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Today’s talking point:

What is a funnel and why do you need one in your business? I will deep dive into all things funnels, from how to start one and the tech you need.

Get this right and you can revolutionise your business.

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I’ve been asked so many times to do an episode on sales funnels, so here we are. See this as the Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Funnels.

You are going to love this one and find it so useful!

what actually is a funnel?

You might be surprised to hear that a funnel is not what a lot of people think it is.

The sales funnel is taking your sales process and using really simple tools to automate it.

It's sitting down and figuring out what is the best-case scenario. What do you wish you could do? How do you want your potential clients to feel?

It’s about letting super smart tech help us in our business.

We need to sit down and map out the best process. What steps do people need to take to get the information they need? How can we put together a process that gives them this information easily?

Imagine your funnel as a little engine that just keeps on running. If you do it right, it keeps making you sales.

why do you need a funnel?

The pros of having a funnel:

You don’t have to do every step of the process yourself, manually, so it massively saves you time.
You can reinvest some of that time doing work that helps to grow your business or that you love doing.
It adds a sense of reliability and certainty.
It helps you to predict your sales and income.

For me, having a funnel is life-changing.

I was chatting with a client about this recently, who said:

It's moments like this, when you don't realise the weight that you were carrying, when you had all of this uncertainty, all of this constant stressing about where's my next sale going to come from? Where's my next client going to come from? Do I have to do all of this work to get it, it's just this constant stress, stress, scramble scramble, it's exhausting.
Then you have this moment when you get your funnel and it's off and running. And it's maybe you know, for a couple of weeks, it's been rolling, and then you start to go, Wait a second, I'm always going to make roughly x amount of sales every week. And I don't have to do anything. This is amazing. And it's this weight lifts.

It’s exactly why I teach funnels, especially to my high-level clients in my mastermind because of that moment, and then everything that comes after it.

Why else do people use sales funnels?

It acts as another revenue stream in your business. Set your funnel to cover your necessary expenses, then the launch and promotions and everything you do, will be additional profit.
They take away a lot of stress which helps you show up and be creative and eventually launch less but with a bigger impact each time.

when is the right time to add a funnel?

You may have already guessed it because I've sort of been hinting at it as we go along…

Don’t start a funnel years and years down the track. Start one early!

I would say the right time is when you have created a product and proven that it sells well.

When I say sells well, I don't mean that it has to sell amazingly, you do not have to have this massive big six-figure launch to know that your product is ready to sell. In fact, quite often, some people can have products that have mediocre launches, and then they get into a funnel, we tweak a couple of things to make them more full or friendly. And then they actually find the product sells better than it ever did in a live launch.

You are likely to create your first funnel and probably leave it for 6-12 months, then you'll update it or create a new one. You will tweak, refine and make them better.

Having a simple funnel set up as early as possible (even if it’s not converting to the maximum) is still going to make new sales and bring that level of reliability and revenue. So it is worth it.

One thing that is worth mentioning…

Don't put the expectation on your funnel making you six figures in the first month. It probably won't.

You also don’t want to risk losing sales, so if you’re actively list-building through:

Creating content
You have opt-ins
You feature on podcasts regularly
You are focusing on increasing your visibility

If you are doing these things and you don’t have a funnel, you’re actually losing sales.

what tech do you need to set up your funnel?

I get that tech can be overwhelming sometimes, but being scared of tech is not an excuse. In fact, this is a self-sabotaging limiting belief. You are an intelligent human, you've started a business, and you've probably learned how to drive a car that is way more complicated than figuring out how to send an automated email. I promise you.

If you have an online business and sell things online, you need to get comfortable with tech, OR, you need to get comfortable with paying someone to help you with the tech.

Okay, so what is the tech that you need? This is really simple.

Firstly, you need an email service provider - something like Active Campaign, or ConvertKit - most of which have a free version.
Next, you need a page builder where you can easily create landing pages where people can opt-in or make the sale. Squarespace, Wordpress or funnel-specific pages like LeadPages can help you with this.
You then need a way to deliver your offer, like a core software or portal so when someone purchases they go straight to your platform.
Once you’re familiar with sales funnels, you can invest in a countdown timer. When you go evergreen, a countdown timer allows you to create a sense of urgency, as the offer could be for a limited time only. Some platforms have built-in timers, but the best one available right now is one called deadline funnel.

What to expect when you set up a funnel

The main thing I want you to be prepared for is that you will need to have patience when you first set it up.

You’ll likely have to let the funnel sit for a few weeks before it starts making regular sales. During this time, you can collect the data so you can keep making tweaks and improvements, which is a really vital step if you want a successful funnel.