Quick Tips

1. Include A Low-Risk Offer: Here's a quick way to constrict your lead flow--tell prospects to "contact you for more information." It seems like a perfectly logical next step from your perspective, but think about it from the standpoint of the prospect. Many times you'll discover that people are still in "information gathering" mode and aren't quite ready to call you. A phone call (or showroom visit) represents a sizable risk to them. If you don't have an information offer available--a free report, DVD, audio CD, or something--you'll lose calls you otherwise would have gotten from people who are still just checking their options. A good low-risk offer can increase your lead flow by 20% to 200% without changing anything else in the ad.

2. Call Back: Believe it or not, failure to communicate with prospects in a timely manner is a major reason businesses lose customers. A sunroom dealer from California reported that when he returned a call from an interested prospect, he was told that he was the only one of three companies contacted that actually called back. The job turned out to be $60,000--but more significantly, the customer was a condominium and townhouse developer, and the project turned into another 120 jobs. It pays to just call back!

3. Make Your Phone Number Easy To Remember: If you're running radio ads, television ads, billboards, or any other media where the prospect probably won't be looking directly at your phone number when they pick up the phone to call, then you HAVE to have an easy to remember phone number. Don't assume that because you have your phone number memorized that your prospects do! Your phone number should either spell something that's easy to remember: (800) NEW-HOME or have a number combination that is easy to remember (800)-639-3939. The less brain power required to remember the number, the more calls you'll get. Plus, if your number is REALLY easy to remember, then you can leverage your competitors' advertising dollars as well. How? Because when they run their ads, people will remember YOUR phone number! Guess who will get the calls!

4. Let People Use The Internet: Give prospects a chance to respond to your ad via a website and you'll see an increase in results. Why? It's the ultimate low risk response mechanism. When people go to a website to request more information, there's no chance that they'll get bugged by a sales person. You'll need to set up a "squeeze page;" a website dedicated to taking inquiries from prospects (example at www.windowreport.com). When we offer a web alternative to calling, we usually find that 30% to 60% of inquiries come from online.

5. Have A Real Person Available:  We all know the feeling--you're trying to call a company to ask a question about something, and you can't find out how to talk to a real person. You hate it. I hate it. So why subject your customers to it!? First best is to have a live person answering the phone; if you use an auto-attendant, make sure there is an option given right away to talk to a live person.