Putting the fun into sales funnels

Sales funnels – have you heard of the term?

Sure, a sales funnel means different things to different people, but in the world of internet marketing nowadays, the term sales funnel often means a process that you set up to sell a product or service – and often the intention is to completely automate the process so that you can make “passive” income.

Sales funnels totally have their place in successful heart-centered businesses, but I must be honest, I’ve seen some sales funnel tactics that feel totally icky to me.

And all of these examples have one thing in common – they feel like they’re tricking the customer into the sale. And I’m sure that as a fellow heart-centered business owner, you’re not at all comfortable with tricking someone – into a sale or anything else.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to equate this sales trickery to sales itself – and then give up on sales entirely. But noooo! Don't do it! Giving up on selling is detrimental not only to your bank account but to all of those ideal clients who you could have served.

So how can you launch a product or service package and actually SELL it, without feeling like you’re tricking people into the sale?

By guiding your ideal clients into the sale. This looks and feels nothing like trickery.

This sales process is centered around your customer’s journey – rather than your own sales targets and revenue goals. But the great thing about focusing on the customer journey is that those sales targets and revenue goals tend to take care of themselves – in a way that’s filled with a whole lot more ease than if you were focusing only on the bottom line.

I help my clients to structure their customer journey during a launch by using what’s becoming known as the Launch & Love It Funnel, because you can set up a new funnel for each launch you do.

• At the Surveyor level, you’re working to get people onto your website, using tactics like SEO and content marketing, social media channels, or paid ads.
• At the Subscriber level, you’re inviting the Surveyor to stay in touch and to subscribe to your email list.
• At Sales Contact level, you’re going to invite the Subscriber to get on a sales call with you, or to get in touch with you via DM. For lower-priced digital products, this could also include a long form sales page, where the customer could buy your product.
• Signature Offer level is where the sale happens – but can you see how the funnel stages above this have made this "selling" part a lot less intimidating? It’s simply the next step in the journey that you’re guiding your ideal customer on.
• Significantly, the journey doesn’t stop at the first sale, but rather, there is a Second Sale (and potentially a third, a fourth, and many more!).

Notice that there is a deepening of a relationship here – there’s connection – there’s no trickery.

And you’ll also notice that in the format of this funnel or inverted pyramid, it’s OK that not ALL your website visitors are going to convert to subscribers, and not ALL of the people you have a sales call with will go on to buy your signature offer, for example.

The important part is that you are setting up a sales process in which you are the GUIDE, leading your ideal customers on a journey of transformation – not a magician tricking someone into buying.

And in the video, you’ll also see how this process will help to rid you of overwhelm - because you’ll be choosing just ONE primary marketing tactic for each level in the funnel.

As a copywriter, part of the service I offer my clients is to set up a feel-good launch funnel for the offer they are putting out to the market. Then, when I write their website, or sales page, or email sequence, or case studies; I write with the customer journey in mind. That makes the copywriting so much more impactful, more likely to convert browsers into buyers, without any trickery or sleaze.

If you'd like my help with copywriting, then you can get in touch with me here.