My New Leads Aren't Buying?! What Do I Do Now? | 174
With longer buying cycles and lower trust levels, turning leads into customers has never been more challenging. In this episode, we’ll discuss managing your expectations by understanding key metrics like audience size, growth rate, and engagement levels. Learn how patience and effective audience nurturing can lead to increased sales, and discover the importance of setting realistic goals based on industry standards.
In this episode, we chat about…
✨ Understanding the Shift in Buying Cycles [00:47]
✨ Managing Expectations and Engagement [02:20]
✨ Building Patience and Nurturing Leads [04:33]
✨ Effective Market Research and Client Retention [07:29]
Episode Transcript:
My goodness, do I have a doozy of an episode for you this week. I am super excited to be talking about this. I mean, you know I'm always excited to talk about these things but this week we're going to talk about why your new leads aren't buying and what do you do now. So this could be like a really ranty episode, because I think that we've been spoiled in the digital marketing space with these online courses and that the tides have definitely shifted at this point.
If you started your business in 2019, 2020, 2021, then you experience a very different buying cycle than we are now. People were buying really, really quickly, they were buying everything they possibly could and it was fairly easy to make those sales, and then 2022, 2023 were much more challenging years and people are more hesitant. We've talked about this quite a few times on the podcast that buying cycles are three to six to nine or more months sometimes, from the time somebody joins your email list until they actually buy from you, and it can be challenging, right? No longer is it the norm that somebody signs up for your webinar. They listen to you for 45 minutes ramble about the thing you're rambling about. Then you pitch for 15 minutes and they're like done, signed up. I'm in. Yes, absolutely. You may still get one or two of those, but it's just not happening in the same percentages as it used to be happening. It's not as easy because trust is at an all-time low, buying cycles are so long, and so now there's a lot of people that are pushing this narrative of just hosting a webinar and it'll be great, or maybe they're not so much pushing the narrative, but you've heard other people who've had that experience of being able to make those sales so easily and it just isn't happening because it's a different market. We're in different conditions now.
So today we're going to talk about checking your expectations, just to make sure that your expectations are on track. We're going to talk about checking your expectations just to make sure that your expectations are on track. We're going to talk about having patience, how you can nurture your audience to make that sale more easily, and then some other just like things that you can do to help increase those sales when they're not just like happening. So the first thing, like I said, is to check your expectations. I want you to think about how big your audience is, like your warm audience, specifically your email list. This is going to be your warmest, hottest leads. Thinking about how big it is, how quickly are you growing it? How much engagement are you getting? So with your email list? Engagement would be open rates and click rates. You can also look at social media and see how your engagement is there. Are you getting likes and shares and comments and just remembering that shares and comments are more valuable than a like right the level of engagement that's required, but how much engagement are you getting? This is going to help you to decide what's actually reasonable for an audience of your size.
There are industry standards, if you will. For example, you want like 40% of your email subscribers to open your email. You may have 30%, you may have 80% and that might be great for you, depending on your industry, depending on your niche. There's so many different factors that go into it. So when people say like oh, the average is 40% or whatever it is right now, that will help you gauge whether you're on track or not. Like, if you have 5% that are opening your emails, something needs to change. If you have 50% like, great, you're doing an awesome job. So, having that information in your emails, something needs to change. If you have 50% like great, you're doing an awesome job. So having that information in your head, knowing how big your email list is, knowing what industry standards are for your niche, your industry, is gonna be very, very helpful. I always want you to estimate on the low end, because that way you'll be pleasantly surprised if it falls on the high end. And just remember that you're more likely the rule and not the exception.
That's from a movie. Oh, goodness, goodness, goodness. It's been a long time since I've watched a movie. Oh, he's just not that into you. He's just not into you. Where the whole movie. It's been such a long time since I watched it, the whole movie. He's just not that into you. He's just not into you. Where the whole movie. It's been such a long time since I watched it, the whole movie.
He's explaining to this girl like she's so upset about the dating situation I'm going to have to rewatch it now. Oh, my goodness. And he keeps telling her like you're the rule, not the exception, you're the rule, not the exception. You're the rule, not the exception. And then, of course, spoiler alert, she's the exception for him, right, but you are probably the rule, right? Like you probably are going to have a click rate on your emails of one to 5%, absolutely. There are exceptions of people who get 10 or 20% clicks regularly, consistently on their emails, but you're probably the rule and if you're not, like amazing, I'm really really proud of you. I'm not trying to say this as a downer or anything. It's just better for you to look at these things from that perspective so that you have a really good idea and clear understanding of what's normal and it's okay to be normal, it's okay to be the average, right? The second point I have is have patience. Young Padawan, which I Googled that and I don't actually think that they ever said that in any of the movies, but in my head it's one of the most iconic quotes and I don't know why, but anyway.
