250: Creating High-Performing Sales Funnels with Brittni Schroeder

Unlock the secrets to sales funnel mastery with the incredible Brittni Schroeder, a business coach with a knack for turning complex concepts into actionable strategies. Brittni's expertise sheds light on how to craft a customer journey that not only builds trust but also leads to conversions.

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Website: www.brittnischroeder.com
Instagram: @brittni.schroeder

50 Lead Magnet Ideas: https://brittnischroeder.com/leadmagnet

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Hey there and welcome to the Girl Means Business podcast, the show where we're all about helping you feel confident, both as a mom and a business owner. I'm your host, kendra Swalls, mom of two, former teacher and full-time photographer and business coach. Each week, we'll discuss the challenges, success and secrets that make you say I can do this, because you absolutely can. So pop in those earbuds, grab your favorite snack and let's dive in, because this girl means business. Hey there, welcome to another episode of the Girl Means Business podcast. It is interview episode day, and I love interview episode days. We get to bring in an expert here on the podcast to share their expertise, their background, some really amazing tips, ideas, tricks, all the things. And today I am chatting with Brittany Schroeder. She is a business coach and a marketing strategist. She specializes in systems and automations, which I love, and she helps entrepreneurs to launch and level up their business. We also bonded because she worked as a high school senior photographer for over 10 years. She operated a huge photography magazine up until 2017. She's been featured in places like the Wall Street Journal, good Morning America this lady's legit. She's been featured in places like the Wall Street Journal Good Morning America this lady's legit. She's awesome, and we are talking today specifically about sales funnels.

Speaker 1: 1:32

Now, I have to admit I've talked about sales funnels here on this podcast quite a few times, but I don't know that I've admitted how long it took me to fully embrace and understand what a sales funnel is, or the fact that it is not just for these big companies who have, like, marketing teams. I don't know what it was, but I had this block in my head for so long around the idea of sales funnels being simple, sales funnels being something that small businesses and solopreneurs can implement into their business. I had this weird vision of like these giant whiteboards with all these different paths and places and things and you know, if this happens, then that happens, and then if this happens, these things happen, and it made my head spin for a while and once I was able to really have someone explain sales funnels to me in a way that was simple and easy, and I think that now, with the internet and social media and all the access we have to resources that I didn't have available when I was starting out in business, it makes it a lot easier, and Brittany is one of those people that is really helping small business owners to understand how sales funnels work and how they can work for your business, no matter how big or how small your business is. So I am excited for you to hear our conversation. I think it's going to be really, really beneficial.

Speaker 1: 2:57

It's one that you might want to come back to with notebook and a pen. If you're not able to while you're listening right now. You want to take notes. You're going to want to save this one because it is going to help you really really wrap your brain around the power that a sales funnel can have for your business. So let's get to it. All right, brittany, welcome to the Girl Beans Business Podcast. I'm super excited you're here today. We've been talking a little before we were recording and I feel like we have a lot of good conversation we're going to get to. But before we do that, would you please introduce yourself to my audience. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Speaker 2: 3:32

Thanks for having me, kendra. My name is Brittany Schroeder and I am a business and marketing coach and I help entrepreneurs with all things business. You know building funnels and automations. You know different systems, processes and really like how to scale. My background is I was a photographer for I hate to say I was a photographer because I feel like you're always a photographer but I had a photography business for 10 years and I also owned a photography magazine that we sold a few years ago, and I am the founder of the nonprofit compassion club, and I live in Utah with my two kids. So that's kind of me.

Speaker 1: 4:16

I love that. Yeah, and that was one of the things we were kind of talking about before we were recording was just the. The connection of the photography world and some of the things that we both have in common is that, when it came to our photography, the business felt a little more natural than maybe the creative side did, and that's not always the case, and so I think that is why we both have kind of gone into the direction of. I want to help people understand the business and marketing side if that's not how their brain naturally processes things, because for us it does kind of come more naturally. So, um, yeah, that's such a great skill to have, and I know a lot of my listeners are the more creative brains, the ones that are like but I just want to make something beautiful, I how do I get people to be interested in that? So we're going to get into all those things today.

Speaker 2: 5:01

Yeah, for sure, for sure.

