Speaker 1: If you want to learn about sales funnel stages and how to build one, you've come to the right place.

Speaker 2: In this video, we're gonna explain what a sales funnel is, the different stages, and how you can optimize each stage to convert more leads into paying clients.

Speaker 1: But before we dive into that, we want to get to know you more. So leave us a comment below and let us know what kind of business are you in. Hi guys, I'm Mike and welcome back to our channel.

Speaker 2: If you're new here and you want more tips that are gonna help you win more business and get more done, hit that subscribe button and the little notification bell so you don't miss any future videos. Hey guys, I'm Christy, and in today's video, we're talking all about sales funnels, which is the flow that someone goes through

Speaker 1: from learning that your business exists all the way through to becoming a successful business owner. So let's get into it. So let's get into it. From learning that your business exists all the way through to becoming a paid client.

Speaker 2: If somebody learns about your business from a trade show or an ad on Facebook and then becomes a client, well, that's a sales funnel. So you probably already have a sales funnel if you're getting clients or customers to your business, but maybe you're not thinking about it strategically or optimizing it to grow your business. But don't worry, that's what we're here to help you do.

Speaker 1: A sales funnel has five stages. It starts with awareness, leads to interest, then decision, then action, and finally retain.

Speaker 2: The awareness stage is your marketing efforts. What are the various ways that people learn or could learn about your business? To optimize this stage of the funnel, you wanna figure out who your ideal client is and where do they hang out, and then figure out how you get in front of them.

Speaker 1: Maybe you're targeting people based on industry, so you would wanna be attending certain networking events, trade shows, or Facebook, or LinkedIn groups. Maybe you're targeting people based on interest, so you could use Facebook and Instagram ads to target people based on those interests. Or maybe it's people by geographical location, so you wanna be doing mailers or brochures, sending them out to people in a particular neighborhood. Or it could be people typing in certain keywords into Google, and so you could be using Google AdWords or creating blog content that's gonna show up in those search results.

Speaker 2: To optimize your sales funnel at this stage, it's important to track how much you're spending on your various marketing activities, and to track how many leads you're getting per campaign or activity. Then you wanna measure their effectiveness. For example, if you're running Facebook ads, what's the click-through rate on your Facebook ads, and how does that compare to industry benchmarks? Is there anything you could change in your ad copy or your images to improve their effectiveness? And how many leads are you getting per activity or campaign? It's important to track the return on investment you're getting for your marketing activities.

Speaker 1: You can keep track of this by using a spreadsheet to break down all the different marketing activities that you're doing and the result of each. So make sure when you get in touch with a client, you're asking them how they heard about your business and then recording that lead source, ideally in a CRM. And that way you can track which campaigns are getting you the most amount of leads, which ones convert the best, and what's the return on investment of each campaign so you know what to continue to invest in.

Speaker 2: For example, if you're using Daylight as your CRM, once you've gotten in touch with a lead, it's very important to ask them how they heard about you, and then to record that information in the opportunities type field. You can then run a report to see how many leads you've gotten per marketing activity and how much revenue each of them has generated for you.

Speaker 1: The next stage in the sales funnel is the interest stage. So this is when someone goes from learning that your business exists to being a bit more interested in your product or service, or just your company in general. So for example, they could go from getting to a blog post from a Google search result to signing up for your email newsletter, or from seeing a Facebook ad to getting to your website and then being nudged to schedule a free consultation with you. Or maybe it's from an ad to signing up for a webinar, which then adds them to your email list.

Speaker 2: To optimize this stage, you wanna be proactive in staying in touch with your prospects so that you stay top of mind. For example, if they've signed up for an ebook or they joined your mailing list, you could add them to a drip campaign that continually nurtures them. We use MailChimp for this to send a series of emails with educational content to add value for our prospects while they get to know our brand.

Speaker 1: You also need to think about how are people gonna flow from the awareness stage to the interest stage, because usually people are not ready to buy right away. It's unfortunate, I know, but that's the reality. So you need to think about how are you gonna flow people through your funnel. So for example, from a Facebook or Instagram ad, taking them to a landing page that encourages them to sign up for an ebook or a webinar that adds them to your mailing list so that you can nurture them. Or maybe further along, like encouraging them to schedule a free consultation so they can get to know you and your business a bit better.

