TRANSCRIPT: 

00:04

Hello, welcome to the sales show. I'm Maree Kirkpatrick, your sales and business strategist. I'm a mom, a wife and a multi-business owner myself. With over 15 years experience in sales and business, I have worked with startups all the way through to multimillion-dollar companies. I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I love helping service-based businesses make an income as well as an impact. Let's jump into talking about all things sales and business.

00:34

Hello, and welcome to the sales Show. I'm your host, Maree Kirkpatrick. And I am excited to talk to you today, we are going to be talking about how to actually turn your database into a goldmine via conversion. So many people will say to me, I need to keep building my database, or I'm focusing on building my database, I need more leads and inquiries, which all sounds amazing. But if it's not converting, then we just have a list of people that have opted into our stuff. And so what I want to talk to you about today is how do we actually put in strategies to unlock our database and make it as full of potential as we possibly can. And by tuning in today, I'm going to give you some really valuable insights into converting your database into sales and revenue to really maximize your business's potential. Now, before we kick off, I know a lot of people may be thinking, what exactly is database conversion? And why is it so important in my business? When I put together some content for TAFE, New South Wales, a couple of months ago, we were talking about what are those assets on in your business, and an asset in your business is something that makes them more valuable, and makes your business have really strong foundations. And one of the biggest things for me is a database. There's plenty of real estate agents and the real estate industry that actually sell their databases and use it as an income generating way within their business. And so what I want you to think about is, what are you doing to make sure that your database is high converting and not just filled with a whole heap of people.

02:15

So database conversion is making sure that people that come into our business or into our CRM, customer, relationships, and management software, are a our people and be going to be people that are ready to buy or looking to purchase. Or inquire more about what it is that we do? Why is it important in your business, because a lot of the time your sales come from your database, you need to nurture them, you need to connect with them, you need to show them the value that you can add, and what it would be like to work with you. Now how can businesses effectively convert their existing database into sales and revenue? Well, there's a few things we can do, we want to make sure that we are as I said before, adding value. But having nurture sequences is a really great way to do it, making sure that we've got documents and values. So that can be tips that can be strategies depending on what it is what industry you're in, it's it can vary depending on your industry and what it is that your clients are looking for. But what I don't want you to do is just focus on getting 5000 people into your list or 10,000 people or 20,000, or even 100, whatever your numbers are, it doesn't really matter.

03:29

My question to you would be, are you focusing on the number of people on your database? Or are we focusing on the number of people that have bought from our database, and I want to look at the later today, because if people aren't buying off your database, we're just spending a whole heap of time and energy without actually getting dollars and having that cash generating from that database. So some of the misconceptions that I see people go through or experience is a big database means a big business. No, that's not true. You can have a tiny database that is so engaged and so high converting that everything that you put out there people are willing to buy, you can also have a database that is full of lots of people, but maybe only 0.5% of people have actually bought from you that are on your database. And so we want to make sure that the people that are coming in are right, and the people that we bring into our database, we're also looking after, the last thing you want to do is bring people into your business, and then what I call those them, I don't know if anyone else experienced this, especially in COVID, you realized how many email addresses you'd signed up to or how many people had your email address, and they would send you an email and start talking about what they're doing about COVID Or how your health and well being is important to you or how we're still here for you. And you're sitting there going you haven't emailed me

05:00

in like five years, where have you been? And we don't want to be one of those customers, right? We want to keep in contact with our customers. But we also don't want to be just constantly selling to people. I think when I talk to people, or when people look at jumping onto my database, I think the sales trick is just going to constantly sell to me. No, that's not what I'm about. I'm about what I sit there. And I think behind my computer, what can I do to add value to your business? What can I do to give you a quick win?

05:31

What can I do to show you what it's like to work with me? What can I do to show you the results that I have achieved for clients so that you can potentially think about what it would take to get those similar results into your business? And so don't just think that big database equals big dollars, because it doesn't. Another misconception I see is that people think that as soon as someone jumps onto the database that they are ready to buy, that's not true, either. The statistics show that sometimes you need to touch base with people, people need to touch your business or have some form of experience with your business over seven times, on average, about 21 times. And so if you are getting people to opt in and join your database for maybe something that a newsletter, or a 10% discount on your online store, or what I call an opt in, or a lead magnet that is like a taster of what it is that you do.

