Episode 369: Mastering Sales Funnels
The sales funnel serves as a roadmap for guiding potential customers from initial interest to final purchase. This approach builds rapport and sets the stage for future interactions and offers.
In this episode, Adam and Chris dive deep into the world of sales funnels, providing valuable insights and strategies to optimize funnels for maximum lead generation and sales conversion. From identifying and fixing leaks in the sales funnel to leveraging automation and A/B testing techniques, the discussion covers essential stages, software tools, content marketing strategies, and more to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of funnels.
Gain actionable advice from Adam and Chris on tailoring funnel strategies for different target audiences and avoiding common mistakes in funnel building.
Show Highlights:
- Importance of offering value at the top of the funnel to engage leads effectively.
- Structuring funnels with clear stages to identify and fix leaks for improved conversion rates.
- Leveraging ClickFunnels and similar software tools for creating and managing optimized funnels.
- Using A/B testing to fine-tune funnel performance and enhance user experience.
- Nurturing leads effectively through automated follow-ups and personalized content.
Links Mentioned:
Get your Business Growth Secrets SUCCESS PLANNER for FREE and profit like a pro: https://adamstottplanner.com/free-book47315172
Adam’s website: https://adamstott.com/?el=Pod
Watch the Episode on Adam’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/adamstottcoach?el=Pod
Connect with Adam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamstottcoach/?el=Pod
Join Adam’s network on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-stott-coach/?el=Pod
Coaches, consultants, and business owners – lower your marketing costs, increase ticket prices, and get more high-ticket clients: https://3daybrandbuilderworkshop.com/start-here?el=Pod
Transcript:
Please note this is a verbatim transcription from the original audio and therefore may include some minor grammatical errors.
[00:00:00] Adam Stott: Funnels, funnels, funnels, funnels, funnels. That’s what we’re talking about today on business growth secrets. We’ve had 10 questions in about how do you optimize funnels? How do you generate more leads? How do you generate more sales? And so much more. So if you are funnel obsessed and you want to make more money, let’s jump right in.
[00:00:17] To business grow secrets.
[00:00:23] Hey everybody. Welcome to business grow secrets. Super excited today, uh, to answer on all things funnels. Uh, we’ve been using funnels for many, many, many, many years now to build businesses, grow businesses. We’ve won the two comma club, um, award for the million pound in funnels. We won the two copper club X award where we done 10 million pound in funnels, uh, just through click funnels alone, as well as using multiple other softwares.
[00:00:47] So this is a subject we know, we know well. And we love talking about Chris has got questions in from the audience. Talk to us a little bit about, you know, funnels and what questions have you got? Let’s jump right in. And we’re going to answer these questions in under one minute. We got a timeout. We’re going to be stripped.
[00:01:04] It’s going to be question one minute answer. So you are about to have a crash course in funnels. It’s going to
[00:01:11] Chris Cook: be pretty awesome. What we got, Chris? Okay, let’s dive straight in. First question. What are the essential stages of a sales funnel and how do they impact customer journey?
[00:01:21] Adam Stott: Okay, so the essential stages of a sales funnel.
[00:01:24] First thing we need is we need to get somebody into the top of funnel, which means we have to generate The inquiry, the interest. Now that means we’re going to have to have a strong hook. We’re going to be able to hook somebody in so they can actually get into the top of funnel. Now, what a lot of people do is a lot of the time, they put too much of a paywall in at the top.
[00:01:47] What I like to do is I like to add massive value at top of funnel where I’m going to be able to give you lots and lots of value without actually asking you for very much because everything I asked you for is going to stop the inquiry and the development through the funnel. So what I want to do instead with my sales funnel is give you really easy entry, easy access and give you value free.
[00:02:09] Give you a couple of examples. Um, at the bottom of this video, you will see that you can go and join our group for free. Big business entrepreneurs. That is part of a sales funnel because if you join that group, I’m very transparent about it, right? We are then going to add more value to you on business.
