Don't work twice... Reduce, automate, publish!

Selling is easy. What is not easy is entertaining a lead, qualifying it, and eventually closing it. I want to talk a bit about the interaction with the client (in answering questions, etc.)

From a service (consultancy) related industry, there is a lot of back-and-forth with the potential client. I used to believe that no two clients are alike. Nothing can be automated (who the heck even automates in the services industry?), and the human touch makes a difference.

I can tell you I was wrong nearly seven years later on all fronts. I wish I had done this sooner. But alas, here we are. Better late than never, right?

Communicating with the customer takes a lot of your time. You may not realize it, but it does. We guard so many things (especially pricing, read my article on Services Industry? Publish your pricing!). You need to provide customers with the maximum amount of information and a handholding guide.

Here is what I learned, and I would suggest you give it a thought:

• Go to your last 20 emails that resulted in successful sales and map out the email/sales process.
• Do the same with your last 20 email leads that went cold, were ghosted, or somehow could not be serviced/closed.
• Study all your previous emails and see what information/data (again and again) was being provided by you and being requested by the client.
• Make sure such information/data is readily available to the potential client. Publish it somewhere for them to access.
• Collect all the relevant information. If your customer wants information, then it should be quid pro quo. You should be extracting information from your customer (via a form usually). This will become the basis of your data archive.
• See how you can reduce the number of back-and-forth emails.
• Every question the customer asks, obfuscate their personal information and put the question and the answer in your FAQS.
• Make your forms as such so that minimal input is required. Think of the person filling the form out on a mobile device. Make it comfortable for them.
• Every field on the form, ask yourself if it is necessary? Does it help you close the deal? Is it just good to have? or are you asking for it but not sure why?
• Any information that is repeatedly asked, see if it can be published.
• See if two or three emails can be collapsed down to a single email?
• Make sure your Call to Action (CTA) in your emails is crystal clear. The CTA marks the point if the customer is willing to cross a threshold for you to put in the effort to drive the sale to closure.
• Automate whatever you can. This will not be easy but try it.

Your mileage may vary. I've always tried to see how I can use tools like TextExpander to save time on canned responses and automated expansion of repetitive replies based on keyword triggers.

I've also set that CTA to be the most crucial mile marker. Before CTA, all the information has been presented to you. After CTA, you are indicating to me that you are willing to put in the effort (fill out a detailed form where I gather more information about their business, etc.), and based on that, I will then get involved in the communication.

You can shave off so much time but doing the above. I hope this was, if nothing, mildly helpful.