When I review a company’s marketing, I nearly always find a few quick wins.
Small things that take less than an hour to fix…
but quietly make it much easier for customers to say yes.
Now, this doesn’t mean the quick wins are the most important work we’ll do.
Often the biggest impact comes from the bigger strategic projects - refining your positioning, improving your messaging, redesigning a website, building campaigns, or developing a long-term marketing plan.
But those things can take time to implement, and even longer to show results. That can be frustrating for business owners.
Quick wins, on the other hand, can produce small improvements almost immediately. They might increase enquiries slightly, remove friction from the sales process, or simply make your marketing clearer.
Those early improvements often give people confidence that the strategy is working while we tackle the bigger projects.
In my book The Marketing Machine, I describe marketing as the process of making it really easy for profitable customers to buy from you. And many quick wins are simply about removing the small uncertainties that stop people moving forward.
Now, these won’t necessarily be the highest-impact marketing activities for your business. To determine that properly you need to do a thorough strategic review.
But these are the things I see missing surprisingly often when reviewing websites and marketing materials.
And when they’re missing, they quietly slow down your sales process.
1. Answer the Questions Buyers Are Already Asking
One thing I see surprisingly often when reviewing websites is a page that says something like:
"Here’s what we do for our clients. Contact us to find out more."
That approach might have worked twenty years ago. But it doesn’t work now.
Today’s buyers expect to be able to research properly before they speak to anyone. They want to understand how something works, what the process looks like, what results they might expect, and whether you’re the right fit for them.
If that information isn’t available, most people won’t pick up the phone to ask. They’ll simply keep looking. Your competitors are only a few clicks away.
In other words, unanswered questions create uncertainty - and uncertainty slows down buying decisions.
A simple quick win is to make sure your website answers the questions people already ask you.
Think about the questions that come up repeatedly on sales calls or in enquiries:
- How long does the process take?
- What does working with you actually involve?
- Who is this suitable for?
- What results can people expect?
- What happens after we start?
Those answers should be easy to find on your website.
Not only does this make life easier for potential customers, it also means that when someone does book a call with you, they already have a good understanding of what you do.
2. Make the Next Step Obvious (and Easy)
I worked with a client recently who had a good website and plenty of traffic, but very few enquiries.
When I looked at the site, the only ways to get in touch were an email form and a phone number.
That sounds reasonable enough… but both options create uncertainty.
People start wondering things like:
- What exactly should I ask?
- What if I don’t fully understand my problem yet?
- When will they reply?
- What if they phone me when I’m busy?
Those small doubts are often enough to make people pause. And when people pause in their decision-making, they often drift away.
We added a simple “Book a Call” button linked to their diary so visitors could schedule a convenient time to talk.
Almost immediately, enquiries increased.
Often this works even better when you combine it with the previous quick win. If your website already answers lots of common questions, people feel far more confident about booking that call.
3. Show Evidence That You Deliver Results
When someone is considering buying from you, they’re usually asking themselves a very simple question:
“Has this worked for someone like me?”
Testimonials and case studies answer that question.
And yet I regularly review websites for excellent businesses that have little or no social proof on their site.
I once reviewed the website of a brilliant consultancy firm. They had an excellent reputation and a long list of happy clients. But when I looked at the website, there wasn’t a single testimonial anywhere.
Within a week we had several strong testimonials and case studies on the site, explaining the problems their clients had faced and the results they’d achieved.
The difference to the credibility of the website was immediate.
When potential customers can see that people similar to them have had a good experience, it significantly reduces the perceived risk of working with you.
The most effective case studies usually include:
- the problem the client had
- what working with you was like
- the results they achieved
Testimonials work because they remove uncertainty. They show prospects that people similar to them have trusted you - and got good results.
4. Create Something Useful You Can Send to Prospects
Many businesses mean to create a guide or resource for potential customers but keep putting it off because they assume it needs to be a huge project.
It doesn’t.
A useful resource might be something as simple as:
- a short guide
- a checklist
- a “what to expect when working with us” document
- a buyer’s guide
- a list of questions someone should ask before choosing a supplier
The goal is to create something genuinely helpful that demonstrates your expertise and helps prospects understand the problem you solve. A good guide answers questions and builds confidence before the conversation even begins.
Once you have it, you can use it in lots of ways:
- sending it to new enquiries
- reaching out to old leads
- supporting a cold outreach campaign
- sharing it on social media
- offering it on your website
- printing it as a giveaway for exhibitions or events
It’s a relatively small piece of content that can do a surprising amount of work for you.
5. Use Checklists and Templates to Stay Consistent
Some of the best quick wins are internal.
Simple checklists and templates can make your marketing and sales processes much more consistent.
For example:
- a checklist of questions to ask on an initial call
- a checklist for pitch meetings
- a checklist for onboarding new clients
- email templates for responding to enquiries or sending proposals
These don’t just save time. They ensure that every prospect gets a clear and consistent experience when interacting with your business.
You can even share parts of these processes publicly.
For example, explaining on your website what will happen on the first call or what information you’ll ask for. That transparency often helps people feel much more comfortable taking the next step.
Consistency matters because it reduces uncertainty for your prospects. They know what to expect and what will happen next.
Small Changes That Make It Easier to Say Yes
None of these changes are huge strategic projects.
But they remove the small moments of uncertainty that often slow down buying decisions.
Most businesses don’t lose sales because their product is wrong or their service is poor.
They lose them because small doubts cause buyers to hesitate.
And when people hesitate, they often drift away.
In my book The Marketing Machine, I talk about designing marketing as a system that makes it really easy for profitable customers to buy from you.
Quick wins like these are often the first step - small improvements that remove friction and build momentum while you work on the bigger strategic pieces.
If you’re looking for somewhere to start, pick one of these quick wins and implement it this week.
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