Why are people so confused about the idea of funnels?

What the hell is a sales funnel? A Marketing Funnel? A Lead Funnel? 

Yep another question from you my incredible listeners, this one was:
Why are so many people confused about sales funnels?

Well I am going to dive into what a funnel is, the different stages of a sales funnel, including awareness, interest, evaluation, and action. 

The importance of moving potential customers through these stages and integrating marketing activities at each level. 

I also  want to touch on the significance of post-sale loyalty and advocacy! 

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:17

Hello , thank you for joining me for another episode of Marketing Espresso . I hope that you are well this week . I hope that things are going extraordinarily . If you know from my last episode because you know that I batch these , so you can probably assume that I batch all of July together and I do . It is still a Friday night and I am still enjoying a glass of pinot , not an espresso like I normally would . I don't know what Leah's going to prefer more , but I mean , maybe these episodes will get really spicy . No , I've had literally two sips of this glass of wine and it's sitting there staring at me , as is my couch , and probably a pretty shit rom-com . Let's be honest , it's a very wet , rainy , crappy night in Sydney . And look , I would say that this is the reason I'm home on a Friday night . But actually the reason I'm home on a Friday night is being a business owner is really hard and I am really tired 90% of the time . I was also up at 6am this morning doing a 7k run , so I feel like I've earned my time on the couch tonight and this beautiful glass of wine . So the things that you can do for me in return for all of the things that I hopefully give you in these podcast episodes is please let me know if you're listening , reach out , say hi , leave me a review and also tell someone that you know should be listening to this that they should be listening to it and refer them to the potty . I would love that .

Speaker 1 1:34

So , once again , I am still answering questions that have come in from you guys , the listeners , and also a focus group on Facebook that you might've seen me call out . So today's question is why are people so confused about the idea of funnels ? And also a focus group on Facebook that you might have seen me call out . So today's question is why are people so confused about the idea of funnels ? This one's interesting because people don't really talk about funnels often , and this one came in from my good mate , jade . You probably know her if you're on Instagram and if you don't , you should . Her name's Jade Warne . She's excellent in all that she does , and I'm still trying to tie her down to get on the potty , actually . So that's a good reminder for me to reach out to her again , maybe not this wet , rainy Friday night . I'm sure she's enjoying time with her family Anyway . So why are people so confused about the idea of funnels . Well , I think because people might not even know what a funnel is . So let's go through this .

Speaker 1 2:21

A sales funnel essentially has different stages in it and the goal is that , depending on how someone gets to find you and gets to find your business , depends on where they are in the funnel . So you've got . So , whether you call it the sales or marketing funnel , or maybe you call it the sales and marketing funnel , you've got awareness , interest , evaluation and action right . So , depending on where someone finds you , depends on where they probably are in this funnel . Now , obviously , in your awareness state , these are people that might have seen you on social media . They have no idea who you are . They might have seen you through a collaboration you've done or a podcast you've done , or they've just seen you pop up , so they're aware of you . Then you've got interest . That's where you've sucked them . This is , and it's literally , a funnel , right ? So like , picture a funnel . You're moving them . The goal is to move them down this funnel . So your next one under awareness is interest . So , obviously , as it says , this is where they've gained interest of you . So in order to get them from awareness to interest , you have to be giving them something to make them interested . So this is why your marketing content and everything that you're doing to the people that might be becoming aware of you Now , these people probably aren't people in your email list , for example , because they moved your email list at the interest stage .

Speaker 1 3:31

Right , They've said , hey , I actually quite like what this person is about , I will give them my email . Then they've moved into interest . The awareness state is all of that above the line . So in marketing you've got above the line and below the line marketing . Right , they're two different types . Someone might actually come into the awareness state through below the line marketing too , so I'll excuse myself for getting that wrong . So above the line is all your advertising , all the stuff you're throwing out there . Below the line is all the kind of when I worked in a health fund , for example , where we could only sell to Commonwealth Bank employees , the below the line advertising was going and setting up in the foyer and handing out yogurts , right , like it's all those other little things that you do . That might not be the really obvious attention grabbing advertising , social media , all of that stuff . I hope that's making sense . So you've got awareness , interest , and obviously we've just spoken about how you pull them into this interest . Then you've got evaluation . This is where they might be getting your emails . They're listening to your podcast , for example .