[00:02:25] We’re going to give you tons and tons and tons of value in an effort to prove to you that we can help you. Now, once you’ve done that, at some stage, as the relationship develops, we’re going to make you an offer where you can work with us closer, and that’s part of the game. So I think I’ve answered that in one
[00:02:38] Chris Cook: minute.
[00:02:39] Absolutely. Sounds good to me. Okay. Okay. How do you identify and fix leaks in your sales funnel to improve conversion rates?
[00:02:48] Adam Stott: Okay, so one of the ways that you, that we would do that and find out where the sales funnel is going wrong is look at the stages. Have clearly defined stages. So top of funnel being stage one and that is the inquiries coming in.
[00:03:03] Who goes from top of funnel to stage two you Which we would call demo of power. So stage two for us is demo power. That’s where we can show you that we can help you and give you valuable evidence. What we want to see is the inquiry. How many of them get to demo of power and how many don’t, if they don’t get to demo power, we don’t make a presentation to them.
[00:03:26] We don’t add value to them. There’s a leak here between the top of funnel and the demo power. Now, after the demo power. You would move into sales process. So you’ve, you’ve, you’ve generated the interest. We built a relationship. We’ve given you something of great value. Now we’re going to make you an offer.
[00:03:43] And what we’re really assessing is do you go from top of funnel to demo power to sales process, or do you drop off in between? And if we assess that you are dropping off, then we’re going to improve that fluidity. We’re going to increase the automation, increase the messaging and so much more. That was quite a complicated one to answer one minute, but I think we got there right.
[00:04:01] Okay.
[00:04:02] Chris Cook: So, um, what are the best software tools for creating and managing funnels in your opinion?
[00:04:09] Adam Stott: Okay. So we’ve been using ClickFunnels. As I said, we’ve got the million pound award through ClickFunnels. We’ve got the 10 million pound award. Through ClickFunnels. We’ve been using ClickFunnels for a long time.
[00:04:18] I think ClickFunnels is, is amazing for building the funnel, the visual aspects of the funnel and, and the editing of the funnel. We, you know, we love ClickFunnels and I think that, uh, ClickFunnels is awesome, but you’ve got many other softwares right out there. You’ve got competitors Go high level, has a, you know, a very similar funnel building aspect, a management aspect.
[00:04:39] Mm-Hmm. , uh, to the business. And, and they’re the two. That I would say, uh, would be our preferred to keep it simple.
[00:04:46] Chris Cook: Absolutely. Okay. How can you use A B testing to optimize the performance of your funnels?
[00:04:52] Adam Stott: So again, um, a lot of people won’t know what that means that are watching. All right. So when we talk about A B testing, we’re going to launch two things side by side, and we’re going to see the performance of both, right.
[00:05:03] A split testing, A B testing, whatever way you want to label it up. Now, the reason that you’re doing that. So you can see the performance of a short form funnel, for example, versus a long form funnel, and then we’re going to look at which one converts better. And if we find that the short form funnel converts better, we’re going to use that one more.
[00:05:24] Um, so utilizing, how do I utilize it? What’s the best way to utilize it? Don’t split test stupid stuff. Uh, you know, and I think that that’s what’s the point of split testing, just a headline and just a, a color of a button. What I would do is I would split test things that are more substantial, um, than that, for example, Short page versus long page.
[00:05:46] Is there a difference? What is better? Are they creating results? So don’t split test stupid stuff. Be careful what you
[00:05:51] Chris Cook: split test and continually split test if you can. Okay. What role does content marketing play in the top of funnel stage?
[00:06:02] Adam Stott: Yeah, I, I, the way I look at it is your, this, for example, what we’re doing here right now is we’re adding value to the market for free.
