Are you frustrated by the number of leads you have coming into your business that never turn into real customers? Having an effective lead funnel can completely change your experience. With a proper funnel, you can attract a large number of prospects, gain engagement with many of them, and sell to a large number. However, it’s important to understand the stages of a lead funnel and to use it effectively.
What is a Lead Funnel?
A lead funnel is part of a total sales funnel. A process by which you attract customers to your business, engage with them and educate them about your products and services, and finally, sell to them and encourage them to refer others to you.
When you maximize the effectiveness of your lead funnel, you can multiply your results. For instance, if you currently have a conversion rate of 10% between each of the funnel stages, and you increase it to 20%, do you double your business? No, you can more than quadruple it! This is the power of having an effective lead funnel.
The stages of a lead funnel are:
- Attracting. This is the beginning stage where you are letting potential clients know who you are. You need to know exactly who you’re trying to attract and who your ideal customer is. You should also know where they spend time and what media they listen to, so you can focus your efforts.
- Contacting/Connecting.
- Engagement.
- Sales. At this stage, the customer has purchased from you, and you may think the relationship is over. You couldn’t be more wrong. Once you’ve made a sale, provide outstanding customer service. Also provide opportunities for additional sales and ask your customers to refer you to others.
Importance of Lead Magnets
A lead magnet is a free or low-cost offering that gets you off on the right foot with a prospect. It’s a low-key way for them to learn about you, and it raises awareness of your brand.
The biggest mistake most organizations make is that they only have one or two lead magnets. In reality, you need to have several. The more opportunities someone has to get to know you, the better! Lead magnets that are specifically targeted to a certain part of your customer base are especially effective. For instance, a white paper about how your product or service helps Realtors® is more effective than a general white paper aimed at all small business owners.
To get great results at the bottom of the funnel, you need to have a lot of people entering the top of your funnel. So get those lead magnets going, customize them, and then promote them!
Bottom of the Funnel and Conversions
The results you get at the bottom of your funnel are fundamentally linked to your ability, in the top two stages, to give your prospects a reason to choose you over your competitors. There will always be someone else who provides what you provide. Why should your prospect choose you?
Many organizations try to answer that question by providing the lowest price in the market. As a small business owner, that’s a mistake. If you compete on price, you’ll be racing to the bottom, and you won’t be properly compensated for your expertise. Here are some other ways that you can stand out from your competitors:
- Excellent Follow-up. Most organizations drop the ball when it comes to following up. They either don’t do it at all, or they only follow-up once or twice. By automating your lead funnel, you have the opportunity to seem more professional than your peers.
- Do Your Product or Service Better Than Anyone Else. You don’t have to excel in all ways, but if you can find one or two areas where you’re better than anyone else, capitalize on it. Selling on value can make price an afterthought.
- Innovate. If you can find new ways to apply your product or service to solving problems in your customers’ lives, you can not only differentiate yourself, you can gain repeat business.
- Offer unique guarantees or bonuses. I knew a magician who far out-booked his competitors because he offered a money-back guarantee if his customers weren’t satisfied. No one else was willing to do that. What guarantees or bonuses can you add that will make you stand out?
Many times, small businesses get their potential customers into the lead funnel, but fail to make the conversion at the end. Genie Automation can help with your marketing to get more consistent results. Contact us today for more information and to set up a free consultation!