Speaker 1: 5:03

So one of the things that I wanted to really get into that I know that you help people with are sort of these sales funnels and just the topic either title. Sales funnel can feel a little bit intimidating for people because when I know, for me the longest time I thought sales funnel was like only something that these big corporations had. You know you had these like elaborate sales funnels. Can you kind of break down what exactly a sales funnel is and maybe why we should not be so scared of it in our business?

Speaker 2: 5:32

Yeah, I always say, like, even funnels like, it's just like, not sexy. And I was kind of venting to my friend the other day and I was saying, well, funnels are just not sexy, automation is just not sexy. She's like girl, you make it sexy, like she was telling me, like you got to make it sexy and I'm like it really is. It brings me a lot of satisfaction, I'm not going to lie. So I think you know sales funnel. I agree with you that it does the sound of it. Maybe we've seen different verbiage but it sounds very corporate, very much like you know, like just getting mass emails and stuff, and that's not really what it is. So like a sales funnel is. It's like a funnel If you think about it. It's wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. And your funnel you want people in your funnel and that's going to be like your, your network, any, any contact you have with people. You want them in a sales funnel. And an email sales funnel is really like where we're what we're really like talking about and it's walking people through the process of you know that, first getting to know you and building the know like and trust factor, creating that connection, and then at the end, you know, you hope to convert them, you know, to a client or to buy something of yours. So that's kind of what a sales funnel is. We were talking before we hit record that.

Speaker 2: 6:54

You know, when I was a photographer, we got our education from other photographers, but their strengths were like creating art. Something beautiful and I had mentioned to you is I wish that I would have invested in learning, you know, and I was good at business. I have thriving business, but I wish I would have invested more in more business stuff like email marketing and growing your email list and things like that. My email list when I was a photographer, it consisted of my clients, like people who. That was my email list. I wasn't, you know. I didn't get new, I wasn't getting like leads and putting them there. It was. It was basically like my clients. So, backing up a little bit, I do I like to tell like I'm a storyteller, but I mentioned that I owned a photography magazine and this is why I cannot like express the importance of having an email list.

Speaker 2: 7:48

But we started this photography magazine and this ages me, but this was like Facebook was kind of just starting to be like a thing and we were growing. Our Facebook page was big. You know, we had lots of people on our Facebook page. We had a really good size Instagram following and we released a couple like issues of our magazine and we were selling, like we were doing great, we were having a ton of success and the analytic in me was like, doing the numbers, I'm like, oh my gosh, we just had a 20% increase and by the time we released like five more we're going to be making.

Speaker 2: 8:21

You know, I'm doing all the crunching, all the numbers in my head right around that same time, facebook made that change that we all remember. If we were like pioneers in the Facebook, you know starting phases but where all of a sudden our business pages weren't reaching anybody. You know, all of a sudden they're not reaching anybody and and our sales like plummeted because we could not, we couldn't get to our people, we couldn't, we couldn't market, we couldn't tell people about it. And we're seeing that a lot now with social media in general, where we're spending all this time building up this big following but then the percentage of people that see our stuff is like so minimal.

Speaker 1: 9:00

And so it takes the control out of your hands, which is the most frustrating thing.

Speaker 2: 9:04

Yes, we're so frustrated and so I always say, you know, like, I think that we tend, as creatives, to go to social media because it's a visual platform and that's where visual people and creatives are visual and also we get that instant gratification. Somebody sees a post or a reel, goes viral or something like that, and it's like, yes, yes, with email marketing you don't get that same like gratification because people rarely respond. You know, like, you can see that they're opening it, but there's, there's not that, that engagement. But I'm telling you now, like email marketing needs to be a priority. If you are a business owner, it needs to be a priority. It's the one thing that you own.

Speaker 2: 9:47

Social media could be gone tomorrow. They another algorithm could come out Like you just don't know, you have no control over it, but the email list you definitely have control over. So when I talk sales funnels, a lot of times I am referring to, like your, your email marketing and growing your, your email list. So, yeah, that's good. That's kind of what sales funnels are and that's my, that's my spill on grow your email. Let's make it a priority.

Speaker 1: 10:11

I promise, you'll thank me later.