[00:06:12] Um, you’ve probably even been listening to my podcast. You’ve been watching me on YouTube. Uh, perhaps you’ve seen me on TV, something else like that. And the content side, the ad is direct response. So we’re going to drive an ad to you. To get you to register for something. But this part is you’ve seen the ad you want to see if I’m any good.
[00:06:31] So maybe you come over and you check out this YouTube video, you check out this podcast, you’re like, Hey, is this guy going to talk my language? Are we going to gel? We’re going to fit. And you know, he’s, he got a similar philosophy to me and. Could I see us working together? And that is where the content plays in and dovetails with the ad perfectly.
[00:06:50] So people can get to experience like you can say, actually, you know, you can answer all these questions on funnels, all these questions on business, all these questions on ads, all these, he must know a thing or two that can help me. And there is no doubt if you’ve got business questions, I’ll be able to help you.
[00:07:03] So for us,
[00:07:04] Chris Cook: the
[00:07:04] Adam Stott: building
[00:07:05] Chris Cook: value, yeah, it’s a short answer. Okay. Good stuff. Um, how do you effectively nurture leads? Through the middle of the funnel. So
[00:07:17] Adam Stott: really making sure that they get to see the demonstration of power in the middle of the funnel. Yeah. And making sure that we keep you re inviting, build relationship, we add value to them and you can use content pieces to add value.
[00:07:33] Um, to, to those people. So we want to just drive more value. into the middle of the funnel so people get more clear and ready to take the next step. I think the nurture part of it is just remember that every, this is what I find, but this is going to take longer than a minute. But what I find, we’re going to try and do this really fast.
[00:07:52] What I find is loads of business owners generate leads, then go, Oh, God, generate some leads through Facebook and they suck. Or, Oh, I’ve got some leads through YouTube and they suck. And, Oh, why do people not call me back? And do you know what? If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me. The reason your leads suck is you’ve done no nurturing.
[00:08:08] You spend one second with them and you expect them to want to buy from you in one second and it ain’t going to happen. So what you need to do is you generate the lead and then you have to nurture the lead and you nurture the lead through email, through WhatsApp, through AI aspects. Now you keep building a relationship.
[00:08:25] You keep adding value on them. So yeah, you phone them. Yeah, of course we found them as well. So you’re taking someone from a. Cold, icy cold prospect to a warm prospect to a burning hot prospect. Building relationship. And that’s the game
[00:08:37] Chris Cook: of nurture. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Sounds good. Definitely deserved a slightly longer answer than that one.
[00:08:41] Um, okay. How can automation enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your sales funnel?
[00:08:50] Adam Stott: It’s just, it’s a given. Um, it needs to be done. Uh, you need to be using automated emails. You need to be using automated text messages. Um, at the very least, uh, it is, it’s critical to improving your conversion rate.
[00:09:03] Now, if you don’t have it, you’ll just have more people drop out of the funnel. So it’s basically, it’s just critical. Within business now that if somebody makes an inquiry that there are going to be some automated follow up in there. So, you know what the truth is say you took it out and you didn’t use it If you did pick up the phone and you did build the relationship and you did that properly that would be enough Traditional methods are coming.
[00:09:25] So, you know, you’ve got
[00:09:25] Chris Cook: you’ve got both aspects there. People are amazed when they get a phone call or a letter Yeah, um, okay. So, uh, what metrics should you track to measure the effectiveness of your funnel? So
[00:09:36] Adam Stott: from top down You Uh, the first, first metric is cost per lead, understanding how much does it cost you actually to get a conversion.
[00:09:45] And even if you go before that, it’s your landing page conversion. And landing page that’s not converting or your landing page is converting at 5%, you know, you’ve got a problem with that landing page or the traffic that’s being driven to it. You know, if your landing page is converting at 20 percent and your cost per lead is sensible, you’re moving in the right direction.
[00:10:03] And then, and then you’ve got to be looking at, Hey, you know, your cost per lead, what’s your cost per lead to your cost per. So how many leads do I need to achieve to get a sale? What’s my cost per sale, my cost per acquisition? And then, which is what people forget is your initial cost per acquisition.
