What is a sales funnel for dummies?
From the laptop of Brian Jobs:
Dear Entrepreneur,
An optimized sales funnel can make you a million dollars.
Ask some of the top marketers in the industry.
But how do you get to that point?
Great question.
Let’s start off by explaining what is a sales funnel?
What is a sales funnel in 60 seconds or less?
The sales funnel has one purpose.
Its sole purpose is to make money and lots of it.
Your sales funnel should resemble a factory.
Material goods in and finished product out.
But instead of material goods, we’re dealing with people.
And lot’s of them…
So, let’s break down the fundamentals of what is a sales funnel?
AIDA MODEL – What is Sales Funnel?
If I were to explain a sales funnel to a 5-year old.
I would say a funnel has a large opening at the top and a small hole at the bottom.
A large number of people would enter the funnel.
And a small number of people would exit the funnel and become customers.
Simple right?
Can You Explain AIDA?
In 1898 E. St. Elmo Lewis developed the AIDA model.
That’s a long time ago…
The AIDA model reflects the customer’s journey.
It begins with awareness, interest, decision, and action.
This is better known as a purchase funnel and or marketing funnel.
They’re all the same thing…
So, let’s break down each stage of the AIDA model beginning with Awareness.
Awareness – First Stage
When you asked, what is a sales funnel?
It all starts with awareness.
The key to starting any sales funnel is getting people aware of your product or service.
How do you that?
Well, with traffic.
The bottom line is that you want to get free traffic or paid traffic.
Free traffic methods include creating content around your specific business.
For example, blogging is a great source of creating free content and or creating video content via Youtube.
The idea behind creating content is for search engine optimization or better known as SEO.
You create and optimize content for SEO, therefore search engines can search and index your blog, channel or website to be found by your audience.
Hence, creating awareness of your product or service.
In contrast, there’s paid traffic.
The downside of paid traffic is paying for traffic.
However, you can result more quickly to identify and target your audience which requires advanced skills.
A few sites you can implement paid traffic are Google Ads and Facebook Ads which can target search, display, video campaigns.
You can learn more about Google Ads here: https://ads.google.com/home/
Interests – Second Stage
I always stress the importance of interest.
Why?
Because interest will determine three things.
The first one is the right audience.
The second is the right product or service.
And third is you.
Russell Brunson, in his book, Expert Secrets, calls this the Attractive Character.
Note: I’m sure you’re curious who is Russell Brunson?
No worries, you can learn more about him here:
Who is Russell Brunson and Why You Should Care?
Here’s the thing…
You want to create some form of bond with your prospect.
Build a relationship that will build trust and likability.
The more person that trust, like and respect you…
The more likely that a person will buy from you.
So this relates to your “Lead Magnet Page” or “Landing Page” or “Squeeze Page” in your Sales Funnel.
Alright, let’s dive into the decision stage.
Decision – Third Stage
The decision is the third stage of the AIDA model.
You created enough awareness through free or paid traffic.
And the person is the right customer for your product.
Sounds great right?
Well not so…
See, the prospect may be the right person for your product.
But, they’re on the fence in buying.
Why?
Many reasons. The one I want to share is the trust factor.
Did you build enough trust (i.e. secured website, forming a bond, money-back guarantee)?
So when you trigger enough trust factors, then that person is more likely to buy.
Other things come to mind is Robert Cialdini’s book called Influence.
- Principle of reciprocity
- The Principle of commitment & consistency
- Principle of liking
- Principle of authority
- The Principle of social proof
- Principle of scarcity
This is related to your “Sales Letter Page” or “Video Sales Letter Page” in your Sales Funnel.
Lastly, let’s discuss ACTION…
Action – Last Stage
Money in the bank.
Not so fast cowboy or cowgirl…
The last stage of a sales funnel is action.
This is the holy grail when a prospect becomes a customer.
And the most important stage.
You see your prospect is at the finish line wanting to cross over.
The BIG question.
Did you provide a call to action?
What is your goal for your call to action?
Scheduling a phone call.
Selling a product.
Selling a service.
Scheduling an appointment.
The bottom line is that you want to ensure you have a strong call to action.
Next Steps
So, I explained the AIDA model – awareness, interest, decision, and action.
Which is fundamentally your customer’s journey from start to finish.
If you would like to get started in building out your sales funnel, then I suggest learning more about the ten high-converting sales funnel templates here:
10 High Converting Sales Funnel Templates in 2019
If you have any questions regarding sales funnels, then feel free to contact me at brian [at] funnel101x [.] com
To Your Success,
Brian Jobs
pS If you have any questions, then feel free to contact us at info [at] funnel101x [dot] com.