How to convert more enquiries into sales orders

One of the top aims for businesses is usually to increase the number of enquiries they convert into orders to grow their customer base, sales revenue and profits. But what can you do to start increasing conversion?

Your customers' journey

Before you look to increase the number of enquiries to orders, you first need to understand the journey your customers take. The customer journey starts with the first enquiry and doesn't stop until they receive their goods, but focusing on the process between an enquiry and a sales order will help you to understand how to better the process.

A few things to consider when looking at your customer journey:

• What is the average duration of the journey?
• How many enquiries do you currently convert?
• How do your customers usually enquire?
• How do your sales team organise the incoming enquiries?
• What is the selling process that takes place between enquiry and order?

Full visibility of your customer's journey

If you struggle to answer the questions above, then you'll likely struggle to improve your current efforts. Looking at your customers' behaviours and your current business performance stats is vital in improving your business processes.

Often, businesses that don't have full visibility of their customer's journey, don't have a sophisticated quote management or CRM system. When customer information and communications are dealt with manually, there can often be missed information, confused data and no access to performance reports that will help a business improve and increase conversion.

How to improve your quote management processes

Manually collating enquiries onto spreadsheets can quickly become unmanageable. Similarly, manually filing customer communications isn't easily scalable and often time-consuming and prone to human error.

Automating and digitising your quote management processes can improve your overall efficiencies and conversions. To achieve optimum quote management, it's important for your digital processes to be integrated - else you'll experience the same difficulties. This is where a complete ERP system will help you to take control of your customer journey process.

A fully integrated ERP system, like prof.ITplus often has multiple modules - including CRM, Enquiry and Quote Management and Sales Order Processing - that communicate with each other to achieve a seamless flow of data. For example, your customer information will be stored in your CRM, your enquiry and quotes can be tracked, amended and converted in the quote management module and your sales order can be completed and linked to stock or purchase orders in your SOP module.

A good quote management system will:

• Allow you to record and save all customer communications in one place
• Give you full visibility of the status of all customer enquiries, quotes and orders
• Show you where you are in the negotiation phase with your customers
• Allow you to prioritise quotes by categories such as value or urgency
• Give you accurate information on conversion rates etc. for performance analysis
• Allow you to view, add and change quotes on the go for field sales reps

Converting more enquiries to quotes

Streamlining your process from enquiry to quote will ensure you keep track of all incoming communications in order to increase conversions.  The most important factor in increasing orders is tracking your performance and setting targets. You need to consider the length of time it takes in between communications. Could you reply quicker to queries? Could the purchase be made in your eCommerce store for ease of ordering? Are you following up after each quote is made to keep track of customer decisions? Can you use your missed orders or potential quotes to create personalised marketing campaigns to help your customers make the right purchasing decision?

Having full visibility and streamlining the customer journey process with an integrated software solution will move your business in the right direction to increase sales orders.