How to Create a Sales Funnel that Multiplies Your Profits and Generates Revenue While You Sleep

Step # 1: Before entering the funnel , have you done your homework already?

Whether you were aware or not, you already had a funnel from the moment you started selling a product or service. It did not matter how you did it, you already had a funnel.

However, this does not imply that you have well designed your business system. And without that nothing I can tell you in this post will be useful. Before entering the funnel you have to have done your homework:

1. Definition of your ideal client

Modern marketing is underpinned by the idea of segmentation. Our products and services will only be salable if we are clear to whom we are going and know in detail their concerns.

This is vital because if we bring the funnel to people who are not interested in our products, everything will lose its meaning. If you have not yet faced your buyer person read this post .

2. Proposed Value

What do you have special that others do not have? The unique value proposition is that you must define why a customer should choose you and not the competition. If you want to know how to define it, go into this  other post .

3. Irresistible offer

If you want to eat the market, the offer you make to the world has to be irresistible. Have you developed it well? Are you sure that you will be able to solve your client's pain point?

Creating a product or service implies that you study your niche, do an analysis of your competition and investigate prices and strategies. If what you are going to sell is not good, no matter how many funnels in the world.

4. Lead Magnet

One of the most important steps in the funnel is to convert visits to subscribers and one of the most effective ways to achieve this is a lead magnet. Think that before you start working on your funnel you will have to have your welcome gift made.

5. Visibility

If your blog does not reach anyone, nobody is going to enter your funnel. It's that simple.

If you just launched your blog, focus first on reaching your viable minimum audience . Next, you'll have to come up with a strategy to keep you steady. It will be your job to work with your SEO , your social networks ( LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook …) and your guest posting strategy .

I insist, if all this initial approach is not defined, you can create funnels, freeways, bridges and whatever you want. It will not do any good.

Step # 2: Funnel stages of sales and how to get your customer up to the sale

As I said above, the sales funnel is based on an idea: to personalize the person's experience to the fullest, so that we can show you that our products and services are what you need.

To achieve this, what we will do is to hypersegmentalize our list of subscribers to divide people for their interests. You will only send content that interests and no one will be bored reading about other topics.

However, before entering the funnel fully, I want to explain to you  a concept that is sometimes confused with the funnel: the customer's life cycle.

What is the customer life cycle or buyer's journey ?

Many times you have heard me speak of the ego of the blogger or even of the blindness of the blogger. I always use these terms to refer to the entrepreneur who believes that the center of the universe is him and his products. And this egocentricity is the worst mistake you can make in a marketing strategy.

The center of your business is your customer and the person who tells you otherwise does not know what you are talking about. Watch out for the internet, there is so much guru giving away caipirinhas.

I'm telling you all this because in the process of assembling the funnel you can not forget your client. You always have to be able to put yourself in your skin and see with your eyes how your experience with you is.

Understanding how a person thinks helped us to predict how he could react to certain situations. Only if you understand what the customer wants can you offer that something.

That's why the sales funnel can and should be viewed from the customer's view. The buyer's journey is nothing more than the evolution of the mindset of the buyer since he discovers he has a need until he buys.

Just like the funnel has 3 phases:

• Phase 1 – Awareness : This phase could be summed up with the question “ how could I increase my sales?” . The customer is looking for options but has not yet found an answer. You are crawling the Internet for solutions. 
• Phase 2 – Consideration ( consideration )  the question now would be  “Is this what I need?” . The person has found a product or service that they believe can solve their problem. And how do you verify such a doubt? With more specific information. This time, your goal is to corroborate if it really is “that” you need.
• Phase 3 – Decision ( decision ): the question is becoming more concrete and  “do I buy or do not offer me this person?” . The moment of truth has arrived and the customer needs the definitive information that makes him buy.

If you understand what phase each client is in, it will be easier to offer what you need to keep moving towards the purchase. The whole process is based on solving their possible doubts and insecurities.

And now, yes, we enter the stages of the conversion funnel.

1. Top of the Funnel (TOTF)

The first stage describes the widest stage of the funnel and the time when more people are there.

How to translate this to your blog?

This stage of the funnel you have to link with the visits that enter your blog . Maybe they've just found you by Google, by social networks or because someone advised your blog to someone else. No matter what channel they have entered, the important thing now is that you already have them inside your blog.

What is the challenge of this phase?

At this moment you have a visit, a number that will increase Google Analytics. Your goal now is to name that person and be able to have a conversation with her. And to get it you have to get it to subscribe to your blog.

I'm always pissing you off with the idea that the list of subscribers is the # 1 asset of your business and the reason is this. Getting traffic is very important, but if those visits do not make them into subscribers your sales funnel will be broken. There will be no sale.

In order to sell you need to establish a conversation with that reader, analyze your needs even more and gain your trust. Without this it is impossible for you to personalize your experience.

How do we turn visitors into subscribers?

The most well-known strategy I have already mentioned is to offer a Lead Magnet or free gift in exchange for the person to subscribe. But there are many more options:

• Organize webinars .
• Create a ” start today ” page and direct the person other resources we offer.
• Implement Content Upgrades in your content.
• Use plugins specialized in conversion like  Thrive Leads .
• Redirect from your social networks to a Squeeze Page where you offer a gift.
• Create contests in social networks.
• Etc.

