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Brick No137: How To Use Buying Signals
By Matt Weston, Thursday 24 March 2005 The auction ear It's easy if you're an auctioneer. If someone tugs on his left ear, puts a finger to her brow, raises his biro or touches her lapel, you recognise it as a buying signal. Sometimes they even raise a numbered placard to let you know they want to bid. It's easy to recognise the buying signal because your bidder wants to be seen. Last Saturday, I wandered down to Aston Matthews to order a bath, sink, pedestal, lav, taps, and various other bathroom fittings. In fact, the phrase "to order" is a bit strong. When we set out, Aston Matthews was just the first stop on a four-stop tour of the city's bathroom retailers. But we never made it to stops two, three and four. Why? Because the bathroom seller at Aston Matthews knew exactly how to recognise our buying signals. We left with over £800-worth of kit. Buying signals VS browsing signals If you know about selling bathrooms, you know how important it is to distinguish buying signals from browsing signals. We hit Aston Matthews about twelve-midday, on a mid-March Saturday. That's about as busy as it gets, apparently. But it's not just busy with buyers. It's busy with browsers. Not everyone goes to Aston Matthews with a hole burning in their pocket. On a busy Saturday, the seller's job is to root out who is most likely or ready to buy. And prioritise them. And he does that by recognising buying signals. It isn't easy. At least not as easy as if you were an auctioneer. This time, you can't expect people to hold up a placard or tug on their ear. Instead, if you're selling bathrooms, you have to rely on inadvertent physical or verbal clues that your prospect sends out: like a Draper tape measure poking out her back pocket, a competitor's catalogue in his hand, or a question about water pressure, whether you have an item in stock, or if that type of toilet is suitable for a soil pipe that turns left behind the pan. (My question.) How to use buying signals The rub today isn't How To Clock A Bidder, or How To Sell A Bathroom. It's How To Convert More Leads To Sales. Many small business owners I speak to haven't got a big problem generating leads. Their problem is converting them. More often than not, they spend a vast amount of time chasing browsers not buyers. The first part of the fix is to treat different leads differently. From your follow-up conversations, figure out the buying signals that separate the likely buyers from the likely browsers. And lavish your attention on the buyers. The second part is to use buying signals earlier. Instead of trying to weed out your hot leads from your not leads, search for new ways to target people who are already holding up a placard, and are primed to buy. Some ideas: (1) The Yellow Pages has dined out on buying signals for nearly 40 years. The sales pitch is that, simply by picking up the directory, your prospect is sending out a bright green buying signal. People don't browse The Yellow Pages, they use it to buy. (I'm not saying the Yellow Pages is good value, just that this is why directory and classified ads can work.) (2) Almost every time a business makes a sale, it sounds a buying signal for another business. Kerching! Buying a bath is itself an overt buying signal that you want someone to fit it. If you're a plumber, striking a commission-based deal with a bathroom supplier means a steady stream of customers. Another use for the Brickies Directory: team up with other small business owners. If their kerching equals your buying signal, you have a hit on your hands. I'm thinking Graphic Designers and Printers, Film Shops and Cinemas, and Estate Agents and Interior Designers here. (3) The secret to advertising on Google AdWords is picking keywords that are buying signals. Every time someone enters a query into a search engine, they betray a clue, a signal. And if you advertise on buying queries, not browsing queries, you'll convert more clicks to customers. For instance, if you're an electrician, the terms "electricity website" and "electricity information" are browsing signals. But "hire electrician", "rewiring quote", and "electrician recommendation" are buying signals. If somebody types in one of those terms, they're waving a placard that you need to see. Advertise on Google for free By the way, a reminder that my license to print money expires in 68 days. I still have a limited number of free £20 Google AdWords vouchers, all with a use by date of 31 May 2005. If you haven't claimed your voucher yet, drop a blank email to mailto:google@businessbricks.co.uk Full details here. http://www.businessbricks.co.uk/brick115.shtml A reminder of the three provisos: (1) Only one £20 voucher per reader. (2) The vouchers are only for Business Bricks readers who've never advertised on Google AdWords before. (3) Because I have a limited number of vouchers, only ask for one if you promise you'll use it. Remember to sign up: back to top |
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