Sales funnels are getting bigger and bigger right now, and the simple reason for it is that they work.
There, I said it, sales funnels just work.
Jokes aside and more serious matters into focus, as I will be explaining to you today exactly why and how sales funnels work, and give you a little insight into optimizing your very own sales funnel to capitalize on that traffic you’re getting.
Your Sales Funnel – What is it?
Your sales funnel is the process your potential customers go through when they turn from your visitors out on the internet into paying customers.
From the dude walking in the street, to the other dude walking into your ice-cream shop.
This can also be called the sales process, but the sales funnel term comes from the visual representation of that very same process in the form of a funnel.
Additionally, a sales process is a more accurate and a company specific process, where as a sales funnel is a more general presentation of the steps in the process.
The funnel can be divided into two main sections:
- Outershell (Front End)
- Innershell (Back End)
Truth be told, that is a highly simplified version of the funnel, but it does introduce you the concept of a sales process well.
A Working Example of a Sales Funnel
Imagine a telemarketer, that annoying person you hate, but who still keeps calling you in the hopes of moving you to the next step in their sales funnel.
That’s right, telemarketers go through a specific sales process given to them by experts who’ve designed it for them too.
When they get your number, you become a lead.
Depending on the way they get it, you might already be a prospect.
For example if you’ve signed up as a tester for a product, and given them your contact information in exchange for the product.
That means you are already convinced (hopefully) that the product is awesome, and you subconsciously wish to purchase it.
All you need is that little nudge, which is what the call may be for.
But let’s stick to the usual version of a telemarketer’s sales process, which means they got your number from a shared database somewhere and you definitely aren’t interested.
When the telemarketer calls you they are contacting a lead, in this case you, and promoting the product to turn you into a prospect, a potential buyer that is.
For the sake of this example let’s assume you would be interested in a fantastic vacuum cleaner that is on sale, and say “please tell me more” to the telemarketer.
First of all, they’ve now moved you to the list of potential buyers (this might mean you’ll never get rid of the callers, sorry)
They’ll just keep on calling from now on attempting to close the sale.
Secondly, what happens next is they try to persuade you to take the final step in their sales process, and that is slide out through the narrow end of the funnel and straight into the opening, which in this case is a fantastic vacuum cleaner guaranteed to break down the week after you get it.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
If you do make the purchase, whether it’s due to feeling sorry for the telemarketer or due to not knowing of this magnificent place called the “internet” (which you could have used to find a better vacuum cleaner for a lower price), you’ve successfully gone through their sales funnel.
From a lead to a customer, that is how a simple sales funnel works.
Smart Sales Funnels
Of course, it’s the digital age, so we must have the word ‘smart’ stuck into everything.
We’ve got smartphones and smart TVs, so why not smart sales funnels?
A smart sales funnel basically represents the whole traditional sales funnel packed into a single website that automatically recognizes the visitor, showing them only the features and factors that correspond with their place in the sales funnel.
A smart sales funnel can include sending custom email sequences to that individual, specific ads at specific times (retargeting) and much more…
A perfect example of this can be found on the website of Crazyegg themselves, which takes you easily and without any further distractions from their homepage to the checkout with only one stop in between the two, and that is the pricing page.
Simplicity and effectiveness are two key concepts in their smart sales funnel, and it definitely works.
Now, I said sales funnels are hotter than ever right now, the whole concept has smart sales funnels to thank for the number of interested people being on the rise.
Sliced bread is great, but…
You know the feeling when you don’t have to cut the bread anymore, since you can just grab a slice and be done with it?
Yeah, that’s a great feeling.
But, there’s a problem with that concept, because what if you want a thicker slice than what comes out of the bag?
For you to be able to influence the thickness of the bread slices you’d have to either work at a bakery, or bake the bread at home.
There’s a problem with both of the alternatives, the first one’s being that I highly doubt bakers read this blog.
If you are a baker reading this, good for you, but you would prefer not being a baker, am I right? That’s what you’ve come here to learn, getting rid of your day job.
