Are you wondering what a sales funnel is and how it relates to your business? A sales funnel is the journey that a potential customer goes on from discovering your product until they become an actual paying customer.
Still confused i'll explain...
A basic sales funnel would have these 4 layers:
Suspects are those who or may not be your customers.
Prospects are the people who have shown some interest in what you are selling.
Leads are those people who have made some form of contact, be it online or in person.
Customers are those who actually commit to buying a product or service.
The concept of a sales funnel is to move people through these layers and whittling down a large number of suspects so they become actual customers.
Let's pretend your run a florist shop.
Your suspects would be everyone who passes by your shop.
Now you need to work out who your prospects are. This is anyone who shows an interest in buying some flowers. In this case it would be anyone who stops by the window to take a look.
Your prospects become leads when you find out that they are definitely interested, so if they came inside your florists shop.
And finally, they become customers when they actually come up to the counter, order some flowers and pay for them.
The same process can be applied to an online store.
A great way of reaching suspects would be to write a blog. If people are searching for something related to your flowers and they find your blog and begin to read it, they move from suspects to prospect.
So now we need to turn the prospects into leads, and using an sign-up form can help you to. Anyone who now subscribes to your blog from your website means they are actually interested in your flowers and have become a lead.
Now you need to turn your leads in to actual paying customers. If you were to send a welcome email to your new subscribers offering a discount on their first order, this could help push them on to becoming paying customers.
So, in short, a sales funnel is simply the process of turning potential customers in to paying customers. Simple.
If you need any further clarification please do give me a shout on susie@hellosocialmediauk.com.
Hello Social Media provides full social media management, social media workshops to businesses in Hampshire and Surrey including: Liphook, Liss, Petersfield, Alton, Haslemere, Godalming, Guildford, Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester.
