Create a Simple Sales Funnel to Get More Leads in 4 Easy Steps

by Christina Hooper.
Last Updated on May 28, 2022

If you're anything like me, you love chasing new ideas — and there's no shortage of them.

Challenges. Quizzes. Blogging. Email Marketing. Social. Paid Ads....... the list never ends.

They all work for someone, but will they work for you?

MOST of the time it's because of one. simple. reason.

When you build them, you're so focused on the thing that you forget about the journey.

What is someone going to do next?

They read your blog article. They click on your social post. They watch your video.

And then what....?

What do you have ready for them to take more action on?

A sales funnel is a useful tool to have and it will help you generate ROI from the other things you're doing.

It's a simple concept...

  • They do a thing
  • You ask for their email address
  • You give them something valuable in return
  • You nurture them until they trust you enough to pay you money

Here's 5 simple steps to help you create your own sales funnel.

Step 1: Clarify Why They Should Buy

Your target reader needs to what you do QUICKLY while using up the fewest mental calories possible.

If you make them work to understand, they will refuse and leave.

I personally love the StoryBrand Brandscript Framework — it's simple and easy to whip out quickly when you want a person to do a thing and you need to explain why they should.

To get clear on your message... grab a piece of paper and write down your answers to the following questions...

  • What does your target reader what relative to the thing you want them buy? 
  • What problems do they have that the thing you want them buy can solve?
  • Why should they consider buying from you — what experience do you have and why do you care about solving it for them?
  • If they want to buy your thing, what 3 steps should they take? Like Book a Call, Create a Game Plan Together, and Take Over Their Niche!
  • What is the most direct action they can take to start the process of buying your thing? Like Booking a Discovery Call, Requesting an Audit, Buying the Course, etc.
  • What is something else you have or can create that would help them start to DIY a solution to this problem without buying your thing? A course, PDF, checklist, video, etc.
  • If they DIY a solution, what success can they realistically achieve on their own?
  • If they buy your thing, what immediate success will they achieve?
  • If they don't get your DIY thing OR buy your thing, and they just keep on keeping on as they were, what would (or wouldn't) happen for them?
  • If they buy your thing, what big goal will they reach? How will their life be changed in the next 6 months?

Step 2. Create Your DIY Thing

This is also known as an Entry-Point Offer, Lead Generator, and a wide variety of wordy ways to explain giving someone something valuable in exchange for their email address, time, or a little bit of money.

The reason I don't like using those words is because — excuse me while I rant for a few sentences...

  1. People have really terrible ideas for things to create MOST of the time.
  2. The random thing they create rarely aligns well with the thing they want someone to buy.
  3. They run around creating 10-page PDFs of "5 Simple Things You Can Do To Write Better Emails" or other random content that someone else (probably me) is already posting as a blog for free.
  4. So instead of giving you my email to get that thing, I'm just going to head to Google and find someone else that gives it to me for free. 

I don't like that strategy because INFORMATION rarely has a lot of value.

I can Google things and get information all day long.

So unless there's a really — and I do mean REALLY — good reason why your information is not available anywhere else and is sooooo good that I can't resist, then let's avoid making more bad opt-in offers that waste your time to create and don't give you the BEST chance of getting someone to give you their info.

Instead, let's spend less time creating them AND give someone something more valuable. Here's a few ideas...

  • Worksheets
  • Checklists
  • Spreadsheets
  • Swipe Files
  • Calculators
  • Quizzes
  • Templates
  • Self-Audits

Give someone something that helps them DIY a problem they are having BECAUSE they haven't (yet) purchased your awesome thing and are still trying to figure it out themselves.

They love it more, love you more, and be more likely to hire you as soon as the problem gets bigger, more annoying, or they can afford to because you already helped them out.

How do you figure out what to create...? Here's a few ideas to get you started...