So how long have these people been on your list? If you just started this huge email list growth campaign and in the last month you've added,000 people to your list, so now your list is 1,200 people. So 200 people were on the list before. Now you're at 1,200. Like that's amazing, but they are new on your list, right? Customer journey can be so long.
So if people just joined your list in the last month or two months. You need to give them time, especially if we're looking at more high ticket and I put high tickets in quotations. I know you can't see, but they were there More high ticket price points, because the higher the price point, the more nurturing, more trust typically people are going to need before they can buy from you. If you have something that's $27 or $47 or even like maybe $97, depending on your niche or industry, it's much more likely that someone's going to say I'm just going to buy it and you know like what's $27 if it doesn't work for my needs, whereas if it's $2,000 or $5,000 or even like $500, people are going to stop and they're going to think and they're really, really going to want to make sure that they're making a sound decision with their money before they just jump in, dive in. So thinking about your price point and how long people have been on your email list is really important. The higher the price point, the longer it's typically going to take to convert sales. So what can you do about this? Right, because you want these people to convert as fast as you can get them to convert without forcing or pushing the sale.
The first and most important thing is to nurture your audience, to be consistently providing them with high quality, valuable content through your emails, through your long form content, through any collaborations that you do, any video series that you do, any live experiences that you participate in, making sure that you're providing very high quality, valuable content that they can walk away and say, okay, this is what I need to start doing. Second, if you haven't done it recently, I highly recommend you do some market research. This can be hopping on calls with people, asking them their questions, finding out how they're feeling about tons of different things. You as a business, potentially the services you offer what they're looking for. Are they even looking for this service? Using their words, their emotions, their dreams and hopes and desires and fears and obstacles. Really using their words from the discussion you have. If you don't want to hop on a call, you don't have to. You can have these conversations in DMs or through email. You can also send out surveys to clients, to customers, to your email list, to collect this information from those who participate. I do highly recommend that, no matter how you go about collecting this market research, that you incentivize people with, like a Starbucks gift card or an Amazon gift card or a strategy session or something tangible that they can walk away with just to say thank you for them spending that time to give you this information.
The last tip that I have is are you over delivering to your current clients or your current customers? Word of mouth and repeat customers are some of the cheapest forms of marketing and retaining a client. I was shocked when I read this. I knew it was a stat, I knew it was going to be big, but I was still shocked when I read this. Retaining a client is, on average, five to seven times less expensive than acquiring a new one. So if you can keep your current clients happy, you are gonna save money, you're gonna save time, you're gonna save energy right.
And if you're over-delivering and I don't mean over-delivering to exhaustion, but like surprise and delight over-delivering those little extras that just boost the experience and keep your clients really happy. And along with that, I would say over communicating, making sure that your clients are never asking you for an update or a report. You should be on top of that communication so that they feel well taken care of and that they really know that you have their best interests and that you are doing everything that you can and if there's a problem, communicating that before they notice and saying like, these are all the things that we've done, here's what I need from you, or whatever it might be. But again, word of mouth and repeat customers are your best form of marketing because they're very, very cheap, often free, and so making sure that you are keeping those current clients, those current customers, as happy as can be is going to be extremely important and help speed up that client journey. Because if someone says, hey, I'm looking for Facebook ads, and then the person they're talking to goes, oh, check out Genzea. Like, I worked with her, I really love the experience, then the first person who is looking for a Facebook ads expert is probably going to be like, great, I'm going to Genzea, this is awesome, let's sign up, let's do this right away, whereas someone who just stumbles across me on Google and doesn't have that personal reference and that personal connection to someone who's worked with me and love the experience is probably going to join my email list, listen to the podcast, take their time to really get to know me and trust me. So I hope that this was helpful.
