Try to Make Your Turnkey Solution a True Turnkey Experience
We’d like to think because we spend all our time trying to market and sell our WordPress websites-as-a-service (WaaS) solution, that our prospective customers are spending most of their time evaluating it.
Your prospects have other things to do. Majority of the time, the person tasked to hire a web developer and/or look into your turnkey website service, isn’t their only job to evaluate and buy website services for their business.
Instead, they’re business owners managing other aspects of their business, sales managers looking to improve their online presence, or secretaries trying to get another task off their list.
Or depending on your niche, they might be real estate agents dealing with sellers or buyers, dentists treating patients, or consultants working with clients.
The Evaluation Process Is On-Again/Off-Again
Your prospects rarely have days or weeks to test every feature and function of your WaaS solution. Their focus is usually intermittent because their research is often interrupted. One second they’re carefully considering your turnkey website features, then the next second there’s something more immediate that’s demanding their attention.
Even if they sign up for a free trial, most will only spend a few hours trying out your solution.
You can’t think of it as if they don’t care. Most know their website is critical to their business and that they need to be extra cautious in order to make the right decision. The challenge is that they have little uninterrupted time to do the necessary evaluation to make an intelligent decision.
As a result of having such limited time, they tend to do nothing at all. When I’ve called on “lost prospects,” a lot of them weren’t really “lost” at all. They were just “on hold” until they had enough time to make a proper decision.
There’s a few lessons I’ve learned on how WaaS marketers can contact busy prospects like these.
Stay Top of Mind with Your Prospects Over a Long Period of Time
Because your prospect has a finite amount of time to look over your turnkey website solution, and you never know exactly when that will happen, I suggest you use marketing automation to stay in front of them for the long haul. You want them to remember you when they finally have the time to refocus on finding a solution.
For the record, when I mention staying in front of your prospects, in no way am I suggesting that you deluge them with spam. Keeping them informed on industry trends, best practices and education material typically make a better impression than a barrage of self promotions. I also suggest always offering an easy way for them to opt out. (See “Content for Your WaaS Marketing: More Isn’t Always Better.”)
Make the Next Step Easy for Them
Whenever you communicate with your prospects, make sure you make it easy for them to show you that they’re ready to take the next step. Offer a form, add a chat bot, and/or make your contact information prominent. If you want to get even more technical, you can use lead scoring and other marketing techniques to help you learn when your prospects are ready. Hopefully in most cases, they tell you themselves.
Find Cost-Effective Ways
To get this “stay in front of them” approach to work, you need to make sure you keep your cost low. As a WaaS developer, you need to pay close attention to your customer acquisition costs. Keeping in contact via newsletters, email, and social media might be your most cost-effective options.
Save your more time consuming and expensive outbound marketing tactics and sales calls for prospects whom already raised their hands they’re ready to talk with you.
Be Ready, Don’t Get Ready
Make sure you’re ready when a customer wants to talk about signing up to your turnkey system. There’s nothing worse than dropping the ball and ignoring prospects eager to get started. It’s frustrating for them and lost opportunities for you.
Be sure to have someone available to answer their calls, emails, or respond to their online inquiries. Remember, the window of opportunity is only open for a short time. (See “WaaS Buyers are Quick to Buy”)
Selling website solutions to busy customers can be a challenge, and for most WaaS developers, you’re always selling to busy customers. I’ve discovered that when prospects have a lot of time on their hands, they’re usually not a good prospect.