Sometimes it helps to just write down your sales funnel process with pen and paper so you can actually SEE it. There are many ways to construct a sales funnel, but for now let’s talk about a simple yet effective way to build it out.
Everything You Need:
- Blog Post (could be video, audio, text)
- Free Offer (lead magnet)
- An Introductory Offer
- A Core Offer
- LeadPages or OptimizePress (or if you are a designer you can use your skills and WordPress only)
- Autoresponder (I use AWeber)
- Emails To Follow Up
Before you get started you must have a good think. What are you ultimately selling? You want to lead your prospects on a journey…..and the journey must be in order.
For example, if you’re dining out (and you live in the USA) then you usually start out with an appetizer followed by a salad, your main meal, and then dessert. You don’t start out with dessert (not talking about exceptions here lol).
The sales funnel is the same way…you want to start off with something that speaks to part of the problem your ideal clients are having and then leads them on to the next step.
This five step sales funnel is designed to give great free content up front so you’re prospects can get an idea of your expertise and credibility so they can know, like and trust you faster.
So before you begin the process, you want to think about what you’re selling and then get in your client’s shoes and think about where they are and where they want to go.
The Five Steps Broken Down
Blog Content – This can be in any form – video, audio, written text. The goal here is to create a post that gives a ton of value and introduces your visitor to the problem they are having and possible ways to solve it. This part is key to the overall five steps for two reasons: you are giving great value for free and it is part of the ad strategy listed below.
Examples that work: Top 5 Mistakes, 3 Myths, 7 Steps to xyz
Freebie Offer – You want to get your visitors on your email list and ideally from the blog post. So the free offer should be something very related to the blog post.
Examples that work: Checklist, Worksheet, or Tips Report
Introductory Offer – Ultimately you want the person who signs up to your email list to become a customer. The introductory offer is designed to do just that. After they sign up they are taken to a page and given a low cost intro offer that helps them with the overall problem they are experiencing. The introductory offer is great for two reasons: it turns visitors into customers and customers are easier to sell to and it provides funding for advertising.
Examples that work: A smaller portion of your core offer, a How To Guide, a Mini Course
Advertising – Advertising is a critical part of this sales funnel process. Ads allow you to automate lead generation, get targeted leads quickly, and grow your business much faster than if you didn’t use them. I would experiment with all social media ads, but pick one platform first.
Facebook ads are proven to be effective for coaches and service providers so start there.
You’ll want to create a two types of ads:
- One ad will send people to your blog post. I recently found out that it has been much cheaper to send people to a blog post than to a opt-in page (not always, but sometimes). You can also experiment sending traffic directly to your opt-in page.
- The other ad will retarget people who went to your blog post – asking them if they signed for your free offer (which you had in the blog post).
Core Offer and Follow Up – The money is in the follow up. You want to lead your customers to buy your core offer. This is the more comprehensive offer you have. You will set up two email lists; one for customers and one for prospects. You’ll want to send different emails to each type of person.
Make sure to turn on list automation in your autoresponder so when a prospect becomes a customer they get automatically unsubscribed from the prospect email list. Craft an email sequence of about 7-10 emails over the course of two weeks for the initial round of getting people to ultimately purchase your core offer. These emails will be a mix of pure content, testimonials, case studies, and other info you think they will need in order to make a buying decision. See my report Automated Email Funnels for more info.
Here are a couple of examples just to give you an idea of how this could work.
Putting This To Work: Coaching Example
Fitness Coach for New Moms…
- Core Offer: 90 Days Fit Mom Rockin’ Body
- Intro Offer: 7 Day Fast Fat Loss Challenge (The Healthy Way) – Mini Course
- Freebie Offer: Checklist (What Foods To Eat and Which Ones To Stay Away From)
- Blog Post: 5 Fat Loss Myths For Moms (And What To Do Instead)
Putting This To Work: Service Pro Example
Facebook Ads Consultant
- Core Offer: Strategy Sessions or Done For You Facebook Ads
- Intro Offer: Targeting For Effective FB Ads Mini Course
- Freebie Offer: 7 Step Checklist (Don’t Miss A Thing)
- Blog Post: 7 Simple Steps To Ads That Convert
Okay, now it’s your turn! How can you best lead your audience into a sales funnel that converts? Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!