Speaker 1: 10:13

So I feel like so many times I'm like screaming at my computer screen Cause I will. I'm in a lot of um, small business and photography, facebook groups, and it's always, you know, certain times of the year. You know, right now we're recording this, it's February, it's beginning of the year and everything is slow for a lot of people Cause we're coming off the holidays and everybody's kind of getting back into normal life mode, and it never fails. I see all these people coming in. They're so frustrated, like oh my gosh, the algorithm has changed again, or nobody's seeing my content. How are y'all getting followers on Instagram? And I'm just like guys, guys, it's first of all, it's not the algorithm. Like don't blame the algorithm.

Speaker 1: 10:50

You don't have control, like, you have to focus on the things that you control, and we don't control social media. We like to think we can control social media but we don't. But yeah, your email list, you have control over that. And so if you're someone like me, who I'm like, I want to know that the things I'm doing aren't just like blindly throwing darts at a wall, which is what I feel like social media can be Sometimes. I want to know that I'm able to, like, make the aim at something and know that it's going to hit where I want it to go, and that's what email does for me as well. So I a hundred 100 agree with you on all those things.

Speaker 1: 11:25

Um, okay, so I want to talk about the kind of the top of the funnel piece. So you talked a lot about like, or you mentioned like, the know, like and trust, like you have to get people to be aware of who you are and to even kind of start the funnel process, and so you know, we've just talked a lot about how, like, social media is frustrating and we don't have control over it. You need need to have an email list, but we also kind of need the social media for the, the awareness piece. So what are some ways that work, that you recommend people kind of getting their audience into that top of funnel space?

Speaker 2: 12:00

Yeah, well, I think you know, having an email list, having an opt-in the days of hey, subscribe to my newsletter list are long gone, so that just really doesn't work. But you need to have something that people are willing to give you their email address in in trade for. So, as, like a creative, it can be, you know, depending on like a photographer like I had one client who did. It can be, you know, depending on like a photographer like I had one client who did um, she was a wedding photographer and so her and she was in Detroit and her freebie was like the 10 best spots for, I'm trying to remember, for Instagram photos for couples, or something like that. It was something to do with like couples, right, and you know. But having like hey here another wedding photographer might have, like here is a guide to the 10 best bridesmaids gifts, you know, like having something that people want, like who's your ideal audience, what? What do they want? What's the information? And so we want to have something that's going to like get your, get the email list right, get them on your email list, and so once you have that, then it's time to nurture.

Speaker 2: 13:06

As far as social media goes, this is kind of my thought is we have the top of the funnel and all your stuff doesn't come from one place, and I think that's where we kind of get in our minds. Like, for me, it is my I blog and so I get traffic to my website because of SEO, my Instagram, but I'm constantly directing people from my Instagram to my website. Like, I want them to my website, right, yep? Or, or I can also on Instagram, I can also like talk about my freebie, and that's one thing that people do is they'll create a lead magnet or a freebie that gets people's email addresses, they stick it on their website and then they don't do anything else. They just hope, hope, that hope that it grows. And you have to talk about it. You know it is a part of my like you know my weekly workflows that I am trying to talk about at least one of my freebies. I have a handful of them in my stories on my Instagram. Hey, comment, I'll send you this guide. Oh, you know what I mean. Like these different things on my podcast, trying to like hey, grab this guide if it's relevant, you know. But so I'm constantly making like that a priority because I want them in my funnel, I want them in in my email list because I want to, like, nurture them. So that's something that you know, you definitely definitely can do.

Speaker 2: 14:23

But think of all your different things. Like you can speak at something you can pinterest, you can, you know, post on instagram, facebook threads, twitter, like you know, have a podcast. There's all these different places of entry and everybody likes to consume information differently, right, and so if they're consuming your information, are you directing them? Are you getting them in your funnel? And ask yourself this, because I imagine a lot of creatives are on social media Do people know you have a business or do they think you're just like an influencer, just posting pretty things?

Speaker 2: 15:00

Like you have to. You have to. You have to make offers, you have to sell. This is such a hard concept for like, for women, for entrepreneurs, is like you have to sell. You're not being annoying. If they don't want it, then you change your mindset. Like, if they don't, if they're not interested, they're not your ideal client and then don't waste your energy on them.

Speaker 2: 15:18

But we have to get people in our funnel, and when I say funnel, I'm talking email list. Like, try to get them on your email list. It has the highest conversion rate of anything you will do. But yeah, we want to get them in the funnel. So that's kind of the top part of the funnel right Is getting them in there.

