What’s in your marketing funnel?
A former client of mine, whom I will call “Mary,” was a financial planner. She had had a website for a few years that practically served as an online brochure for her. When Mary came to me, she was looking for other ways to generate income besides working directly with clients.
During our first conversation I introduced him to the MARKETING FUNNEL. If you imagine a funnel, you know that it is wide and open at the top and small and narrow at the bottom. At the top of the funnel is where you want to get as many leads as possible. At the bottom of the funnel is the service or product with the HIGHEST PRICE. And in the middle are the intermediate levels of services/products and prices.
So as you go down the funnel, the products are priced higher and higher, and the idea is to keep people flowing from the top down.
First, put them IN the funnel
Offering something FREE is the ideal way to attract tons of people into your funnel. Most people collect leads by giving away something for free, like a report, ezine, or teleclass. When people sign up for these freebies, you get their names and email addresses, allowing you to contact them again.
At the top of Mary’s funnel was her ezine. And at the bottom of it were the expensive services of her one by one. But there was nothing in the middle of her funnel.
I see this often with many solo professionals, such as coaches and consultants. There are free or high fee. This is why so many of them have so much trouble converting leads – people are usually not ready to take that big leap from $0 to several thousand dollars!
So I helped Mary think of various information products (“info-products”) and other programs that she could quickly create and start selling.
Infoproducts are a great solution
By packaging your knowledge into infoproducts, you give your prospects the opportunity to “try it out” at a lower price, filling the middle of your funnel. Here are some ideas to get started:
* Books
* E-books
* Special Reports
* Manuals
* Workbooks
* Newspapers
* Audio (downloads, CDs or tapes)
* Video (downloads, DVD or VHS tapes)
* Home study courses or tutorials (usually a mix of media)
Even better, selling these products on your website gives you passive income. That is, it is money that enters automatically. It didn’t require you to work X hours for Y dollars. Sales can come in 24/7, and you don’t even have to be there.
And don’t forget about teleclasses or teleseminars, delivered over the phone, or even webinars, delivered over the Internet. These require your direct participation, but allow you to teach many people at once. These formats allow you to earn much more money per hour and give your prospects access to you for a lower fee than hiring you one on one.
Let’s see what Maria’s funnel might look like:
UPPER PART OF THE FUNNEL:
Free electronic magazine
MIDDLE OF THE FUNNEL:
Workbook ($49)
Teleseminar ($79)
2 CD Audio Program ($97)
4-week distance course ($249)
BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL:
One hour private consultations ($250)
2-Day Live Workshop ($997)
Personal Mentoring Program ($3,000/month)
Take a few minutes right now and draw YOUR funnel. See where the holes are and start thinking about what products you can add to make it easier for your prospects to test your expertise and buy from you.
© 2004-2009 Alexandria Brown International Inc.