Focusing on the sale is costing you leads

Recently I was in talks with a prospective client for developing their marketing plan and during this conversation, the topic of guiding the customer journey and understanding customer touchpoints become the discussion.

One of the most common mistakes I see and need to spotlight for owners and CEOs of small businesses is that most of you are only paying attention when somebody is trying to buy and a lot of times people have to be educated, nurtured, and a foundation of trust needs to be established before you can even attempt to help them solve a problem.

This element is important, but it’s often hard for owners and CEOs of small businesses to wrap their minds around because many are used to just focusing on the sale.

But today things have flipped around to a large extent: according to a CEB survey, 57% of a typical purchase decision is made before a customer even talks to a supplier. If they decide they have a problem, they’ll go out and proactively try to find a solution.

You need to give attention, time, and money to entering the journey of prospective clients earlier and you must prove your value, make a business case for why a prospect should make that call, send that email or accept that connection request.

#smallbusinessmarketing