Speaker 2: 15:36

And a lot of times that we kind of refer to that as like your cold audience, and that's like people I mean not necessarily your cold audience, but a cold audience is somebody who comes and they haven't built that connection with you yet.

Speaker 2: 15:49

They might see you somewhere else or like hear your name or just like your stuff and follow you. But to create a warm audience, that's where you build the know, like and trust factor. And this is where marketing comes in. You have to position yourself as an expert. You want to have like, you want to have a good combination of empathy, understanding their struggles. You've been there, you've done that, you overcame it and but also like, and this is how I've done it and this is how I can help you do it and this is the result that I'm going to help you get and so it's really building that relationship and it's great to do it through, you know, email marketing, like, introduce yourself, like, offer valuable content, do all this stuff and then, when it's time to sell, they're going to be primed, they're going to be ready because they they, they trust you and and if you have a good, a good offer, a good service or product, then they won't think twice about it, because you've built that, that relationship with them. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:57

Okay, so those of you that are just listening to this, you can't hear or you can't see this, but, like I was nodding my head, so much to everything you were saying, because it is everything that I like preach about business that you have to build connections and relationships. I just did a post about this recently on social media. Actually, where I was talking about, I see a lot of people kind of complaining about oh, this person charges less than I do, or they're $50 photo shoot sessions. How can I compete with that? And the thing is, it's not about competing on price. If you build connections with your audience, they're going to choose you almost every single time over somebody else, and so that's what this is doing.

Speaker 1: 18:38

And that email piece it is so important.

Speaker 1: 18:41

I know, like you said before, it doesn't have the flashy, sexy, like instant gratification part to it, but I sent out an email I don't know a couple weeks ago where I was talking about um, it was about a football game, oh, about one of the football games that was on like Amazon prime and or no.

Speaker 1: 19:00

It was on something like that and you had to pay to watch it or something, or maybe it was on paramount and all these people were up in like a you know an uproar about it and they were like, oh, this is so dumb, I'm not going to pay for this. But when they looked at the numbers, more people paid to watch that game than actually tune into the games that don't cost anything and I was like this is a great lesson for business. You know, I kind of did the whole business was about and I got tons of people messaging me back and they were like, oh, that was such a great topic and I wouldn't have thought of this and thank you so much. And I did an email recently about my daughter being sick and like just kind of the idea of taking care of yourself, even when you're in these like phases of life where it feels like everything's about everybody else.

Speaker 1: 19:39

Those emails that I've sent out to my audience have had more power to them than any post I've ever made on social media, more than any like reel that's ever, you know, gone like viral and I'm putting that in air quotes because what does viral really mean yeah um, and so I think that that's such a piece that, like, like you're're saying, like I wish somebody had told me these things before, when I started my business, because it was all about like everything I saw online was okay here's how to take better pictures, here's how to pose better, here's how to post on Instagram, here's how to do this but nobody was talking about the idea that you need to build these connections and here's how you do it.

Speaker 1: 20:20

And so I love that you're talking about that, okay, so I wanted to kind of go back to one of the things you talked about with the whole idea of like providing something like a lead magnet that gets people onto your email list. I think one of the things that people get stuck on in that point is they feel like they have to have this one thing. Well, okay, two things they get stuck on that I want to talk about. One of them is that they feel like they have to have this one thing, this one like magic, golden egg lead magnet. And you made the point you were like in kind of a past year, like, oh, I have a couple, so can you talk a little bit about even just that piece of it that there's multiple ways you can get people onto your email list through different lead magnets, different opt-ins.

Speaker 2: 21:04

But then also the fact that, like you, may not your first idea, may not be your best idea, and that's okay too yeah, yeah, totally well, I think that's what marketing is, is testing, and I, you know, throughout my, my business, I'll create like worksheets or something for clients. And then I'm like, oh, this would be. Or even for myself I'm like, oh, this would be a good like lead magnet because I, I want, I needed it, you know. But I think where a lot of times that we go wrong is like there is no like golden ticket, right way. And and if, if, if, people are telling you I can tell you how to do something, then they're, they're probably a scammer, because it's everybody is completely different, everybody has different strengths and everybody, like different people are drawn to different people, nobody's alike. And so what might work for one person might not work for another person. But when you are coming up with like a lead magnet idea, go into it knowing that not like, oh, this is going to like get me so many emails or people can send, but like, okay, I'm testing this, like I think this is a good idea, I'm going to test it and I'm going to see if it works.

