A sales funnel is essentially the ideal path you want potential buyers to take to become your customer. This tool allows you to track your customer journey from prospect to purchase. While this might initially sound “salesy” and seem like it doesn’t apply to your business, all of us in every industry need to have a sense of our sales funnel and how to leverage it for business success. Let’s dive into how to master your sales funnel.
Stages of a Sales Funnel
Most traditional sales funnels will follow a journey similar to what I’ve mapped out below with the top of the funnel being the widest (awareness) and the bottom (action/conversion) being narrower as your ideal customer moves down the path.
Awareness – prospect becomes aware of your business and products/services
Interest– prospect shows interest in your product/service (this can happen through various forms on engagement)
Desire – prospects demonstrates a desire to purchase when they determine your product/service will meet their needs
Action/Conversion – prospect converts into a customer by making a purchase
Optimizing your Sales Funnel
While I could go into great detail about managing and optimizing each stage of your funnel, today I simply want to give you 5 key things you need to be doing right to ensure your sales funnel is working for you. (Tips courtesy of our friends at Storybrand)
- Brand One Liner – We help X do Y. Knowing and crafting a brand one-liner is absolutely essential. You need to have a message that resonates with your audience clearly and effectively.
- Website – You must have a website. It doesn’t need to be fancy or cost you tens of thousands of dollars, but you need a website to give prospective customers a place to find you, learn about you and purchase from you.
- Lead Generator – We need to offer something of value to your customer that gives them a sample of how your service/ product is the solution to their problem. This could be a coupon, free download, consultation, etc.
- Sales Emails – Having a sequence of 1-3 auto-emails sharing how you solve their problem, giving social proof and benefits you can offer if they purchase with you helps move prospects down your funnel.
- Nurture Emails – These ongoing emails will nurture your customers after they make a purchase to continue giving value and create loyalty and retention.
Steps to master your sales funnel
I know reading all of this can seem daunting and it can be hard to know where to start, but it’s easier than it seems to master your sales funnel. So here’s a few tips to get you moving in the right direction to get that sales funnel working for you.
Map out your customer journey
First things first, map out your customer’s journey. From “they just discovered you exist” (including all the ways they might find you) to “they made a purchase”. You need to very clearly understand this process so you can uncover where you are lacking, where you rock and how to implement effective strategies for success.
Figure out where you are lacking
Once you map out your customer journey, next you need to figure out where you are lacking. Are you struggling to get customers “in your door”? Is your conversion rate from prospect to customer low? Can you close the sale, but find your repeat business isn’t great?
Identifying where in your funnel you are in need of a boost will allow you to focus your strategies. Awareness issues mean you need to cast a bigger net and find ways to acquire more leads. Whereas an action or conversion issue indicates you need to focus your efforts on giving your prospects more information on how you can help they so they feel compelled to purchase.
Take it one step at a time
If you are thinking “I haven’t done any of those 5 things mentioned above”, don’t worry start with step one. Everything starts with your brand one-liner, so take time to map out one that works. If you need help with this, reach out to us, schedule a meeting with a business advisor, or you can even attend our upcoming FREE Test It workshops where we will dive into this a bit.
Once you get that brand one-liner down, work your way down the list of those 5 things and in no time you will be rocking an effective sales funnel.
Focus your efforts
Sales funnels are an essential part of running a successful business, without them you will just be throwing strategies at the wall to see what will stick. And as busy entrepreneurs we don’t have time to waste. So work through the steps and tips in this post, master your sales funnel, and set yourself up for success. If you are stuck or would just like to bounce ideas off someone, reach out. We are here to help!
