Whether you’re selling widgets or information products or vehicles, you should have a marketing sales funnel in place. Why? Because it can take up to seven “touches” before a potential client makes a commitment and makes a purchase. These touches could be via phone call, or better yet, through your marketing sales funnel.
A marketing sales funnel is a system that helps you track your customers through the various stages they travel in your sales process. Once they make a purchase, the sales funnel doesn’t stop; in fact clients who have made a purchase are moved into a different type of funnel and contacted regularly so when they need to make another purchase or when you need to ask for referrals, they can be your go-to source.
What are the stages of a marketing sales funnel? Consider the unique shape of a funnel and then apply this metric to it. A funnel, from broad to narrow, includes:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Customer preference
- Action by the customer
- Loyalty to your brand
- Brand advocate — this is where they go out and tout your benefits to friends without your having to be involved. Brand advocates are the most powerful “advertising” you can have
As part of the funnel your personnel will have to have a sales program aka sales funnel program or provider service (such as AWeber or ClickFunnel) so that the client moves smoothly through the process. The marketing that you do as they proceed through the funnel will help raise awareness of your product or service, they will outline its benefits, compare and contrast your offerings with your competition, highlight the advantages of working with you or buying your product and offering special promotional pricing as an incentive to remain in your funnel.
To be effective, you have to structure your auto-drip response in such a way that, for example, if a client buys from you he is moved into a different funnel. You don’t want to have a prospect that has converted into a client to continue to receive “buy my product from me” emails when he has already done that.
Bear in mind that there are both marketing funnels and sales funnels. Your corporate structure may dictate which you use. Keep this in mind:
- A marketing funnel will help generate traffic and leads
- A sales funnel will perform follow up once a prospect has turned into a client
Setting up a marketing or sales funnel takes some know how and writing skill. Why? You need to both understand the technology behind these drip campaigns and you also need to write compelling copy that will keep your prospects on your list and eventually turn them into clients.
If you’re not running sales campaigns and using funnel marketing, why not? If you need information or assistance setting up your sales and marketing funnels, contact us for advice and assistance!