  • What do you do on that first call with someone to figure out the best solution to their problem? Do you have a series of questions you ask that can turn into a checklist with recommendations on what to do if they check one of those items on the list. Or it can turn into a quiz where you provide instant solutions based on the way they respond to questions.
  • Think about things your clients tell you they spend FOREVER trying to figure out. Like a lot of people come to me wondering what types of content they should create for their blog. So I could (and should, if I'm following my own advice) create templates for the top 10 blogs they need to create for their site.
  • Look at any presentations that you have that've used for workshops or webinars. Can you turn that content into step-by-step workbooks to do something?
  • Do you have a calculator that you use to help figure out things for you clients? Like the cost of turnover, ROI on ad spend, etc? You can easily give that tool (or a simplified version of it) away along with a quick video that will show them how to use it. 

Step 3. Update Your Website

Ok - a website update isn't always the simplest thing you can do, but it's a pretty important one and I HOPE that when you answered those questions in Step 1, you had a few AH-HA moments and realized your messaging on your website isn't as awesome you thought it was.

So let's think MVP - Minimum Viable Product.

What are the smallest and fastest things you can do to your site to fix the messaging even a little now that you have some clarity on how it can be better?

You need to do this step because as you start building a sales funnel, more people are going to be looking at your site and they need to understand...

  • you can help them if they are XYZ type of person or business
  • how their life will better if they are in your world and/or buying your things
  • and what steps they need to take to get those things

Some simple steps...

  • Look at your website header (the top bit with your logo and menu and such) — in the top right corner, put your most direct first step someone should take to start a conversation that leads to hiring you.
  • Put a link to your opt-in for your DIY thing towards the bottom of the home page (and any other relevant pages that don't have one already).
  • Update ALL — yes, I do mean all — images on your site to show happy people that are having success after doing things. No sad, frustrated, angry, or otherwise unhappy humans on your site anywhere.
  • Look at the top of your home page just under the header and fix it so that it quickly answers 3 questions — what do you do, why is going to make their life better, and how can they get it?
  • Put a section on your home page and any service pages that clearly and simply lays out those three steps you created in Step 1 — take the first action, do the work with you, get a result.
  • Make sure you're addressing objections on your home page and service pages. This can be done with testimonials, guarantees, FAQs, awards, certifications, qualifications, etc. Hint: most objections are around price, time to get a result, time investment, and doubts that you can actually help.
  • Make all your copy shorter and strip out the fluffy words like "Achieve Your Goals" or "Transform Your Life" — my goal could be to NOT finish the entire pint of ice cream in one sitting, and you aren't helping with that (probably). So give concrete and easy-to-understand benefits of working with you.
  • Include a section on your home, service, and other landing pages that BRIEFLY explains why they should trust you and why you care about helping them.

Step 4. Nurture Them via Email

After someone gives you their email in exchange for the DIY thing you created, you need to continue to talk to them — and since you have their email, this is going to happen via an email sequence.

Using an email sequence just means you're going to have some fancy software like Active Campaign, HighLevel, HubSpot, Drip, MailChimp, etc do the emailing bit for you so you're not trying to keep up with this.

Here is what I consider to be the bare minimum approach...

  • Immediately send an email with the thing they got and how to use it.
  • The next day, send an email to check in and see if they had a chance to use the thing and see if they have any questions.
  • The next day after that, send an email letting them know that you are avaialble if they have questions and let them know that you're adding them to a really valuable series of emails that will help them solve problem A that they are experiencing (because they downloaded Thing A) as well as problems B, C, D, and a bunch more. Let them know that they can unsubscribe anytime they are no longer getting value from those.

Here's a quick video that explains how the ongoing sequence works that you'll send after those first 3 emails — ignore me looking like a bum, it's good stuff.

Return the Dopamine...

Ah-Ha! moments, according to the great Ryan Deiss, are a combination of Understanding (Ah) and Excitement (Ha!).

My goal as a content creator, marketer, and all-around striving-to-be-helpful human is to create at least one of those Ah-Ha! moments for you when you interact with my content.

If you had an Ah-Ha! moment with this article, do me a favor and return the dopamine by dropping me a comment below and letting me know what stood out for you.

Thanks in advance 🥰

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