[00:10:18] Great. But what’s your LTV? Now you’ve made that acquisition. How many more times they’ve gone to purchase from you? And what’s the LTV of that client within your business? And that’s where you want to be. And if you understand those numbers, I just said, you’re onto a winner. And if you don’t, that’s why you need coaching.
[00:10:35] Chris Cook: Okay, uh, what are some common mistakes businesses make when building their funnels and how can they avoid them?
[00:10:44] Adam Stott: Uh, first of all Not considering user experience I’ve seen loads of people build funnels and definitely DIY funnels And they sit there and because it took them 12 hours to build it Because they’ve never done it before they think because they spent so much time on it.
[00:11:00] It’s actually good where it ain’t You And the reason is you got, you got blind to the fact that just cause it took you 12 hours doesn’t mean it’s good. Uh, the design usually is bad. The structure usually is bad. You know, I in gold circle, for example, I’m coaching people. They’re sending their funnels into me all the time and I’m analyzing them.
[00:11:22] And one of the biggest mistakes is the struck. There was no structure. For the way the funnel is built, the design work is very, very poor and the funnel is dead before it’s even launched. So we need to make sure that the design is done well, the structure is done well, and the offer is done well, and the way that we present it.
[00:11:39] And there is some work to do in order to travel in that direction, but I see that a lot. A lot of people become blind to what they’ve actually created. Because it just transfixed in a computer screen for 10 hours. And because it was so bad at the beginning, just because he’s got 10 percent better doesn’t mean it’s not still bad.
[00:11:57] Right. So, you know, sometimes it’s good to actually go and get some freelancers, get some people to work with you, get some designers to help you sharpen this up and make it better. And then you can speed up your, your growth in the future. So pay attention to good design, uh, follow a structure. Yeah. Okay.
[00:12:14] And we can help people with that. If you want to build funnels, we can help you show the structure, show design, help you with every aspect of it. Yeah.
[00:12:20] Chris Cook: Okay. Um, how do you tailor your funnel strategy? How do you tailor your funnel strategy for different target audiences or market segments? More for more how we would tailor
[00:12:33] Adam Stott: it is more for different offers rather than market set because the offer as whatever offer I’m creating is Has been created for a market anyway, so I don’t tailor a funnel based around the market.
[00:12:48] I tailor a funnel based around what I want the customer to do. So I look at who’s the customer, what do I want them to do? Do I want them to register for an event that’s free? Do I want them to register for an event that’s paid? Do I want them to come online to an event? Do I want to set a challenge? Do I want to take a workshop?
[00:13:05] Do I want them to book a call? So what I do Is it what we do is we look first of all, who are we targeting? What are we going to offer them? And then we make it attractive based on the language we use and the structure we use to get them to make that inquiry. So it’s slightly different, but it’s a different spin and actually it’s quite simple.
[00:13:25] Who are you targeting? What are you offering? How are you going to influence them? And those three questions are going to allow you to build a funnel with the key customer in mind and the outcome in mind. Sounds good to me. All good. That was that 10. That’s all good. Yeah. I think that there was a ton of great stuff in there.
[00:13:41] Absolutely. You know, if you’ve got questions on funnels or you’re like funnels, what’s a funnel? I don’t even get it. Right. Like, you know, and you want to know more, uh, go over to the comments, make sure that you share this, uh, with somebody that needs some help within their business and growing their business and tell us what you got out of this episode, whether some mini wins, some quick wins for you, the way that this podcast grows.
[00:14:02] We don’t run ads on this. It’s just us delivering. Pure value. So if you get a moment, we’d be super grateful. You could go and share this out to your network or with a business owner that needs it. And I very much look forward to seeing you on the next episode of business growth secrets, where we’ve got more shotgun questions, just like this.