A sales funnel is a careful step-by-step process that you put your prospects through, eventually getting them to buy from you. Each new visitor is exposed to different information and messages, which slowly lead them closer and closer to making a purchase.
Developing an effective sales funnel will drastically improve your sales, but many businesses don’t get it right. These are the steps you must get right if you want to build a sales funnel that works.
Build Your Landing Page
A landing page is where people who click on your ad (or a link in an email or on your social media page) end up. It’s the first interaction visitors have with your website and it must be optimized effectively to ensure that visitors don’t leave right away.
Your landing page should make it very clear what you’re offering and why they should give out their information (email address or phone number). Your headline needs to grab attention immediately, and then your content must continue guiding them towards opting in for more information by providing added value over time. The more focused on a single topic your offer is, the better. This helps eliminate confusion and keeps people engaged with what you’re offering from start to finish.
You only have a few seconds to grab their attention and create a positive impression so they take further action. It’s important to invest in a professional small business web design company to help you create your landing pages. Experienced web designers can help you create engaging landing pages that encourage visitors to leave their details, so you can start moving them along the sales funnel.
Provide Value To Make An Initial Connection
If you want to make an initial connection with customers, you need to provide value. A good landing page goes a long way but if you want to get more email addresses, you should offer something more. For example, many companies offer a free ebook or similar piece of content as soon as a visitor enters their email address. This not only encourages leads but also helps establish your business as an expert in the industry.
You can also try offering a lead magnet that provides value without requiring the user to enter any information. For example, you can offer a piece of free software or even a widget that users can download straight away because it’s valuable right from the start. Just make sure it ties back to what your business does and what its products are about so people know why your business is useful to them.
Nurture The Prospect
Once you have made the initial connection, you need to nurture the prospect and continue building that relationship, so you can convince them that they should purchase your products. You should continue providing value by sending them tips, advice, or other information that your audience will find helpful. Providing them with regular content will keep you on their radar and deal with any objections that are stopping them from making a purchase.
Not only are you nurturing the prospect, but you’re also building trust. People are much more likely to buy from someone they trust rather than someone who seems pushy and only concerned about making a sale. Provide plenty of opportunities for people to connect with your business in other ways too, such as through social media or email marketing. Make sure you have a strong social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn where you can start conversations with potential customers before encouraging them to opt-in for further information
During this phase, it is important that you get the balance right. You need to be in regular contact with the prospect so they don’t forget about you. However, you don’t want to become annoying, so don’t start sending them sales emails every single day or you will put them off.
Finalize The Sale
Once you have nurtured the prospect and built a relationship with them, it’s time to finalize the sale. The best way to do this is to offer them something too attractive to turn down. Maybe you send them a limited-time discount code or send them a product demonstration video that shows them exactly how your product will solve their problem.
At this point, the prospect is on the fence. They have already shown interest in the product and they have engaged with your content to learn more about it. All you need to do now is find that one thing that will tip them over the edge and encourage them to make a purchase.
Remember, sales still happen in person. Especially for high ticket items and services. Selling in person is usually a lot easier than doing it online or over the phone. If you have a book of work you’ve done for previous and past clients you can show them, or even give it to them so they have something to look at when they mull it over. You can even purchase photo books in bulk so that you have enough to give around. Offering to meet your potential client is hard if you live miles away, but if you’re trying to close a sale with someone who lives close by it can make all the difference.
Assess And Improve Your Sales Funnel
Once you have developed your sales funnel, you shouldn’t just leave it as it is. You should constantly be assessing your sales funnel and looking for ways to improve it wherever you can.
Make sure that you monitor landing pages and track the bounce rate. If you have a high bounce rate, that means people are visiting the landing page but leaving without taking action, which suggests there are some problems. If this is the case, get back in touch with your small business web design partner and have them make some upgrades.
You also need to track the number of people that are getting stuck in the ‘nurture’ stage. This is a common problem that businesses have and even though they can catch people’s attention with their landing page, they struggle to take things any further. Usually, this is because you are not effectively demonstrating value to the prospect. So, rethink the kind of content you are offering and consider what is really useful to them.
Your sales funnel is the framework that you use for generating revenue and growing your business, so it’s essential that you get it right. As long as you follow these steps, you can develop an effective sales funnel that drives growth in your business.