As you see strategies there are many. Check out which ones work best with your community, but do not forget that if you do not get subscribers there is no funnel that works.

2. Middle of the funnel (MOFU)

We descended a little more in the funnel and we reached the second stage. Now comes a very important point and many overlook: what to do with subscribers?

We all know that it is very important to get leads, but very few bloggers know what to do with them.

The reality is that most just send newsletters with reminders that have posted a new post. And to give you an idea, using email marketing just for that is to waste 90% of the potential of this strategy.

The potential lies in combining the sales funnel with the autoresponder. You only have to create it once and then it will work in automatic. 

In this phase, email marketing has to help us in two moments: lead scoring and lead nurturing.

Lead scoring

The literal translation is “measure the lead” and serves us very well to understand what this stage is.

Remember now the phases of the  buyer's journey . Depending on the stage in which the customer was located, closer or not to the sale. To that distance or proximity is also called temperature of the lead.

• Cold Leads: they are in the first phase and away from the purchase. You have to make them advance through the  funnel.
• Hot Leads: they already have clear what they need, they only need the last push.

But like everything else, there are no whites or blacks and we could talk about “hot leads” or “hot leads”. I give you examples:

• Very hot lead: you receive an email from a person who wants to hire you for the service you offer. This possible client already writes you with a clear intention to buy. If your explanation of how you focus the job and your price convinces you, you will end up hiring.
• Tempered Lead: It  could be a person who has subscribed to your list a month ago, opens all your emails, but click on content of different topics. This person is interested, but he is still gathering information. You do not yet know what your main need is.

The lead scoring what it does is precisely this, measuring the temperature of the lead. Depending on the “cold” or “hot” we will send different types of proposals to your inbox.

If it's a colder lead, you'll need to give it more information about the benefits of dealing with the problem you have. On the other hand, if it is a “hotter lead” we will offer you other possibilities like a free trial of our product or a half hour Skype session.

How are leads measured?

There are specific advanced software for this function such as  Hubspot and other more accessible (and with fewer functions) such as Ontraport, but you can also see it yourself: the key is the interaction that the subscriber makes with our content.

There will be people who see that they download their Lead Magnet and then do not open any of your emails. This would be a “frozen lead” because it will be very difficult to make it advance through the funnel.

However, you will see that others do open their emails and click on some of the links. This interaction is proof that this person is interested in your content and products. Here we have options to “put some temperature”.

Lead nurturing

The verb “to nurture” means in English to feed and to breed.

This term refers to “nourish or feed” with more content to our leads so that they continue to descend through the funnel of conversion.  The objective is to continue to contribute value in a more specific way.

If we continue with the comparison with the temperature, we can say that we will “warm up” our subscribers.

Let's see what the process would look like.

Depending on the measurement we have made of the lead, we will determine what types of content are the ones we will send to you . For example:

• Cold lead: the ideal is to send you more generic content and see which are the ones that interest you the most. That you measure it depending on which are the links in which to click or not. Do not forget that the key is to only send content that interests you.
• Hot Lead:  just click on the contents of a very specific topic which indicates that your need is clearer. In this case, you have to send more specific and detailed content. For example, deeper guides or contents with more statistics. This information will be more related to our products and services so that they see that we have the capacity to meet their needs

With this type of content you not only have to gain the trust of the subscriber, but also you have to demonstrate everything that you know and you are able to do . The goal is for the subscriber to see more and more clearly that you are the solution to their problems.

3. Bottom of the funnel (BOTF)

And now, yes, it is the hour of truth, the moment of sale. The contents are no longer informative and have a more hard selling character.

For example, you can showcase your success stories or offer more personalized sessions where you can see your product or service more clearly.

And as you have imagined, it is time to finish the job. For that last push, you have to write a sales email or a landing page. To do this, focus on these 3 issues:

• Benefits vs. features: Do not talk about how good you are, the experience you have or if your infoproducto is designed in such and such a way. That does not matter to anyone. You have to focus on convincing the person of how you can improve your life.
• No objections: put yourself back in the skin of your client. What questions can you ask about your product? What doubts can prevent you from buying? In that landing or email you have to answer all those questions.
• Clarity:  makes clear what the process is going to be. Whether it is a service or a product the person has to know how everything will be developed or how the product will be received.

The botton of the funnel is the last phase of the funnel, but now I ask you a question: do you think that everything is finished here?

NOPE. We're not done yet.

The Loyalty of the Client

After the purchase you still have something very important: customer loyalty. A person who has bought or contracted a product or service and has been satisfied is a potential evangelist of your brand.

In the middle of the digital revolution and in a world created for neo-entrepreneurs to dominate, there is still an unstoppable strategy of selling offline: word of mouth.

A person who has already bought you is your potential best customer and can recommend you to others. And that means receiving very, very hot leads.

How to evangelize that client?

Try this series of strategies:

• Skype session of half an hour after the purchase to resolve any doubts.
• Discounts on product updates.
• Email marketing focused on making the most of the product or services by sending tutorials and tricks.

Although that person has already bought you does not mean that you can not continue to add value.

Now that you know funnels are not a myth …

You have to get down to work.

Yes, the sales funnels work.

And if I can make that statement is because years ago I use them on my blog to sell my products.

Day after day I see how my subscribers receive my emails and how they buy what I offer them because they have understood that it is the best solution for them.

Magic?

NOPE.

Now it's your turn.