How to make your own sales funnel

How many times in your life have you been talking to someone or just going about your day and randomly thought of a perfect business idea that could take over the world(in the good way)?

For most of us, I’m sure that’s happened at least a few times before.

But after having the idea and maybe even talking about it to someone, how many times have you actually carried it out?

For most of us, that’s none at all. And the biggest reason is probably that most people just don’t know how to get started.

Well, there’s a simple solution to that problem. It’s something you may have heard of before… a sales funnel.

“What is a sales funnel?” you may ask.

That’s what I’ll be explaining for the rest of this article. By the end you should have a good idea of how it works and know a bit about how to make one of your own.

Stage 1 - going from stranger to friend/lead

Start with a small interruption(ad, email campaign) or content(blog post, YouTube video, social media post).

The point of the ad or interruption isn’t to sell anything. It’s to bring people to a site or site page(often called a landing page) where they give their contact information in exchange for some type of free value that they want.

“The offer should provide selfish motivation and offer virtually no downside…. the less you ask of the person and the bigger the ‘bribe’, the more likely they will be to give you permission” — Seth Godin

Personally, what value do you have that you could offer people in exchange for an email address?

For example: Imagine that you knew how to make super tasty and well decorated homemade cakes.

What if you put together an easy recipe for people like me who don’t bake, then made a short video tutorial of how to use the recipe? If someone wanted the recipe and video, they could get it from you in exchange for just their email address.

Here’s a random example I found on google of what a landing page looks like. To start out though, yours doesn’t have to be this fancy. It can be as simple as a google forms page.

Stage 2 - Going from friend/lead to customer

Once you have people’s contact info, the next step is to

• reach out

and

• gain their permission to continue messaging them and teach them more about how to solve their problem(hopefully with your product or service)

A lot of companies do this by sending an email that shows again the value from stage one + an option to receive more emails if you want more free value or updates.

In the cake recipe example, this might mean someone opts in to get more advanced recipes from you sent to them every month.

Personally, what free value could you send on an ongoing basis to the people who took your offer at stage 1 in exchange for their email address(monthly, bi-weekly, weekly. higher frequency was advised in the book)?

A website that allows you to create an email newsletter(this is how you would send out your ongoing free value) is substack.com. This is what I use.

Here’s a video explaining more on how to get started. The entire video is great, but I’d recommend starting at 10 minutes and 13 seconds.

Also, what value could you offer to the people who are receiving your ongoing emails in exchange for money?

In the cake example, maybe if someone tried one of the recipes you sent and felt that they didn’t do it right, they could book a time for you to go through making it again with them over a video call. Then they’d pay a fee for your time if they felt the cake turned out much better.

A website that allows people to schedule a paid time with you is calendly.com.

Here’s a 10 minute tutorial explaining how you’d set up paid times when you’re ready.

Stage three - Going from customer to long term customer/fanatic

Basically, you don’t want the contact you have with a customer to end once you’ve sold them something

You want to stay in contact over time and keep giving them value, or gifts… The purpose of the value/gifts that you’re sending at this point isn’t to offer them more stuff to buy from you. That’s just sending an ad. For this part, you mostly want to give without asking for anything in return. The purpose instead is to:

• build trust with them so that the next time they are ready to buy something like what you have, you’re the first person they think of

and

• make them naturally want to talk about you to their friends, family, and followers online because the value/gifts you send are remarkable(worth talking about or sharing). the word of mouth and referrals should bring you new customers and keep the business going

I have an explanation for how to go about gifting and staying in contact with your customers, but it would be a lot to include in this article. So if you want the full explanation, check out this book summary — “Giftology” by John Ruhlin book summary

That’s it. that’s how a sales funnel(or permission ladder) works!

Have your next big idea yet? If you’d like a custom game plan for a sales funnel or business goal of your own, sign up for one for free at goaldoctors.com. We’ll be happy to help!