Speaker 1 4:26

I would suggest that most of you guys in my funnel hello , welcome to my funnel , you're interested and you're potentially evaluating me You're like would I actually want to work with this woman ? Is she giving the right advice ? Do I mesh with her ? Do I like her values ? So the evaluation stage is really where we're building that like no trust . So someone's interested in us , they're following us , they're watching our stuff . We're moving them into evaluation .

Speaker 1 4:51

Action is when they're putting their hand up . They're like actually I'm pretty interested . I've decided that I'm interested and I've evaluated that I think I'm the right fit for your business and you're the right fit for me . And now I actually want to take action . And that's where marketing kind of pisses off and your sales comes in . Because it was interesting , I was watching .

Speaker 1 5:10

Someone sent me a video the other day , I think it was a Gary Vee one . Anyway , he was talking about marketing and sales . What's the difference ? Right , and he's like if you're doing marketing , you should never have to do cold calling or any other kind of sales activity of this and they should just buy you straight from your marketing . Now , I really disagree with this . I think , especially in this day and age , in the economy that we're in right now , people that are ready to take action , they still want to have a conversation with you . They need to be sold , especially if you're a high ticket item or something like that . If it's a $5 purchase , sure they're going to take action a lot quicker . So this funnel really depends on where you sit .

Speaker 1 5:49

So , sosgas V , I actually have to disagree with you a little bit on this one , because I think it's all well and good to say that marketing should just be pushing people into your funnel . It should be pulling people through . But at the end of the day , if you don't have that sales capability at that action point and you don't know how to really convert someone , you might not have to . Maybe your marketing is so shit hot that you're converting them in that evaluation and action stage . But the thing is you don't really just want to hope that your marketing is shit hot . You also want to ensure that you've got that sales pitch Pretty good , or you've got a sales strategy that works for you and your business right . It could be a really relaxed sales .

Speaker 1 6:27

But anyway , this is why I guess people are confused about funnels because they don't understand how important it is to move people through these funnels and how , at each single point of the sales funnel , you have to be moving them through . I also think if you happen to go Google marketing funnel or sales funnel , you'll see a whole bunch of other ones come up too . Like you might have one where engage comes before action and totally like of course they're going to probably engage with you , the action could be the sales aspect . But the reality is , at the end of the day , whether it's the five stages , the seven stages or however you want to put up your funnel , you can totally create one how you want people to come through your funnel . But at the end of the day , that funnel always starts with they've seen you , they've noticed you , and then the goal is to move them through to a sale . So if you're not doing that , you obviously have to also tell people how they can buy from you . And that's why it's really important in all your marketing messaging that you're hitting each level of this funnel and that you're doing activity , hit these funnels , and this is why it's important that you're not just on social media . If you're just on social media , there's going to be a point of this funnel that's really missing out , right , and you could be like but I sell in my DMs , but there's still going to be . What else are you doing when they're in that hand up ? I've spoken to you , I'm interested , or the consideration phase , or the you know it's consideration , evaluation , interest phase Like , what else are you doing to move them through that funnel ? And it's really important because this will also help you decide what kind of marketing to do .

Speaker 1 7:56

It's a really key thing to look at for your business , and I think there's also other funnels . There's other stages of the funnel that people talk to as well and other marketers talk to , and that's loyalty and advocacy . After someone buys from you , how then are you keeping them loyal ? Do you have a product where they can keep coming back ? Do you have a service where they can keep coming back ? And if you don't and there's no that loyalty comes out in different ways , and that is they're telling other people about you , and that is also the advocacy right , the ways , and that is they're telling other people about you , and that is also the advocacy right .

Speaker 1 8:27

The quickest way to grow your business is through referrals and word of mouth . Now , people that say word of mouth is dead . I think that's a silly thing to say , because there's still so much to be done that if you're not working on making sure your clients are these advocates for you and that they're loyal , that's a really big missed opportunity . So don't just think the sales funnel finishes at the sale , because these people can still be working for you after that sale . So I think people are confused because maybe they don't even know about the funnel to answer the question , but also because they don't understand how the funnel should plug into their marketing activity so that they have marketing activity happening at these different points . And that is why I always talk to marketing strategy , because it comes back to the funnel and everything is working for the funnel . But also it ensures that you're not just cutting off your customer once they've bought from you and you're forgetting about them . It allows for the surprise and delight element and all of those other things that should be included in your marketing sales strategy and all of that great stuff .

Speaker 1 9:24

Now , I hope that's been helpful . I feel like I actually managed to answer that question better than my normal . Well , it depends . Answer that I give you . I hope it was helpful . I hope you loved it . As always , I'll be back in your ears next week . Have a great week , thank you .