Ask for the action you want people to take
One of the most important lessons sales teams and business owners must learn is to “close every prospect.”
You can develop a relationship with prospective customers, identify their needs, and demonstrate the value of a product or service, but if you never ask a prospect to buy it, you may be wasting your time.
The same is true in marketing.
Don’t waste your marketing investments
We often see social posts, web copy, and marketing materials that provide a wealth of information about a company and its products, services, people, philosophy, and everything else prospective clients might want to know.
Yet, one of the most common mistakes companies make is never asking prospective clients to do something once they review the information. Why hire strategists, writers, graphic designers, developers, printers, and a host of other people to create communications without a purpose?
Define a clear objective first
If you’re going to invest in producing marketing and communications of any type — from an Instagram Story or email to a newsletter or outdoor sign — decide on a clear, strategic objective.
Create a clear call to action
Then, consider what you want people to do when they’re finished with it. This is your “close.” In marketing, it’s known as a “Call to Action,” or CTA. This often shows up as a command or statement, button, callout, QR code, or link to a website, form, or the next step in a process or workflow.
Just as salespeople close by asking prospective customers to buy, marketers, writers, and any business people responsible for communications should call on prospective customers to act. Not sure how? Read more.
Try it now: 10 CTA examples you can use
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Every communication has a job to do. You don’t have to ask for a sale every time. But, use each communication to ask for an action, engagement, or a result that achieves both your objective and theirs.
It’s easy, and it will immediately make your communications more effective. Whatever you do, close every prospect.