You’ve worked hard to ensure your website has a professional vibe and brings in traffic with the appropriate amount of search engine optimization (SEO). You’ve installed call tracking numbers to ensure it is easy to see leads coming from the internet too.
Yet, your sales reps still aren’t closing deals. What gives?
The process by which those leads are handled after they come in might be to blame. If your sales team isn’t following up properly or using qualified leads, you could be missing out.
To help you get to the bottom of the issue and correct course in the right direction, we’ve put together a brief guide with ideas on how the lead generation sales funnel should work. Are you ready to get started? Let’s jump in.
Step One: Quickly Get in Touch
When closing internet leads for your construction company, time is of the essence. Your sales team needs to jump to action as soon as possible—i.e., within moments of a lead coming in through a call tracker or the first availability the next day if it came in overnight.
Set a first-response SLA within minutes during business hours, and route new leads so no inquiry sits idle. Use round-robin or territory rules, send an automatic acknowledgment when consent exists, and track time to first touch in your CRM.
Why? Those who have taken time to fill out an inquiry form are often ready to make a decision or at least learn more about why your business is best for their needs. Sadly, this means your form isn’t the only one they filled out. Instead, ensure your company is the first contractor they hear from while they’re still a warm lead.
Step Two: Determine If They’re a Qualified Lead
The next crucial step in taking online leads through the sales process is determining if they’re qualified. What is a qualified lead? Essentially, this is someone who meets specific criteria and is a customer within your target market.
Use a simple framework like BANT, Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline, to guide discovery and qualification. Confirm decision access, gauge budget range, document the business need, and agree on timing with the prospect before moving forward.
For example, if your company only handles commercial construction, and a lead is looking for a new home, they’re not qualified. Likewise, if they are not a decision-maker or have a direct path to decision-makers, they might not be worth pursuing as leads.
Your sales team should also train in spotting so-called “tire kickers” or those who are just fishing for information. Chasing these leads usually ends up a waste of time better spent on more productive sales activities.
Step Three: Follow-Up
Once you’ve filtered out qualified leads, continue to reach out again and again until you get some response. Sales teams often give up too easily when getting in touch with leads.
Define a reachable cadence with calls, emails, and voicemail over a set window, and vary contact times and days. Include a scheduling link in emails, leave concise voicemails, and log every attempt and result in the CRM.
Instead, have a plan for your sales reps to attempt to get in touch at least ten or more times via various channels. This might look like a few emails, several calls with voicemails left, and then ultimately one last contact to leave the door open for future contact from the client. Remember, persistence pays in sales, but especially in the construction industry.
Step Four: Overcome Objections
Just like any other sales process, a lot of teams seem to struggle with overcoming objections. Once there’s been a solid response from the lead, your team members need to be ready to handle any possible objections they might get along the way.
Consistently train your staff on the most common reasons a potential customer might not opt to hire your company. Create buyer personas, and review how to spot genuine, needs-based objections versus superficial concerns. The more practice you give your sales team, the easier it becomes to break down these barriers and ultimately close the deal.
Tips for Better Effectiveness
Of course, there are additional ways you can help ensure the road from lead to client has far fewer potholes. Here are a few tips to consider.
Know Where Leads Come From
If you’re using digital marketing campaigns to bring potential leads to your website, take time to ask how they found your business. They’re often more than happy to tell you it was a search engine, social media, etc. Call tracking systems can help too.
Use UTM parameters on campaign links to capture source, medium, and campaign in analytics and your CRM. Map unique call tracking numbers to channels or campaigns so phone leads attribute correctly and budgets reflect performance over time.
Keep a Clear Idea of What Constitutes a Qualified Lead
Everyone on your sales team should have a basic understanding of the criteria used to qualify a lead. This offers a more cohesive approach to the overall sales process and makes it easier to identify which leads are worth pursuing.
Ensure consent and compliance in outreach (GDPR, CCPA, CAN-SPAM, TCPA)
Ensure outreach follows applicable laws, including GDPR, CCPA, CAN-SPAM, and the TCPA, with consent, clear opt-outs, and do-not-call compliance. Keep records of consent, include a physical mailing address in marketing emails, respect quiet hours, and safeguard personal data.
Honor unsubscribe requests promptly, within 10 business days for CAN-SPAM, and maintain an internal do-not-call list. Apply appropriate legal basis for EU contacts, consent or legitimate interests, and provide clear privacy notices about data use.
Bridge the Gap Between Marketing and Sales
In some instances, there’s a great divide between the goals of a company’s marketing team and the sales department. Regularly cross-train and brainstorm goals between the two sides of your company to ensure everyone is working with shared understanding, vision, and goals.
Wrap Up: Turning a Website Visitor Into a Paying Client
Now that you know how to turn a website visitor into a paying client, it is time to start analyzing your digital marketing to drive more traffic to your website. It’s ok if you’re not sure where to begin.
Our expert team at ER Marketing works with commercial and industrial construction companies to generate more leads through better search engine optimization. The end result is more customers, contracts, and projects.
Are you ready to start the conversation? Please get in touch with us today to discuss your company’s specific digital marketing needs.
