LET’S TALK LEAD CONVERSIONS
The success of a practice is determined by a practice owner’s ability to manage the many intertwined aspects of the business that are critical to long-term success. Success is driven by the entrepreneur’s ability to focus on what matters most and not allow themselves to be distracted by peripheral activities. Peripheral activities being represented by self interests versus those things that matter most to the client and the growth of the practice.
A few things that matter most are seemingly obvious and include those things that many business owners tend to do fairly well, not perfect, but well. They include product and service quality, product and service mix, and client retention. A few matters of importance that may also be obvious, but are not always a focused priority, include a written strategic plan, strong financial management, accountability for results, consistent brand messaging, and client acquisition.
Most practice owners may say they focus on financial management, but they fail to track key performance indicators (KPI) that move the needle toward the practice’s strategic initiatives. They may say that they have great brand messaging, but fail to understand what the market actually wants and demands. They may hold their team accountable for results, but fail to assign and hold each team member accountable for their individual KPIs.
Practice owners may also believe they do a good job at client acquisition, which is essentially the conversion of prospects to cash paying clients. However, when asked about the return on the investment (ROI) of their marketing dollars, most fail to know and understand the data. Marketing ROI would be one of those important KPIs.
Why, you may ask, don’t practice owners and managers do a better job of managing the most important aspects of running a successful business? There are a host of reasons. They’re busy working in the business and don’t have time to work on the business. Managing the numbers is not a strength of theirs. They do not understand how to effectively lead and manage people. They do not comprehend the power of effective branding and marketing, nor the overload of data generated from various marketing campaigns.
As you can see, it is rarely the intent of the practice owner to fail in these important aspects of operating a successful business. However, as we have heard before, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” There is no greater form of Hell for an entrepreneur than that which burns inside from running a failing business. Sleepless nights, anxiety, stress, and deteriorating health are all a common experience for those who do not find a way to prioritize the important aspects of the business and focus on those things that matter most to its success.
While there are many factors that contribute to the success of a practice, few matter more than client acquisition. One could argue that none of the others matter if you don’t have clients.
Client acquisition is one of those areas where maniacal focus can pay off with great dividends. There are many aspects of client acquisition, all of which require consistent attention if an owner is to achieve the return they expect. Below are key aspects of the client acquisition process that every practice owner should implement, maintain awareness, and hold the team accountable for achieving.
Effective External Marketing Campaign - An effective external marketing campaign includes the creation of engaging content, consistent brand messaging, an alluring value proposition, and exceptional images and videos that target a specific audience and their specified needs. This would require a multifaceted campaign that covers all mediums (social, search engine, local partnerships, micro influencers, etc.)
Effective Internal Marketing Campaign - An effective internal marketing campaign includes the work done to grow client lifetime value (CLTV), as well as the work done to nurture referrals from existing clients. There is no doubt that the best marketing is word of mouth. If your clients truly appreciate the work you do they will be happy to refer their friends, family, and colleagues. If they are reluctant to do so, an owner should take that as a sign that something is wrong. In that case, client retention should become a grave concern.
Effective internal lead management has a few critical steps if an owner desires to get the greatest ROI.
Referral Cards - At every visit, offer every client a referral card that asks them to refer a friend, family member, or colleague. Offer a reward of sorts that incentivizes the client and the person referred.
Sharing Results - Ask clients if they’d be willing to allow the practice to share their results on social media. If the client is receptive, take this a step further by asking them to be a collaborator on the post. This will not only expose your followers to a client testimonial of sorts, but it offers your practice exposure to a new group of prospective clients and social media followers.
Lead Management - As a result of effective external and internal marketing there comes the need to effectively manage the leads that are generated. Lead management has a few critical steps if an owner desires to get the greatest return.
A customer relations management (CRM) system is utilized to manage the lead funnel. This includes creating the steps in the funnel management process and developing an automated marketing process to actively manage all leads, dead or alive, for eternity.
Leads responded to by the team within 5 minutes of their inquiry. Research would suggest that every minute counts and that a quick response is much more likely to result in a conversion. know that they are reaching to your competition as well. In this instance, if you’re not first you will be last.
Leads responded to by the team with a phone call, text message, and email. Note, all three are done, not one or two, and a phone call is the first of the three to be executed upon.
Leads followed up by the team every day until the client tells you to stop or they have reached a point where they can be determined to be dead. Note, a dead lead does not mean that you are done with them. It merely means they move to active management by the automated CRM system.
Team Training - A well trained team is critical to effective lead management. The team must know what to do, how to do it, and what is expected of them. They must know what success looks like.
Data Analysis - To get the greatest return on every dollar spent a practice owner must know the numbers. Otherwise, the owner risks assigning dollars to campaigns that may not be worth the investment of both time and money. It is important to generate the highest quality leads possible for a number of reasons. The obvious being the financial investment. The not so obvious is the lead management process. Your team may not jump up and down for joy at the thought of managing leads. However, like anything, success breeds success. The more the team experiences conversion success the more excited they will be to work the process. Therefore, sourcing high quality leads is important to the financial health of the practice and the effective management of the lead funnel.
Incentivize - Incentivize the team so that they are rewarded for effectively managing the lead funnel. This requires that KPIs are developed and shared between all team members and that they are held accountable for each. KPIs should be aligned to behaviors that generate results. KPIs such as response time, conversion percentage, and follow up may be a few to consider.
While client acquisition can feel overwhelming and become tiresome at times, it is a necessary and critical component of a successful practice. To do it well the owner must be disciplined, focused, and hold their team accountable for results. Among other things, the benefit of an effective client acquisition strategy for the practice is increased revenue. The benefit for the owner is peace of mind and the satisfaction of owning a successful practice that achieves its purpose.
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