Sales Funnel is a Game Changer for Business Owners. Let’s talk about it!
Understanding what Sales Funnel is as a Business Owner
Many people are in business with little or no understanding of the sales funnel, how it works and its importance generally. Today, I will talk about all these. I hope that you will become better at what you do and increase your knowledge base.
What is a funnel?
Most of us have seen a funnel before, but we don’t know it is a funnel. In developing countries, we use it a lot. Funnels are wide at the top but narrow at the bottom to ease the journey of the liquid that passes through them.
what sales funnel mean?
In marketing, a funnel is a journey buyer embark on before purchasing. This usually starts from awareness, interest, decision, and action. With funnels, many people get in, but not all turn to clients at the bottom.
A sales Funnel example
A typical example of a funnel in business is: running ads to target adults who need to get sex toys. At the end of your ads, you got ten solid leads who showed interest.
Afterward, you need to convince those leads when they are trying to make a decision. Then, you start selling your offer to them to take action, which can lead to sales or not. Cool, right? Just that not all ten will convert.
You have lost some prospects when you run your ads, some who aren’t convinced by your offer, and others who won’t come back again. If you are not losing some at every funnel, you are not doing it right.
Also, you need to get a respectable percentage to be sure you are on the right path. You will understand better as we proceed.
Now that we have taken the introduction of the sales funnel out of the way, we need to talk about the stages in the sales funnel of a business owner.
What are the four Stages of the sales funnel?
As explained in the previous example, the sales funnel stages for a business are four, but as the business grows, it moves forward.
Awareness
The first stage is building a sales funnel to create awareness. If your prospect doesn’t know about the service you offer or the product you sell, there is no way they can buy from you. Different ways to create awareness for your business include word of mouth, social media marketing, online ads, blog post, or a landing page. How you structure your awareness campaign will determine the number of leads you get.
Interest
Once people know about your business, they will decide whether they are interested in it. If your brand helps them solve their pressing problems and proposes a reasonable offer, they may choose to continue through your sales funnel. Business owners should create a good product hook, content, and story that can convince prospects at first instances.
Decision
Now that your prospect has some information about your business, they want to know better how you can help them. They want to know your price and make comparisons. Reasonable offers, webinars, sales calls, and offer cards are great ways to help convince prospects to make a buying decision.
Action
This is the final stage of the sales funnel stages. You have done all the fabulous work to get your prospect down the funnel to this level, now is the time to help them take action. It can either be a purchase or not, but they need to take action.
If they buy from you, good. If they don’t, it is not the end of the journey. You can continue to nurture them by creating educative content that will further convince them about your product offering at intervals, and then you try to sell to them again.
Now that you understand the stages of the sales funnel. How can you create one for your business?
How to create sales funnel for your business
Create an attractive landing page
All your awareness efforts should lead to an attractive landing page that will further showcase what you do for your prospects. Whether you are running ads, posting a blog, or social media content, ensure you link it to a landing page that converts.
For those who don’t fancy email marketing, put a link to your direct WhatsApp inbox or any platform of your choice. Also, make sure you have an opt-in form that can get their emails for future use.
Time to give a welcome gift
Lead magnets work amazingly well, no matter the size of your business. If they opt-in to your form, give them a welcome gift like an éducative ebook. If they are landing in your WhatsApp, provide them with a gift you can afford. It can also be an ebook, a link to anything excellent, or a percentage off the price of your service.
Start nurturing your leads.
Now that your prospects have traveled from the Awareness park here, now is the time to start blasting informative content about the benefits of your product or business offering. If they buy from you, what are they getting? Why are you better than your competitors?
Time to upsell that offer.
Now that your prospect has moved to this stage, you should try to sway their decision to buy by giving them irresistible offers such as special discounts, free trials, free shipping, or a smaller product.
Now, don’t give up here!
Don’t forget that in the action phase, clients may buy or not buy what you are selling, which is fine. For those who didn’t buy from you, you just need to keep the momentum. Don’t stop sending valuable information about your product, service, or industry; you can always pitch your offer again. For those who buy from you, retention is the next thing. Constantly update them on how you are working to serve them better and the latest offer you have for them.
Conclusion:
You have learned the stages of a sales funnel and how to build sales funnel for a business.
These steps will help make your customer purchase journey easy and help you concentrate on productive marketing efforts.
However, one thing to note is that there will definitely be leaks at every stage of your funnel. How you plug these leaks will determine how productive your funnel campaign will be.
