Sales Funnels

If you’re in business, then you are constantly on the lookout for new business possibilities. No matter what business you are in, its survival will depend on being able to bring in leads all the time.

Sales funnels are one of the best ways to generate those leads.

There are a lot of different platforms you can use to set up sales funnels. It all depends on your specific needs and requirements. For example, sales funnels on Clickfunnels is a complete start to finish guide on setting them up to launching them while on other available platforms like leadpages and kartra, their approaches are there to accommodate different needs that people have.

But what makes sales funnels so ideal is because they are marketing tactics that are used to convert your possible customers into your committed buyers, over and over again. Right about now you may be thinking “but I have a website” – and that is great, but if you are looking to convert visitors and passersby into actual revenue-generating customers, then your website alone is just not going to cut it.

Sales funnels have specific goals and objectives in mind and focus on directing traffic to a particular product/service you are looking for people to purchase. So while websites are more of a general idea of what your business does, sales funnels are telling people 1) We know you have ‘this’ problem 2) Here is how much this problem is annoying you and 3) Here is how WE can help you fix this problem.

Your objective in having that precious sales funnel is guiding your potential customers through each ‘stage’ of the sales process that leads to a purchase and informs them along the way while earning their trust and lastly, showing the solution you are offering works.

You are winning people over instead of just saying what you do. This is why your sales funnel has to achieve what it is set out to do – SELL!

The sales funnel is the start of a (hopefully) long-term relationship with customers and your brand who go from saying “who are you and why are you talking to me”, to “here, take my money!”

Why the name?

Ever seen a funnel? I mean an actual funnel. Wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. That is the principle behind this marketing strategy because at the top you have all your potential clients and way down at the bottom are those committed buyers.

How it works & how it will help your business

To understand the concept, it is important for you to understand the process. So, here goes:

At The Top:

Right at the top of the funnel, no one is going to know who you are so the idea behind this part of the process is to create that awareness of who you are. Your goal here is to create awareness and interest. Get your name out there, create a buzz around you and be sure to communicate to the outside world what your brand is and what it stands for. So, if you are not all about the social media scene, it is time to get with it and start creating that content for people to associate with who you are and what you have to offer.

This part is not about who knows you but about getting people to know you and growing your online influence. Decide what kind of business you want to create and honor that decision to each and every single customer and remember the type of content you choose to supply your potential customers with is not what you feel like offering, it is about what your clients want and will find of value.

This stage of the funnel is where you must also make sure you have a snazzy looking, functional website and a landing page that has traffic driven to it in order to introduce your brand to your key demographic market. Landing pages serve the purpose of collecting leads which you will guide through your sales funnel (after all, what’s a funnel if there is no one to see it?).

These landing pages will offer something like a newsletter or free guide/video/audio/case study of some kind so that people are getting something in return for becoming a lead. Free content of value is a winner – always.

Middle:

Right, so now that you have introduced yourself and your brand to your potentials, the idea is to continue working on that relationship. You’ve got their attention, now is the time to build on that and drive them towards committing to your brand.

This part of the funnel is where those people who once did not know who you were, are settling in and getting to know you so now is not the time to under-deliver. If you’ve promised content – supply it and get to forming that relationship. Think of it as a bonding process.

Consistency is your keyword here because if you have promised something, you need to deliver but also you need to be earning their trust. You are nurturing them so that they continue to stick around and will be ready for you to usher them into the next stage of the sales process.

The absolute best thing you can offer your potential clients here is you. So be genuine, helpful, encourage them to talk to you and offer feedback, ask questions and basically interact on a regular basis.

Down at the bottom:

Well done, by now you should have successfully earned your potential client’s trust. You have promised and offered them free content, you supplied it as promised and you interacted with them allowing them to get to know who you are and what you are about.

So it’s now that you introduce that valuable service you are in fact selling and get them from being potential clients to happy customers. It’s at this point where you are going to offer your clients a solution to the problem you have learnt they have. It is decision time on the part of your clients too because you have proven to them that what you are offering is legitimate (through your useful content) and now they need to take the leap and grab that extraordinary valuable service/product you are offering.

How to ensure your sales funnel converts

Having a sales funnel is one thing but having a converting sales funnel is where it’s at.

After all, this is why you are using this lead generation tactic to bring in new business.

It’s not enough to just have a sales funnel, the key is getting it to become a lead generation and conversion machine!

So in order to get the funnel to convert, there are 3 main areas you need to look into.

1. Your Hook

This is the thing that is going to get people’s attention and stop them from scrolling through endless cat memes and instead pay attention to what you are offering them. Your hook is the first chance you have to grab people’s attention. Remember that even if you are running targeted ads to the people who would be interested in your business, you still need to appeal to them.

Making sure your hook is something that really interrupts their mindless scrolling is the first chance you have to accumulating those leads.

And remember, that the hook is not just the ad. The hook is also in your landing page and again in your sales page and every other page where you require the lead to take action – whether it’s filling in a form or completing a purchase.

2) Get your story right

This is the next very important thing you need to focus on in order to make your funnel conversion-friendly. Everyone loves a story. But people need to be able to relate to something before they invest anything in it.

Your story is the connection between the problem your leads are having, how you can relate to that problem, how you overcame it and then how you are helping people overcome their problem. Your story needs to be relatable, compelling and do its job of breaking that ice with your lead. If people see through the story, they will not continue in your funnel and if it’s too dramatic, people will not believe it.

You want to be believable but still, create that element of climax.

• 3) Your offer

  This is also a really important point in ensuring your funnel can convert.

  Once you’ve hooked and related to the lead, you need to present a killer offer that they just won’t be able to say no to. If your offer falls short of their expectations, they will drop out your funnel process.

  If people are not going for your offer, you need to change it to suit the market you are targeting.

  Getting these three points right will not only help you bring in the right kind of leads and clients to your business but provide great help in bringing them in on its own.

  Getting a high converting funnel will take some tweaking but once you get all the moving bits right, your lead generation will go through the roof.