How To Create A Killer Sales Funnel

If you are doing business online, you are probably familiar with the term or at least the idea of a “sales funnel”. A sales funnel is the process by which your business attracts and converts your target market into paying customers and beyond.  It’s how you generate sales, or revenue, in your business.

The concept of a “sales funnel” is a little misleading. After all, a real funnel is designed as a catch-all.  If you are pouring liquid into it, it is designed to get every ounce of liquid you put into it out the other side. But not every lead that enters the top of your sales funnel will come out the other end as a customer.  There’s bound to be some pretty significant spillage along the way.

That doesn’t mean you should settle for a slow drip of conversions, though. With the right process in place, your business can attract more leads at the top of the funnel and more sales, or conversions, at the bottom.

In order to do that, first, you need to fully understand the journey of your potential customer because a sales funnel is a visual roadmap of your customer’s journey.

There are 4 stages to a sales funnel:

AWARENESS

This is where you catch potential clients’ attention. Usually, it is how to solve a problem that your service can fix. Typically it starts out with a free lead magnet, but it can even be something as simple as a new Instagram post. This is where your customer gets to know that you exist!

INTEREST

Once you have their attention, you need to keep them interested (and hopefully engaged). This stage is for connecting with them even more, sharing why they should trust you, why they should use this product/service, and you will reiterate that there is a solution to their problem.

DECISION

This stage is simple.  Get these prospects to buy. This decision will either turn the prospect into customers, or it won’t. Think of the ways to you can gain their trust. Share testimonials or proof that what you are offering works. Explain why your offering is better than something else they can find.

ACTION

This is the final step in your sales funnel. This is the actual step where they click “purchase”. The key here isn’t to convince anyone to buy anything, it’s just to provide an easy and seamless process for your client to get what they have already decided they want. 

So now that you know the parts of a successful sales funnel, how do you create a killer one? The key to this is to keep your potential customers’ journey in your mind. Start by thinking about what the end result will be before you start designing your sales funnel.  What product or service do you want customers to purchase?

Once you’ve determined the end, now find the beginning of your funnel. Figure out where your potential clients are hanging out. Maybe they are on Instagram or some other social media site. Maybe they are part of an existing list. Make sure you exist where your clients are.

Once you figure out the beginning and the end, you can start drawing your sales funnel path connecting the two - where your clients are and what you want them to buy.

You can create your funnel with software that automates social posts, delivery, creating a seamless experience for the customer. Essentially, you want to keep these prospects engaged enough to lead them to the next step.