The previous landing page didn't do much to tell the visitor what they could get.

I did not like the previous lead capture process for my websites for Hire Sales Stars, and I didn’t think they were very effective either, mainly because it didn’t have much of a purpose, nor did it provide a way for visitors to reach something of value.  It did a fine job of telling the visitor what the site was about, and even gave some great benefits of why this site/company is great, but not much else.  I did these pages to get something up in the way of a conversion form, so I did not expect much.

The landing page had a short video of me encouraging the visitor to click the “Get Started for Free” button to move to the next page – the lead capture page. The whole video bothered me; I suspected it turned people off because I’m somewhat higher than the camera and I’ve been told my body language is too bold – an overall intimidating stance.

The previous landing page funneled to a lead capture page

The lead capture page had a nice quote on it, as well as a form that asks only for your first name and email, but that’s it. Nowhere in the process did it say what somebody would get – i.e. why they would want to fill it out, what value they would get, etc.

Granted, the site does not get a whole lot of traffic right now (10 to 15 clicks per day), which is why I also wanted to improve the funnel – to provide much more value - so that perhaps it could get more viral traffic (word of mouth).  So I decided to make a free tutorial video available that really would help the a visitor who has problems that this site could help.

Revised lead capture/landing page.

Now, the new landing page and lead capture page has been combined into one page and is now the current home page.

No video and only one simple step. Will it work?  I have no idea! What do you think? Do you think that the revised page makes more sense?  Do you see what you get?

The other night, my friend Jonathan Senger and I got to talking about who we connect with, on what platforms, and what our general rules are for connecting on social media tools (we both agree that we do not connect with “just anybody” on Facebook, as that is primarily for personal use).  He told me about a recent situation whereby he wanted to contact a person that was connected to one of his direct contacts on LinkedIn. When asked, Jonathan’s direct contact replied that he did not know that person very well and felt uncomfortable, if not inadequate, about making the introduction.  Jonathan solidified a dormant belief I’ve had about LinkedIn when he said that participating in LinkedIn that way completely defeats it’s purpose.  Connections with vague or very casual acquaintances for the mere sake of having “big numbers” means that nobody will have trusted relationships.

I Want My LinkedIn Connections to Know That They Are Trusted and Can Count on Any of My Other Connections

In the past I accepted, and even sought, connection requests from pretty much anybody on LinkedIn.  My thought was “what can it hurt to be connected with tons of people?” And luckily my LinkedIn participation had been cold until recently, and I did not concentrate on building connections as much as I did with my Twitter following, (281 on LinkedIn as of this post, versus 36,000 on Twitter).  Nonetheless, I have begun cleaning up my connections by removing people I don’t know very well or that I wouldn’t be absolutely comfortable with in a referral situation.

Use LinkedIn the way it should be used and the trust factor will be restored for all of us.

NOTE:  I reference Brad Gosse‘s blog post “Could Facebook end Google’s search monopoly?”

Almost 200% increase in conversion rate.

While working with one of our clients, Planet Urine, we have been experimenting with new landing pages and have exceeded expectations with some of the endeavors.  Below are BEFORE and AFTER screenshots from a landing page they use to encourage dialogue from a prospective buyer (always good).  The original landing page (BEFORE) yielded a 9.2% click to lead conversion rate, while the remodeled (AFTER) page has a 17.6% click to lead conversion rate.  What is your opinion? Why do you think that the AFTER page is doing so much better?

BEFORE

AFTER

Any ideas that you have would be incredibly useful as to why some practices work better than others.  Looking forward to your comments to help us continue to refine our services and products.

One half of the equation is how much content you pour into the stream, the other is how deep it goes.

Don’t Let Conversations Die

Too often I’ve allowed the depth of a Facebook or Twitter conversation thread to go only one level deep.  I love it when a thread gets active and two different people in my life converse in some way.  In the Facebook thread below, it turned into a conversation about whether or not there are Field Day’s in other states (comment below if your state has or hasn’t).  Just one more comment can keep the thread going, and shouldn’t we foster and grow relationships we already have?

Continue Conversations by Adding to Them

True of False…

• Your salespeople are capable of selling our products/services at higher margins.
• Not sure how to get my salespeople to sell at higher margins.
• Not doing a good job of competing against the industry giants.
• Not consistently hiring salespeople that can (and will) sell.
• Salespeople aren’t doing the necessary activities to succeed.
• A low percentage of hires actually become sales stars.
• I don’t really have a consistent methodology of recruiting.
• My salespeople don’t close enough business to justify their base salary.
• If my top salesperson resigned, not sure how to replace him/her.
• I don’t know how much it costs to keep non-producers on staff.
• Not sure the cost of hiring a salesperson and getting them up to speed.
• Don’t know how much ex-non-producers are devaluing my company.
• Don’t know how much it costs for each sales call.
• Don’t know each salesperson’s individual weakness.
• Not getting enough quality leads to my salespeople.
• If I had a 90% chance of hiring a star, I would do it.
• No using social networking to benefit my company.
• Our salespeople “wing” it, not following a consistent, reliable sales system.

Smeester & Associates specializes in recruiting and hiring sales teams.  For help with your sales team expansion and/or performance issues, contact us.

Note to Self: Use Telemarketing Calls to Practice Sales Skills from Scott Smeester on Vimeo.

Note to Self: The Path to the Promise Land from Scott Smeester on Vimeo.