What's A Sales Funnel?

  Written by Adam Taha on Jan 10, 2012 11:33 am

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What is a sales funnel?

I was walking with my wife to do some shopping. She said, all we going to buy was some a couple of pint of milk and break, and get some roast chicken.

One hour later, I was carrying 3 full bags of shopping. Stuff that wasn't on the list. Instead of it coming to £10.00, it came to £22.96.

Your shopping centre has a sales funnel, they are masters on customer behaviour. No matter which one you got to - they record and anaylise and see how they can flow, persuade, and move customers to where they want to be.

To make more sales. Notice the sweets are also at the counter. They do not miss a chance with their 'get one and two for free.'

So even a shopping maul has what we call different layers, leading you from small items to larger products.

The Definition Of A Sales Funnel In Tradtional Businesses
The traditional business startup can start from $50,000+ but not so for developing one online.

However, it will get to such a stage because you need to invest in knowledge, training, mentorship, courses, marketing system.

In the long run you will pay up to $50,000 to ensure you develop a true business system.

The question then is how do you get capital to sustain your business?

If we look at a traditional business and mortar sense, we see a sales funnel .It is where you have different levels or what we call layers. The purpose in traditional sense can be different.

• A product like skin care, acne treatment, perfume, ebook, training.
• A business opportunity where you attract leads to recruit and sponsor.
• It can be a process where one of the layers is to develop a solution to lead a solution.
• It can lead to a contact form to make an appointment.
• Leads to a purchase order or bookings.
• Or even to engage first to propose a solution to an audience and later lead deeper into the next layer to take action in purchasing the solution you design.

However, we are now online, using the Internet and what you'll find from just this definition is you'll leave a lot of money on the table.

So let's tighten these layers to work faster and with the way we can use the Internet.

1. If you're starting off with not knowing what solution to create for your niche you can:

• Get your prospects to first land on a page to optin to share their opinions.
• In doing so, you are not second guessing and find out what their needs are.
• .You've captured leads.
• It is easier to now engage your audience through email marketing,
•  To lead back to the conversation and the sale.

In the traditional marketing, you would send a direct mail and hope they'd fill the information in, or at least read it.

To phone up and find they haven't even done anything. You then lose any communication and you left money on the table.

It also takes a lot of money and you'll need to test by sending to different areas to see which copy works best.

2. In traditional business and mortar of booking appointments you again advertise. You'll call and try to get bookings or hope someone will walk into your shop.

Online you can attract leads to

• A blog post
• Revealing information about their problem. 
• Which then engages your audience to a call of action by clicking on a link.
• This link will lead to an optin for valuable information about their problem.
• Which leads to book an appointment with you for consultation.
• Or you can call and lead your prospect to the bookings.

You also achieve one important stage.

You again captured the lead. Two, you have them on your list to email to educate and keep in touch.

Three, you can bring them back to engage and lead to the booking an appointment and even a sale of a product or service.
.
3. Let's look at product whether it is selling Acne treatment or hair treatment.
With the internet sales funnel, you can create a PPC campaign which will lead to a landing page about the problem and solution.

• You can engage your audience to share what solutions they will need
• Ask What they have already tried
• Why they were dissappointment.
• And what to do next without you being there.

These steps will have the following components:

• Landing page with headline revealing the question
• Video explaining the problem and what's next
• Optin form to qualify for more information
• Call of action button.

You can then gather the information and create information product to sell at the front end of your propsal.

This generates the cash flow but it needs to be valuable and the niche needs it. You lead by educating your audience and this builds the trust and how you're an authority in your field.

Later, you can get your prospects on phone and lead them to the primary company's product.

That's when you use

• Email marketing to lead to a blog post
• Thje headline of an article revealing the proposition
• The link which leads to the sales letter
• The testimonials to help your prospect evaluate the product
• The call of action to take the shopping order

You can also engage your audience to try a sample with a fee, which filters any tire kicker who is just looking for free stuff.

And when the sample is delivered, you have now the opportunity to make a phone call to a prospect who has the need, who has tried or has got your sample.

Giving you the reason and the real posture to call and ask mroe questions to lead later to a sale.

4. In traditional business, you will talk about a solution. You will try and propose one and handle the objections..

But online, your sales copy becomes the proposition.

Your headline raising the solution and pain.

The article becomes the sales rep who handles the objections, which leads to a call of action and again can lead to a different product altogether but still relevant to acne.

That proposition can be a full website on the very niches need.

And even if the MLM company you are with has strict internet policies, you just write about the subject, the problem not the product name, or company name.

Then lead to a call of action for booking or to get further information, which leads to..

• A phone call to ask questions on the prospects problem
• Help them to know why the problem exist
• What remedy is needed
• And reveal a solution = sale.

All of this can be automated and you can pick up the phone only when the prospect has qualified, and taken action.

You can tighen the process so you know the prospect qualifies - and you're not wasting time.

In traditional business and mortar, a sales is the end. The customer walks into the shop and buys the products and walks out.

But with a sales marketing system online the sale is a process.

It is...

1. The first step and entrance.
2. You build relationship by email and bring them back to your blog.
3. It is a process to develop the brand, trust and authority.
4. To attract more sales and even...referall.

The first step of a sales funnel as we've seen many a times before, can be completely free entry. Where a prospect optins in and gets a free ebook.

Or a 7 free videos.

So it is the first step of entry. It is not the end but an ongoing process which leads to sale 1, 2, 3, 4, and more. It can lead to referrals from the client who already bought from you.

If you want to know how to create your own marketing strategy for your a sales funnel and get it all built, then have a talk with people who I've mentored.

They have their own sales funnel which they own and they've built it.

Very skilled and specialised and awesome people too. Amazing people to talk to and do business with and John walker has his own service to build sales funnels fast and in a matter of 14 days.

But you need to first have a marketing strategy, know exactly where you're going with it.

Wayne Hatter is a specialist on Wordpress, so if you got techy issues with wordpress, he's the man to hire.

Talk to John Walker.

Talk to Wayne Hatter.

There are others but that will do for now to get you started to talk to people, see their website and get an idea what it takes.

Adam Taha

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