Micro Business For Retirees: 3 Tips for Converting More Leads into Customers

How can you get people to give you money for the products or services that you offer?

There are entire career fields built around answering that question but this post breaks it down into small, actionable steps.

After the marketing tips in the last post, this is the next logical (high-level) step in the process.

Tip #1

Target the people that already want what you are selling

This is mentioned in the previous post but it is that important.

You make it harder for yourself if you push, persuade, etc. people to buy what you are selling.  If they already want it then most of the work is done.  

Consider this - who is more likely to buy a cheeseburger from you:

1. Someone walking down the street actively eating a cheeseburger; or
2. Someone who just finished playing a 3-hour football game and is STARVING.

Feed the starving crowd.

Tip #2

Stop calling it “sales”

Most people don’t like sales or salespeople or being sold to.

A lot of people shut down whenever they believe that they are being sold to.  

So stop selling.

Here’s a different way to look at it - 

• Figure out what problems or desires people have
• Make them aware of how your business could solve their problems or fulfill their desires - ONLY IF IT CAN
• If your business can’t, then help them find a business that can

Notice that this starts with a discovery and not with selling.

Tip #3

Be prepared to help them work through their concerns 

Unfortunately, even if your solutions perfectly solve their problems, sometimes (read: most of the time), people will still have concerns or objections.  If you don’t help them work through their concerns, then they probably will not become customers.

Here are two concerns and possible solutions:

• Concern - “I don’t have the money.”
  • This often means that they don’t think that what you are offering is more valuable than the money that you are charging them.
  • Solution - offer something that they think is more valuable than the money it costs.
• Concern - “I need to think about it.”
  • This is almost always about making decisions.
  • Solution - take them step-by-step through a decision-making process.

There are a LOT more concerns out there, but hopefully, the takeaway is that if you consider them beforehand, you will be better equipped to help people.