How to use Web conferencing to move more customers through the sales funnel A sales process is often visualized as a funnel, with new sales leads entering the top of the funnel and customers who buy something coming out of the bottom. Sales managers like this analogy because it implies that every prospect will, like sand poured into a funnel, eventually make it out the bottom. In real-life, though, the sales funnel acts as a filter that removes prospects before they reach the bottom. The ones that don’t make it are the lost sales. Prospects are filtered from the funnel for two primary reasons. First, when the lead generation process casts too wide a net, it generally lands prospects that aren’t actually potential customers (wrong problem, no money, already bought from competitor, etc.). Second, when the sales staff is overburdened, they can’t follow up on all the leads, with the inevitable result that a certain percentage of qualified leads simply languish. Worst case, sales reps focus on unlikely prospects while simultaneously neglecting potentially easy sales. Fortunately, Web conferencing can greatly increase the number of prospects that survive to become satisfied customers. Here’s a four step process to accomplish this: Step 1: Screen Prospects Before Expending Sales Resources Once your marketing department has identified what it believes to be a qualified lead, hold a Web conference with the prospect immediately after your initial telephone contact. You’ll find that getting a prospect to participate in a Web conference is easier than landing a face-to-face meeting because it gives the prospect more control over when and where the session takes place. If the Web conferencing environment is highly interactive (such as Macromedia Breeze by Adobe), you’ll have plenty of opportunity to discover whether the prospect has a real need for your products or services. Step 2: Maintain Contact During the Sales Cycle. In today’s business environment, reps are frequently asked to service too many customers, some of whom may be located thousands of miles apart. That’s fine when things go smoothly, but when two or more customers have issues that demand your immediate attention, it can put you in the uncomfortable situation of deciding which customer is more deserving of your limited time. That happens far less frequently with Web conferencing because with today’s top Web conferencing products (such as Macromedia Breeze by Adobe), setting up an online conference is almost as easy as setting up a conference call. Web conferencing thus offers you the opportunity to make contact with more customers, more frequently. While you’ll still have to prioritize, you’ll be able to keep a larger number of prospects happy through the sales cycle, and greatly increase the number that make it all the way through the funnel. Step 3: Identify up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. There are two sure-fire recipes for an unhappy customer. The first is to sell a customer something that the customer doesn’t really want or need. The second is failing to sell the customer something that the customer really does need. Contrary to popular belief, up-selling and cross-selling aren’t ways to snooker a customer into buying more stuff; they’re the best way to make certain that you’re satisfying all of the customer’s needs. Because Web conferencing encourages more frequent interaction between you and the decision makers and stakeholders in your customer’s firm, you’ll find it much easier to uncover new requirements that you and your firm can address. The result: higher revenues and happier customers. Step 4: Negotiate details and close deals. Traditionally, sales reps are supposed to negotiate deals in person. However, in today’s consensus-driven global businesses, important decisions are shared between multiple decision makers who may be located in different parts of the country or even the world. Under normal circumstances, the simple logistics of getting everyone together to make a final decision can make your sales process move slower than molasses on ice. Because Web conferencing provides a tool whereby all stakeholders can participate, regardless of physical location, it’s not only easier to negotiate the deal, but also to close more quickly. A word of warning, though. The above process assumes the Web conferencing environment is automatically available on nearly everyone’s computer. As of this writing, Macromedia Breeze by Adobe is the only product that has this characteristic, because it’s the only Web conferencing environment that’s implemented atop of Macromedia Flash, a de facto standard that’s available on 98 percent of the world’s desktops and laptops. - by Geoff James To try a 15-day trial of Macromedia’s Breeze web conferencing solution, click here.