I know it can be frustrating when you're getting new people on your list and they're not buying. But just remember that people on your list are a huge asset and growing that email list every single day is going to be one of the best ways that you can create a long-term, sustainable business. That is going to take you this year and beyond and those sales will come as long as you continue to nurture. And also I forgot to mention this, but this is really important provide opportunities for people to buy. If you're not launching, you're not selling through your emails, you're not telling people like how they can work with you or join your program or purchase your resources, then they're not gonna do it because they don't know it exists. Right, make sure that you're offering a chance for people to buy from you so that when they're ready, as soon as they're ready, they can be like yes, I'm in. Okay, I'll be back in your ear next Saturday with a brand new Saturday strategy session.
If you started your business in 2019, 2020, 2021, then you experience a very different buying cycle than we are now. People were buying really, really quickly, they were buying everything they possibly could and it was fairly easy to make those sales, and then 2022, 2023 were much more challenging years and people are more hesitant. We've talked about this quite a few times on the podcast that buying cycles are three to six to nine or more months sometimes, from the time somebody joins your email list until they actually buy from you, and it can be challenging, right? No longer is it the norm that somebody signs up for your webinar. They listen to you for 45 minutes ramble about the thing you're rambling about. Then you pitch for 15 minutes and they're like done, signed up. I'm in. Yes, absolutely. You may still get one or two of those, but it's just not happening in the same percentages as it used to be happening. It's not as easy because trust is at an all-time low, buying cycles are so long, and so now there's a lot of people that are pushing this narrative of just hosting a webinar and it'll be great, or maybe they're not so much pushing the narrative, but you've heard other people who've had that experience of being able to make those sales so easily and it just isn't happening because it's a different market. We're in different conditions now.
So today we're going to talk about checking your expectations, just to make sure that your expectations are on track. We're going to talk about checking your expectations just to make sure that your expectations are on track. We're going to talk about having patience, how you can nurture your audience to make that sale more easily, and then some other just like things that you can do to help increase those sales when they're not just like happening. So the first thing, like I said, is to check your expectations. I want you to think about how big your audience is, like your warm audience, specifically your email list. This is going to be your warmest, hottest leads. Thinking about how big it is, how quickly are you growing it? How much engagement are you getting? So with your email list? Engagement would be open rates and click rates. You can also look at social media and see how your engagement is there. Are you getting likes and shares and comments and just remembering that shares and comments are more valuable than a like right the level of engagement that's required, but how much engagement are you getting? This is going to help you to decide what's actually reasonable for an audience of your size.
There are industry standards, if you will. For example, you want like 40% of your email subscribers to open your email. You may have 30%, you may have 80% and that might be great for you, depending on your industry, depending on your niche. There's so many different factors that go into it. So when people say like oh, the average is 40% or whatever it is right now, that will help you gauge whether you're on track or not. Like, if you have 5% that are opening your emails, something needs to change. If you have 50% like, great, you're doing an awesome job. So, having that information in your emails, something needs to change. If you have 50% like great, you're doing an awesome job. So having that information in your head, knowing how big your email list is, knowing what industry standards are for your niche, your industry, is gonna be very, very helpful. I always want you to estimate on the low end, because that way you'll be pleasantly surprised if it falls on the high end. And just remember that you're more likely the rule and not the exception.
That's from a movie. Oh, goodness, goodness, goodness. It's been a long time since I've watched a movie. Oh, he's just not that into you. He's just not into you. Where the whole movie. It's been such a long time since I watched it, the whole movie. He's just not that into you. He's just not into you. Where the whole movie. It's been such a long time since I watched it, the whole movie.
He's explaining to this girl like she's so upset about the dating situation I'm going to have to rewatch it now. Oh, my goodness. And he keeps telling her like you're the rule, not the exception, you're the rule, not the exception. You're the rule, not the exception. And then, of course, spoiler alert, she's the exception for him, right, but you are probably the rule, right? Like you probably are going to have a click rate on your emails of one to 5%, absolutely. There are exceptions of people who get 10 or 20% clicks regularly, consistently on their emails, but you're probably the rule and if you're not, like amazing, I'm really really proud of you. I'm not trying to say this as a downer or anything. It's just better for you to look at these things from that perspective so that you have a really good idea and clear understanding of what's normal and it's okay to be normal, it's okay to be the average, right? The second point I have is have patience. Young Padawan, which I Googled that and I don't actually think that they ever said that in any of the movies, but in my head it's one of the most iconic quotes and I don't know why, but anyway.