The problem with the latter one is that it’s completely counterproductive.
You want to save time by being able to just grab a slice of bread, but you now have to bake it yourself to get it perfect.
That’s not exactly saving time, and you should just purchase a loaf of bread that is still in one piece.
With sales funnels, you can get the best of both worlds without having to compromise your productivity.
When designing and building your own funnel, you can perfect it by A/B testing to convert your leads into customers, and then just reap the rewards of that sweetly built funnel of yours.
Think of a sales funnel as your own personal baker. You had to teach it how to make, handle and slice your bread, but once it’s done right, you can sit back and enjoy that delicious slice of bread.
Just like a sales funnel, once you’ve crafted a profitable and converting sales funnel, you can sit back and run traffic to that funnel and just reap the rewards.
And why does it work?
You might be wondering why a sales funnel works, because you hate telemarketers and always slice your own bread. Well, in that case you might have missed the point of the article, but I’ll try and bring you back on track with a little explaining.
Sales funnels don’t always work like they were magic.
Oh no, they take hard work and skill to set up just right.
However, when you get there (to a break even funnel), your sales funnel will work like magic and bring in those juicy leads and convert them into customers for you.
So why is that?
First of all, your sales funnel, smart or not (although especially the smart sales funnels do this) will cater to a problem your lead has.
The reason they are on that website of yours is because you have something they want, which you generally you some sort of bait or content to attract them with.
Secondly, since they want something you are offering, it is easy for you to slightly nudge them into the right direction with a free offer or a polite introduction.
Make your visitor feel welcome and at ease.
Thirdly, they’ve now grown fond of you and trust you blindly (or at least that’s the ideal scenario), and you can sell anything you want to them.
Just tell them they’ll need it and they’ll buy it, lovely isn’t it?
Without the sarcasm the reason why sales funnels work is simple:
They offer the visitor a personalized and welcoming reception, with a clear focus on how they benefit from your product, and why they should trust you instead of the other guy.If you show the right offer to the right audience, you have yourself a customer.
DIY Sales Funnel
Now that you know what sales funnels are, how they work and even why they work, it’s time to start building you your very own sales funnel.
To begin with, you need a source of traffic.
Whether this is social media or paid advertising, it’s up to you.
Just make sure your traffic is suitable for your purposes, because un-targeted traffic doesn’t qualify as a valid lead due to them not really wanting to have anything to do with you or your product.
Next you need to form the basis of your sales funnel.
These days this will usually mean a website, but with the launch of ClickFunnels, that’s all you’ll need to get building.
ClickFunnels allows you to build your own landing pages and sales opportunities with an easy to use graphical interface.
It also allows you to split test and fine tune everything that is included in your funnel, which is extremely useful, as optimizing is the key to maximizing your revenue.
Remember, test, test. test!
Finally, after you’re done building your first funnel, you are ready to start testing and optimizing!
Final Words…
In this post I introduced you to the definition and concept of a sales funnel, explained why smart sales funnels are the smart choice, and taught you the basic steps required to build your own sales funnel.
Please don’t think of sales funnel building as something that is really easy and simple, after all I explained it in only six steps, but remember that the professionals out there are constantly updating and optimizing their funnels for better results, and they’ve been at it for years!
Every business uses a sales funnel, whether they know it or not.
Have you used a sales funnel to grow an email list or build your prospect list? How effective has it been for you? Let me know in the comments below.
ClickFunnels Action Steps
Check out this walkthrough to see how easy it is to create a sales funnel with ClickFunnels:
How to Create a New Funnel
Step 1: Log in to your ClickFunnels account.
Step 2: Click Add New Funnel on your dashboard
Step 3: Create your new funnel accordingly
1. Choose Collect Emails if you want to create an opt-in funnel
2. Choose Sell Your Product if you want to create a sales funnel
3. Choose Host Webinar if you want to create a webinar registration funnel
4. Choose Create a Custom Funnel if you want to create a funnel with a custom layout
Step 4: Choose among the pre-made templates or create your own layout.
Step 5: Add elements to your funnel