We haven’t met a company yet that doesn’t want to capture more leads and turn them into customers. The problem is, most all of these companies don’t have a sales funnel that attracts qualified leads and successfully nurtures them toward conversion. Without a sales funnel, businesses become frustrated from a lack of sales opportunities and spending money on marketing doesn’t work.
In this blog, we’ll show you what a sales funnel is so you create a system that generates the leads and nurtures them into new business.
What is a Sales Funnel?
While you can Google a sales funnel and find all sorts of information and perspectives, there’s a simple definition. A sales funnel is a system for capturing the leads you want and then nurturing them until they buy your product or service. An effective sales funnel consists of helpful content for your audience (in exchange for their email), and then nurtures those contacts with email campaigns. A sales funnel should also include a strategy for emailing your entire list of contacts to remind them of the problem you solve. This way, when someone has that problem they think of you.
What Companies Miss Out on When They Don’t Have a Sales Funnel
Most companies are sitting on a list of contacts and not doing anything with them. This is unfortunate because it’s likely that at least some of these people would do business with you if they simply remembered that you existed. Without a nurturing email that reminds your contacts of the problem you solve, they won’t remember you when they’re ready to make a purchase. A sales funnel solves this problem with automated nurturing emails that remind your contacts that you’re still around and that can help solve the problem they’re experiencing.
Without premium content that new visitors can download in exchange for their email, you can’t build your list of contacts with the leads you actually want. You also can’t sell to those leads.
When someone downloads your piece of premium content, they’re communicating that they want what you have, they’re just not ready to make a purchase yet. An email sales campaign is attached to this piece of premium content, which helps your new lead gain the confidence and trust they need to make a purchase. This translates into more sales for your company by giving your audience the help they truly need.
Rethinking Your Current Sales Funnel
Every company has some form of a sales funnel—how you get your leads and what you do with them. What’s imperative is that you question how effective your sales funnel really is. How many new leads are you generating each month? Are they the leads you want? What are you doing to nurture the leads you already have? If you can’t answer “all you can handle, yes, and yes”, then you should rethink your current sales funnel.
If you’re currently spending money on advertisement, imagine how much more effective it would be if there was a funnel for those leads to go into—one that was automated and always turned the right leads into customers. The sales funnel you read about above does exactly that for literally thousands of companies.
The Takeaway
Your company wants to capture more leads and turn them into customers. You can accomplish this by implementing an effective sales funnel. A sales funnel is effective if it offers premium content for new leads (in exchange for an email), and “we still solve your problem” emails for existing leads. With an effective sales funnel, the leads you want can be nurtured toward conversion and the leads you have can be rediscovered for business.
