Do you have a successful sales funnel in place? If you do, it goes a little something like this: you meet a prospect, you pre-qualify them as a good lead, you transition them into the following stage of heightened interest (this can be achieved several ways), and finally convert them into a client. It shouldn’t just be “easy”, it should be formulaic. Eventually, you'll be able to just repeat the same successful process over and over again. Now, if you are scratching your head trying to figure out how you even convinced your last client to work with you, it’s probably time to build a dependable sales funnel.
It’s Not a Square, Rectangle Or Circle. It’s a Funnel. There’s a reason why they call them sales funnels, and not sales cylinders. If your method is successful, you’re narrowing down your prospects until you’ve found the perfect match. Sales funnels take some time in perfecting as you will need to test out which methods work best for your service or product. The first step to creating a sales funnel is knowing where your leads come from. Who recommends you? Or, who do your clients work with who can recommend you? If you work with entrepreneurs, odds are they have a business coach or advisor who can become a possible lead. If you work with mid-size business owners, they probably have a sales advisor, banker or financial advisor that they go to for advice. Think about who influences your client’s business decisions - this is who you need to meet.
Save Precious Time By Pre-Qualifying Leads. Time, as you are probably well aware, is money. So, imagine you get 5 leads per week and decide to have coffee with each one of them. You’ve just spent over 20 hours (not including transportation costs and time) in a single month just meeting prospects; even if your time was only worth minimum wage (and I really hope it’s worth more) you’ve spent close to $200 on just coffee dates. That’s not productive. Instead, set up a system to pre-qualify leads as they come in. You can do this by simply having a 15 minute chat before inviting them to coffee or lunch, sending a questionnaire by GoSave“ href=”#"> or doing a little research.
There Are Three Requirements To Any Sale: Know, Like & Trust. Once you have pre-qualified your strong lead, take them out to coffee or lunch to start building the relationship. This is part of your funnel that builds “know” and “like”. Ask tons of questions and refrain talking about yourself unless asked. Dig for as much information as possible, as this will give you insight as to whether you might be best suited to help them.
Going From “I’m Interested” To “I’m In”. Going from “know” and “like” to “trust” is the hardest part of any funnel, and why the majority of sales deals by GoSave“ href=”#"> go south. Here’s a secret: always start a relationship with an outstretched palm. Give, give, give, and then give some more. Offer a free consultation, discovery session, or taster. Let the client get comfortable with your service or product so they can see exactly what life would be with it. Paint a picture of how you could solve all their problems (realistically) and encourage them to move past where they currently are to where they could be. This stage is very experiential, so any props or exercises to make clients feel your value is crucial.
Do you have a dependable sales funnel? Let us know below or email us at [email protected].