06:28

 So it may be like five steps to this, it may be I've got one that's 11 strategies to help with your conversion, that for me, if you went through that list and ticked off each one of those activities, you would double your conversion, at least you would increase your sales. And I'll give you the link to that later on in this podcast as well. But I just want you to understand that there are misconceptions around databases and conversion numbers in a database don't always equal numbers it hash in your bank account. So when we look at converting your database, we want to look at setting up processes. I'm a big process person, I believe that it takes the mental load out of what it is that we do as business owners, but it also means that we can track our data and our metrics based on those processes. So set up a process that when people come into your business, whether they come in via your website, whether they come in via a webinar that you've run, whether they come in off someone else's database, or a recommendation or something along those lines, set up a process and a nurture sequence that can really show them who you are, what you're about, give them a good sense of who you are, and the vibe that you have going that energy within your business. But the reality is that we can't just set up that process once and completely forget about it, we want to keep updating it, we want to keep optimizing it, we want to keep checking in on our data and our metrics to see what's working and to see what's not. So I want you to think about what is that continuous, nurturing, and updating that you can do to increase the engagement and maintain the effectiveness of your database. Lots of emails doesn't also equal a lot of sales, high quality, high value. And some people will ask me questions like, okay, Maree, if I send out emails to my database, should they be long? Should they be short? Should I include pictures? Should I include links? Should I have videos? All of that sort of stuff is like the finer details? What I want you to understand is, first of all, how do your clients or your ideal clients need to receive information from you? I had someone say to me, Oh, don't worry, I've got a 50 page PDF booklet that you can read through, I have no interest in reading a 50 page PDF document that is classified as a free opt in because for me, it's either going to be highly salesy, or it's not going to have enough value in it. And really give me what I need to know, give me a short summary snapshot of what that needs to look like. The next thing that I want you to look at is that people think converting your entire database is necessary for you to be successful. That's not true. We want to make sure that we have a high percentage that convert so for some people, depending on your business, I would say that you would look at at least having 10 to 15% of your database that has already purchased from you. If they are not figured out what you need to do, maybe do some research, maybe connect in maybe ask some questions around what it is that they're looking for, or what would it take for them to take that next step with you? That sort of information can be absolutely vital, but a lot of people don't do it. Or they create content based around what they think that their client needs. Rather than getting on the floor with their client and really figuring out what does it look like for my client to get things done?

10:00

What is it that they are looking forward to take that next step to get on the floor and understand exactly where they are? What do they need to hear? What do they need to see? What do they need to experience? What do they need to feel all of that. So you don't need to have your entire database converting. But we want to make sure that we're doing quality over quantity, because that will allow you to really focus on high value lead, you can also segment your database to ensure that you are touching people at the right time based on their customer journey within your business. The other myth or misconception that I see is that people think that the database is the job of sales, and that every single sales person within the business needs to be responsible for converting that database. That is not true. The reality is a successful database conversion requires a collaboration between both your sales team, your marketing, your customer experience and your customer service teams. And that real customer relationship needs to be seamless, and it needs to be personalized. Have you ever purchased off someone once, and even if it's like a product of a website, and then they send you a email to buy that same product at a discount, really good way to upset your customers or your clients. And so what you want to do is if they were using that database, effectively, they could filter and segment, each person that has bought that product, and say any sales or any discounts or anything along those lines, we don't want to send it to them within the next certain period of time. It also means that we can segment our database based on what people have bought, and look at ways that we can bundle things together or upsell or cross sell depending on where they are in their customer journey. For example, if someone's done a strategy session with you once and it was three or six months ago, what can we do in the next three to six months to reengage them and to see what else they are looking for. Maybe it's quarterly planning, maybe it's planning for the next financial year, whatever that looks like within your business. If you segment your database and really use it as a sales asset that it can be, then you'll really end up with much, much better results.

12:24

 So I hope that has been helpful for you today, I want you to look at your database is not just somewhere where we kind of house people, I want you to look at your database as a sales asset and make sure that you are using it effectively. It's not just something that we put up on our list to do and everyone that comes in is great. And we just keep churning over these emails and these nurture sequences and things like that. I've also seen people that have created databases, and haven't actually done anything substantial with them or haven't really understood their ideal target market and the things that they're sending just aren't connecting and aren't working for them. So I really want you to use your database to maximize your business's growth and the full potential that's going on for you. If you've got any questions, let me know I would love you to give me some feedback on what you're enjoying from the podcast. Just send me an email at podcast at MareeKirkpatrick.com. If you are looking for higher converting strategies, and you're wanting to look what you can implement into your business to increase your conversion rate, I've got a beautiful download for you just go to Mareekirkpatrick.com/conversion. It is free. It'll give you 11 strategies on increasing your conversion rate and what you can do to implement it straight into your business. I wish you a beautiful week and I'll chat to you soon. Bye.

13:52

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Sales Show. Please share it on social media for your friends to see and make sure you tag me at Maree Kirkpatrick so I can personally say

14:03

if you would like to show me some love, leave me a review on Apple podcast. I'd love to hear from you email me at podcast at MareeKirkpatrick.com. And if you'd like to work with me further or see any of the free resources mentioned on today's show, they can be found at Mareekirkpatrick.com I truly hope this podcast provides useful information and so much value to you so that you can build business with impact and income