So how long have these people been on your list? If you just started this huge email list growth campaign and in the last month you've added,000 people to your list, so now your list is 1,200 people. So 200 people were on the list before. Now you're at 1,200. Like that's amazing, but they are new on your list, right? Customer journey can be so long.
So if people just joined your list in the last month or two months. You need to give them time, especially if we're looking at more high ticket and I put high tickets in quotations. I know you can't see, but they were there More high ticket price points, because the higher the price point, the more nurturing, more trust typically people are going to need before they can buy from you. If you have something that's $27 or $47 or even like maybe $97, depending on your niche or industry, it's much more likely that someone's going to say I'm just going to buy it and you know like what's $27 if it doesn't work for my needs, whereas if it's $2,000 or $5,000 or even like $500, people are going to stop and they're going to think and they're really, really going to want to make sure that they're making a sound decision with their money before they just jump in, dive in. So thinking about your price point and how long people have been on your email list is really important. The higher the price point, the longer it's typically going to take to convert sales. So what can you do about this? Right, because you want these people to convert as fast as you can get them to convert without forcing or pushing the sale.
The first and most important thing is to nurture your audience, to be consistently providing them with high quality, valuable content through your emails, through your long form content, through any collaborations that you do, any video series that you do, any live experiences that you participate in, making sure that you're providing very high quality, valuable content that they can walk away and say, okay, this is what I need to start doing. Second, if you haven't done it recently, I highly recommend you do some market research. This can be hopping on calls with people, asking them their questions, finding out how they're feeling about tons of different things. You as a business, potentially the services you offer what they're looking for. Are they even looking for this service? Using their words, their emotions, their dreams and hopes and desires and fears and obstacles. Really using their words from the discussion you have. If you don't want to hop on a call, you don't have to. You can have these conversations in DMs or through email. You can also send out surveys to clients, to customers, to your email list, to collect this information from those who participate. I do highly recommend that, no matter how you go about collecting this market research, that you incentivize people with, like a Starbucks gift card or an Amazon gift card or a strategy session or something tangible that they can walk away with just to say thank you for them spending that time to give you this information.
The last tip that I have is are you over delivering to your current clients or your current customers? Word of mouth and repeat customers are some of the cheapest forms of marketing and retaining a client. I was shocked when I read this. I knew it was a stat, I knew it was going to be big, but I was still shocked when I read this. Retaining a client is, on average, five to seven times less expensive than acquiring a new one. So if you can keep your current clients happy, you are gonna save money, you're gonna save time, you're gonna save energy right.
And if you're over-delivering and I don't mean over-delivering to exhaustion, but like surprise and delight over-delivering those little extras that just boost the experience and keep your clients really happy. And along with that, I would say over communicating, making sure that your clients are never asking you for an update or a report. You should be on top of that communication so that they feel well taken care of and that they really know that you have their best interests and that you are doing everything that you can and if there's a problem, communicating that before they notice and saying like, these are all the things that we've done, here's what I need from you, or whatever it might be. But again, word of mouth and repeat customers are your best form of marketing because they're very, very cheap, often free, and so making sure that you are keeping those current clients, those current customers, as happy as can be is going to be extremely important and help speed up that client journey. Because if someone says, hey, I'm looking for Facebook ads, and then the person they're talking to goes, oh, check out Genzea. Like, I worked with her, I really love the experience, then the first person who is looking for a Facebook ads expert is probably going to be like, great, I'm going to Genzea, this is awesome, let's sign up, let's do this right away, whereas someone who just stumbles across me on Google and doesn't have that personal reference and that personal connection to someone who's worked with me and love the experience is probably going to join my email list, listen to the podcast, take their time to really get to know me and trust me. So I hope that this was helpful.
I know it can be frustrating when you're getting new people on your list and they're not buying. But just remember that people on your list are a huge asset and growing that email list every single day is going to be one of the best ways that you can create a long-term, sustainable business. That is going to take you this year and beyond and those sales will come as long as you continue to nurture. And also I forgot to mention this, but this is really important provide opportunities for people to buy. If you're not launching, you're not selling through your emails, you're not telling people like how they can work with you or join your program or purchase your resources, then they're not gonna do it because they don't know it exists. Right, make sure that you're offering a chance for people to buy from you so that when they're ready, as soon as they're ready, they can be like yes, I'm in. Okay, I'll be back in your ear next Saturday with a brand new Saturday strategy session.
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