If potential customers frequently get in touch with you but rarely close the deals, you might want to try the 3 Buckets strategy. Read this article to find out what it is and how to use it!
Some businesses might receive many well-qualified leads but fail to turn them into actual customers. If this is your case, you might want to try the 3 Buckets strategy. As soon as you get a new lead, you should assign it to one of the three categories, also known as buckets. Read this article to find out how to do it and how you can benefit from the strategy!
The First Bucket: Prospects with Very Tight Budgets
This bucket mostly consists of employees or entrepreneurs whose business is just trying to take off. Such customers strive to buy your product as cheaply as possible. They might know little about your industry and they might be interested in learning about the value or ROI you can deliver. They can afford to spend only what they earn.
At first sight, it might seem that such clients can’t bring a large profit to you. But that’s only an illusion. They act not as decision-makers but as information gatherers. You should respond to them as promptly as you can and do the following:
- Acknowledge their interest
- Express your gratitude for the fact that they included you in their search
- Loop in their superiors or spouses
Once you get in touch with a decision-maker behind this person, you can discuss other benefits of your product with them, apart from the price. Your goal is to move the sale up the food chain.
The Second Bucket: Contacts Who Manage Budgets
Prospects from the second bucket differ from their counterparts in the first one in the following ways:
- They aren’t evaluating your goods or services against their own salaries
- They are looking for reliable partners or suppliers
They can afford to spend the budget that was approved by their supervisors. They try to make the best decisions possible because it might lead to bonuses, raises or advancement for them. Such clients are highly project-oriented. They will be ready to pay a sum that is enough to fix their current pains. You’ll have good chances of working with them in the future.
To make such customers happy, you should help them to find a quick win. Try to put yourself in their shoes, understand what success means for them and help them to achieve it. Find out which metrics or deliverables are crucial for them. Try to get to know them as closely as possible. Your primary goal is not making a large sale immediately but opening the door for more collaboration going forward.
The Third Bucket: Managers and Entrepreneurs Who Are Motivated by Business Growth
The last bucket consists predominantly of decision-makers — that is, executives in the V- and C- suites. Compared to the representatives of the first two buckets, such clients have the following characteristic features:
- Can afford to spend larger sums
- Are ready to take larger risks
- Strive to outperform their competitors and need advanced tools to achieve this goal
This doesn’t mean that they would be ready to spend any sum on any product that you offer them. They will be very selective — but they will be ready to listen to you. They expect to see results from their investment as quickly as possible and they want to hear about big plans.
Let’s imagine a situation where you’re trying to sell a tool that enables businesses to create a lightbox popup on any page of their site. You should compose an informative presentation of your product. You should convince the customer that you have all the necessary skills and your business reputation is impeccable. Plus, you should talk about the big picture: what’s the role of the product in the current business landscape and what it means for the whole marketing industry. You shouldn’t focus too much on the details because you’ll discuss them with other representatives of your customer company.
How to Use the This Strategy to Convert Leads Into Sales
Once you’ve separated client inquiries into three distinct buckets, you can build a template and a playbook for each of them. These documents should enable you to connect with your customers and make them interested in your products. You should convince them that you recognize their individual needs and know how to fix their pains.
Over time, you’ll be able to identify the needs and demands of any client almost immediately when they get in touch with you. You’ll always know which direction to choose for your conversation.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you found this article informative and now you better understand how to convert leads into customers with the help of the 3 Buckets strategy. You should separate all your potential clients into three categories: individuals with a limited budget, project-oriented managers who need their decisions to be approved by supervisors, and high-level decision-makers. You should fine-tune your communication strategy for each type of customer and this approach should enable you to boost your sales.
