Last week I talked about how we have to be really focused in our marketing. Especially for those of us who have to both work with clients and win them,

One of the things I've found it's vital we focus on (and that often gets ignored) is our enquiry process.

In other words, the path someone who's ready to buy or almost ready to buy follows.

Now, of course, most people won't be ready to buy at any given time. That's where nurturing relationships comes in.

But when they are ready, you want to make sure you have every chance to win them as clients.

So if a potential client landed on your website, would it be immediately obvious to them that you did what they needed and you could deliver the results they're looking for? 

Would it be really easy for them to find more details on what they'd get from you? Or to check out who else you'd worked with and what they said about you?

Would your website provide answers to all the typical questions they might have before they'd be ready to buy?

If they were ready to talk to you, would it be easy to find your contact details or connect with you from your site? Would it be clear to them what to expect when they contacted you? e.g. how long it would take you to get back, what the process would be, etc.

When they contacted you, would your system send them follow-up information to pre-position them for a call with you so your authority and expertise was pre-established before you spoke to them?

And when you did speak to them, would you be winging it? Or would you know what questions to ask to help their thinking, further build your credibility, and establish whether you'd be a good fit?

Being contacted by someone ready or almost ready to buy doesn't happen all that often. Don't squander the opportunity.

Make sure you lead them towards you, rather than lose them.