by Dawn-Marie Nesbitt
About a month ago, I had the pleasure of working with a best-selling real estate author who wanted to start using social media to promote his business online.
He was the old school type so getting clients was through word of mouth and personal referrals.
As a digital marketing strategist, my objective was to help him find a presence online. His dilemma however, was that he was struggling to get leads for his business after spending nearly $600 in advertising.
When I did an audit of his sales process, I came to know that he was not using a sales funnel.
I have seen many businesses try to sell a product or service online but fail to have a sales funnel system in place.
In short, a sales funnel is a guided path that you take your prospect through that leads them to take a desired action, which may be to book a consultation or to make a purchase.
What happens however when you do not use a sales funnel, is that you leave a lot of money on the table.
If you are trying to promote your business online and you are not getting the results you want, here are five reasons why you should start using a sales funnel.
1. For the potential consumer or client, visiting a website is like a distraction. There are too many options available and you do not have the control over their navigation.
However, when you send your visitor through a sales funnel, they only see the information that you want them to see. So if your aim is to generate more sales, a sales funnel can be used strategically, to deliver a message in a clear and definitive way.
2. A sales funnel helps to capture your ideal audience. Not everyone who visits your website is your perfect client.
A sales funnel allows you to connect with people who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer so you do not waste time speaking to those that do not matter.
If you think about the shape of an actual funnel, it is bigger at the top and gets smaller at the bottom. In your own business, when you use a sales funnel, you make it easy to communicate with the people that are likely to take action.
As the funnel gets smaller, the chance of speaking to your perfect client gets bigger and you have a better opportunity at closing that precious sale that you are after.
3. More and more people are looking for ways that they can step away from their business and have it run without much effort.
With a sales funnel in place, you are able to automate the lead generation and sales conversion phase to a degree.
It may take some human interaction, such as talking directly to your prospects to educate and nurture them.
What if you could have a constant flow of leads coming into your business and your sales funnel is working for you to help narrow your audience to the ones that matter.
Would that help you to focus on other important things to grow your business?
An automated sales funnel is ideal for most businesses that want to lessen the workload. The best way to create an automated sales funnel is to ensure that you convey your message clearly with a video.
A typical automated sales funnel looks like this:
Lead capture page or opt in page where your prospect provides their name and contact details in exchange for your freebie, otherwise known as a lead magnet.
Bridge page, which is the second page after the lead capture page. Here you will provide a short video of ten to fifteen minutes where you deliver the message that you want your prospect to hear. This might include telling them why they are watching the video, calling out their problems, teaching them something of value related to your niche, outlining a solution and recommending your product or service as the solution.
Sales page where you invite the lead to make the purchase of your product or service to alleviate their problem.
4. The nurturing process is easier. As a business, the closer the relationship you have with your prospect, the more likely they are to become your customer.
A sales funnel ensures that you are building the relationship from day one.
From the time your prospect enters the funnel, they get to meet the owner behind the brand. If you have a great back-end follow up system and they are hearing from you consistently, nine times out of ten the trust is built and strengthened to encourage a sale.
5. Finally, a sales funnel ensures that your sales are consistent. If you know how many leads it takes to generate a sale, you will know how much effort you should place on your lead generation.
The good thing about this is that you can increase your efforts and technically engineer your monthly income when you know the metrics of your sales funnel.
Sales funnels are an absolute necessity if you want your business to consistently build relationships with your prospects and close more sales. Any business can use a sales funnel and if you are not using one, I highly recommend that you get one set up today.
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Dawn-Marie Nesbitt is a blogger and digital marketing strategist. As a blogger she provides useful tips and advice to help people create a successful online enterprise.
As a digital marketing strategist she helps business owners grow their business online using up to date online and social media strategies.
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