How Good Is Your “Funnel Vision”?

I’m interested: how would you fill in this blank….

My business funnel consists of _______________; my marketing funnel consists of these sequential steps __________________; my sales funnel for my Signature Program consists of these steps______________.

These terms are bandied about so inconsistently, they’ve become meaningless–and maybe I’m only adding to the mix by creating yet more definitions, but I believe these will clear the cobwebs. I want you to be clear about what each of these does, and the fact that you need all of them in your business–done correctly.

Why am I so nutty about funnels lately? Because they are EVERYTHING! You don’t have a business without a business funnel; you won’t be seen without a marketing funnel, and no one will buy from you without a sales funnel (properly sequenced.)

I’m going to explain the differences today, but on April 16th, I’m leading a brand new BIZLIBS fill-in-the-blank game–“Funnel Vision”—that is going to be insanely educational—and fun!

 To get you ready, let me explore the differences in these funnels.

Think of these funnels on increasing camera zoom lenses. So, metaphorically, your business funnel zooms in on a “state”; your marketing funnel then zooms in on the “town,” and your sales funnel zooms in on a “house.”

          

I define a business funnel as your complete, progressive line-up of for-sale programs, which begins with the lowest time/lowest financial investment and gradually increases in both. I wrote a blog post in February outlining how to develop your business funnel; definitely make that weekend reading.

On BizLibs: Funnel Vision, you’ll be filling in blanks to develop or test this line-up or programs in your own business. Invaluable.

Just as your business funnel consists of sequential steps (that paying customers take,) your marketing funnel consists of sequential steps, as well—that prospects take. For the most part, marketing is a “front end job,” meaning that it focuses on getting people into your business, into the front end, namely your Signature Program. You do much less marketing, if any, for the backend. So, what does a typical marketing funnel look like? Here’s an image:

Picture6CROPPED

(1) You use social media, blog and other writing, speaking and JV partnerships to move people to (2) your opt-in page to get something for free. I always advise a written gift and also (3) a free event, which I call a “portal event.” Once there, they learn about the (4) Signature Program (and we move into the business funnel).

On BizLibs: Funnel Vision, you’ll be filling in blanks to help you create your marketing funnel. So easy and very instructive.

So, then, what is a sales funnel? Like the other funnels, it too is a sequence, but we’re now zoomed in on the “house,” so-to-speak. Concretely, this means that a sales funnel is the micro-sequence used to sell a product or program. People’s education on this is very minimal because not a lot of people are out there teaching it well. But let’s face it, you must go through a very selective series of steps on your “free portal event” to get people to actually buy your Signature Program. You must go through a very selective series of steps on your sales page to get people to buy your product. The same is true when you offer free consulting calls: a very selective series of steps needs to be taken to get callers to actually buy. So, you need properly converting sales funnels for everything in your business funnel.

Make sense?

On BizLibs: Funnel Vision, you’ll be filling in blanks to help you think cogently about your sales funnels, too!

So, what can you do while you await word from me on the BizLibs game?

EXERCISE: Review each of these funnels and visually sketch out the sequential steps you’ve currently got. Then ask yourself if you’re happy with the conversions of each of the programs in your business funnel. If not, check out analytics and conversions of items in your marketing funnel and improve your social media; increase your speaking; befriend more JV partners, etc. Then, look at your sales funnels for each program/information product. This is where you may have difficulty seeing the trouble-spots. You probably think you’re selling properly and don’t realize that you’re not pricing things creatively, or asking the right question at the right time, or making a “no-brainer” offer (and on and on).

BIZLIBSCropped

On BizLibs: Funnel Vision, you’ll play the game and then I’ll be answering questions on all of this! Just as our endocrine, circulatory, and nervous systems are us, your funnels are your business—and can either be sick or healthy. We’ll get them healthy on this very special webinar. Click here to read more and register!

� 2011-14 Inspired Leaders Academy. All Rights Reserved.