Speaker 2: The next stage in the sales funnel is the decision stage. This is the follow-up stage when you're trying to convert that lead into a paying client and continue to build that trust with them. Stay tuned to the end of this video where we're gonna talk about how to create the ultimate follow-up process. At the decision stage, the potential client is evaluating your business compared to your competitors. So you wanna make sure that you stay proactive by following up to nudge them along. You also wanna put yourself in their shoes and understand the questions, concerns, and objections they may have as they're evaluating your business.

Speaker 1: For example, it could be sending them a case study or it could be sending them a sales deck that explains how you're different from your competition. Maybe for your business, it's sending them a proposal at this stage so that they can evaluate if you're gonna be the right fit for them. For other businesses, it may just be getting to know each other a little bit better and building that relationship. So at this stage, what you'll be focused on is taking them out to lunch, wining and dining them, or doing a more in-depth consultation call so that you can really help them decide if you're gonna be the right fit.

Speaker 2: Here's where a CRM can really help remind you to keep nudging that forward and to make sure that you check off all the steps in your checklist. For example, in Daylight, you can use a pipeline and a checklist to remind you to follow up, remind you to send your sales deck to a prospect, remind you to follow up with that prospect two days after sending that sales deck, and all of this can be customized in Daylight's preferences to exactly match your sales process.

Speaker 1: The fourth stage in the sales funnel is the action stage. So this is when they're making a purchase or they're signing a contract to begin working with you.

Speaker 2: It's important to be proactive at this stage to help them say yes. Don't wait for them to follow up. For example, as soon as you get a yes, make sure that you follow up promptly with a contract and then continue to follow up to get that contract signed.

Speaker 1: People often have what's called buyer's remorse, where they feel instant regret after making a purchase. Kind of like that time I bought those shoes and as soon as I left the store, I knew I'd never wear them, and I didn't. So to overcome this, you wanna make sure you're doing things that build trust and instill confidence so your client feels that they made the right decision.

Speaker 2: Right, you can do this by sending them a thank you note after they've signed a contract with you, or you could promptly schedule the project kickoff call and go over next steps with them so that they can feel confident that you are on the ball.

Speaker 1: The last stage in the sales funnel is the retain stage. This is when people continue to buy from you so they become repeating clients. So to optimize this stage, you wanna make sure that you're nurturing your clients so that they continue to be repeat clients and generate referrals for you.

Speaker 2: To do this, continue to build that relationship by staying in touch and top of mind so that they will become repeat customers and advocates for your brand. At the end of the project, ask them if they'd be willing to provide you with a testimonial that you can use on your website and in your marketing materials, and also ask them if they know anybody else that could be in need of your services. At the end of the project is a great time to ask these questions because they'll be happy with the work you've done and be willing to refer you business.

Speaker 1: But you don't have to limit this to right after completing a project. You can touch base with clients every couple of months, see how they're doing, see if they're in need of your service again, or maybe if they know someone who does. Just be sure to send a thank you note or a thank you gift so they feel appreciated after they send you a referral and encouraged to send you more referrals. Because let's be honest, who doesn't love opening a thank you gift?

Speaker 2: Where's my gift? This is where a CRM can really help you stay on top of all of these touch points. For example, in Daylight, you can create a list of past clients that you wanna touch base with every two months. To do this, just filter your contacts by category client and ones that have not had any activity in the last two months and save this list. Then every day or every week, go through this list, reach out to your past clients, and once you've recorded the email or logged the call, they will automatically be removed from this list until the next two months period is up.

Speaker 1: If you need a CRM to help you stay on top of your followups, check out Daylight. We'll include a link below where you can start your own free trial. And if you want to learn how to create the ultimate followup process to turn more leads into paying clients, you're not gonna wanna miss our next video. We'll include a link to it right up here. Thanks so much for watching, guys. If you found this video helpful, remember to give it a like, and for future videos with more tips, remember to hit the subscribe button and the notification bell.