Why in the heck would people not want to buy from you? As it turns out, there are plenty of reasons, and it only takes one to turn someone away from a sale. If you’re looking to increase sales or improve conversions from leads to sales, take a look at the following and see if it applies to you, your website, and/or your staff. Then take steps to remedy the situation.
- Trust: It takes time to build trust, but it is critical to doing business. This is especially true for online sales when you are asking for personal information or processing a credit card. Small things add up, so take a look at the smaller elements that could lead to lack of trust. (outdated website, proper security, page errors, broken links, no posted return policy, transparency in fees and pricing)
- Inattentiveness: Whether you’re helping a customer in a brick and mortar presence or online, attentiveness is critical. A staff yakking on the phone, chewing someone out, not greeting or being available to answer questions can all turn a prospect around and out the door. Making people wait without acknowledgement or explanation is inattentive.The same goes for not answering an email, form submission, or question posted on social media. Be attentive and polite. Keep appointments, be on time, and get back to people as promised. Pay attention to customer feedback if there is a staff or break in one of your processes that is inattentive or perceived as inattentive to customers.
- Reviews: This might not be what you think. Yes, negative online reviews are a bummer. However, a negative review isn’t likely a reason people don’t buy from you. No reviews at all is concerning, as it leaves people wondering if anyone does business with you. If all reviews are positive, it might appear that they are all solicited from all your friends and family. A nice balance of reviews shows that you do a fair amount of business and that your business is worth talking about. A healthy balance shows how you treat customers whose expectations weren’t met. It tells people what they can expect from you if they do buy from you. Reviews can also be in the form of personal (word-of-mouth) recommendations. Reviews and recommendations relate directly back to building trust.
- Transparency: Is it easy for a prospect to tell what you stand for and what’s important to you as a business? Does your company culture empower staff to live out your mission and take care of customers consistently? When people arrive at your website or step through the door, are they ushered in with confidence and excitement? Or is their experience full of stale information and lackluster enthusiasm? Customers can see through things quickly and desire authenticity. People want to be a part of something greater than themselves and have a story to tell others about their experience. It’s up to you to make it happen. When it does, it relates directly back to positive recommendations and builds trust. See how this all cycles?
It’s important to take an honest look at your business, including all departments and processes. Online and offline, your brand is who you are and the brand you build will result in people doing business with you, and continuing to do business with you. No business is perfect. Mistakes are inevitable, but the best businesses make an effort to remedy what they can and continually put an emphasis on small changes that can have a major impact.
