How To Get More Sales Building An Online Sales Funnel

 

Do people get married the first day they meet? It’s possible, but extremely rare. And yet, many businesses try to make more sales the first time they meet a prospect!

Sales funnels are designed to allow prospects to take measured steps toward the sale as they gather information and familiarize themselves with a business. At the same time, the business can use the funnel to filter out poor prospects.

The goal of the sales funnel is to get prospects to raise their hand, show interest, and make a deliberate move toward more sales. The sales funnel is wide at the top, gathers in large numbers of prospects, and then narrows at the bottom where the sale is achieved.

The goal is to get as many people in the top of the funnel as possible. A basic law of marketing is that it’s easier to sell a customer than a prospect. That means that someone that has purchased before is significantly easier to make more sales to then someone that has never bought a thing.

Smart marketers provide free and low-cost products in the top of their funnel in order to get customers to sign-up for the freebie or make a small purchase. Once they make a small purchase, it is much easier to encourage them to make a larger purchase later.

The smaller item allows them get to know, trust and like the business while getting value from their products and services. Instead of going for an immediate one-time sale, smart companies structure an entire marketing and sales funnel that takes prospects step-by-step, product-by-product, from beginning client to a full relationship, creating more sales in the process.

A sales funnel might also be called a “trust funnel.” Everyone has been burned by poor products and service. A “trust funnel” allows prospects to make small commitments over time at their own pace. In turn, the business builds trust and set the stage for significantly more sales down the road.

Funnel Filter

While the funnel is bringing prospects along as they develop into customers, at the same time it allows the business to filter out prospects that don’t fit their ideal customer profile. A business will prosper and make more sales faster when it is able to identify prospects that are best qualified to become customers.

Qualifications might include economic means, ability to refer additional customers, are easy to work with, recognize and will pay for quality, or any other criteria. This allows the business to focus on only those customers that will result in more sales, steering others to different businesses and opportunities.

Efficient sales funnels works like silent machines, quietly bringing prospects happily down the funnel in ever-increasing levels of commitment, while eliminating those that are best served by other companies. It takes a while to refine the system, but a quality sales funnel will result in more sales for many years.