Speaker 2: 22:09

And a lot of times, like I say that if it's not converting, it's there's. It's usually one of the three things. It's either your hook, the story, which is like your copy, how you're selling it or your actual offer. If people are not like clicking or you're not getting people, then maybe you need to tweak one of those things, or maybe you're just not getting traffic to. You know. It could be any of those things, and so don't give up. Like I always say, you have to test things for six months to a year to see if they're working. So you have to test things. You have to try, like listen to your audience. What are things that they need? Another way and this is probably my favorite way I'm an educator and so I love to teach, and so one of my favorite lead magnets is doing a free webinar and having people sign up and then I get to teach. I get that interaction and then they're in my email list, they're in my funnel and I can continue nurturing them.

Speaker 2: 23:05

I don't sell, sell, sell every time. I always go by the 80-20 rule 80% give people what they want and 20% get people, give people what they need, and the 80% is like valuable content, connection, entertainment, and then the 20% is sales. So I'm giving valuable content and then I'm selling 20% of the time. So you know, kind of have that mindset, because I think people get stuck in their heads a little bit like what will I write? What will I sell? I don't want to bother people, but it's like you're writing to your best friend. What can you tell your best friend? What can you do to help them in their journey? So I think that that is probably the best advice that I've been given.

Speaker 2: 23:44

That I give to my clients is you know, you got to test it and see if it works. Where you fell you, if you want to succeed, you have to fail more than you succeed. And so I I've I've created lead magnets where I'm like this is gonna be so good and I've spent so much time and energy and like paid somebody to code some stuff so it had a building calculator and then it was like crickets. And then I've done others where I'm just like I'm just going to throw this checklist together and see if it works and bam, it's like you know, getting tons of people who subscribe. So it really is like just testing and figuring out what your audience responds to.

Speaker 1: 24:18

That's exactly what happened with me when I was doing wedding photography is I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to create this digital wedding planner. It's going to be amazing. I hired somebody to help me. It was like this whole big thing and they could like print and put in a binder and I had like nobody interested. And I finally was at like a bridal show. When I was talking to a bride about I was like, well, I have this digital planner. And she was like, no, I'm good, I have like one that I bought, or someone gave me one, or like there were all and like everyone kept telling me all these reasons why they didn't.

Speaker 1: 24:46

I was like, oh, okay, so clearly I I invested too much into this thing. I thought, without doing the research of like what does my audience really need or want? Same thing I threw it together like a quick little. It was actually a blog post about great like wedding venues in my area based on style, and I turned it into like a little PDF and that downloaded like crazy because it was meeting my, my audience, where they were at and what their needs were right in that moment. But again, like same thing in my business. Now it's like, I've tested and tried a million different things and once something sticks, that's great, but again, that doesn't mean it's going to stick forever. Like they may, my audience may evolve or change too, and I'm going to evolve and change those things with it.

Speaker 1: 27:16

The other thing that you mentioned that I thought was so important to touch on again is the idea that once you create this thing and you're trying to get people on your list, you have to talk about it and talk about it often.

Speaker 1: 27:27

That is the second biggest mistake I see a lot of people doing is they're like well, I have this thing and I mentioned about it, or you know, I put it on my Facebook this one time, or it's on, it's a you know banner on my website or a pop-up or whatever, and I'm like but you're not talking about it consistently enough and people need to see things multiple times before they take action usually, and if you're talking about postings on social media, you're only getting noticed by like five percent of your, your audience, each time you post.

Speaker 1: 27:57

So this idea that we're annoying people or that we're gonna be too pushy or they're gonna get tired of hearing us talk about things like we have to put that to a side and just focus on the fact that, like it's your job to talk about your business, and if you're not talking about your business, or, like you said, do people even know your business? And if you're not talking about your business, or, like you said, do people even know you have a business, if you're not talking about it enough, you're definitely not going to get people into your funnel to then build those connections with.

Speaker 2: 28:21

Yeah, 100%. And I say I always say, like you know, think about if you have like, especially as women like say we get this like really great lipstick, like this lipstick is so good, it looks good on everybody. We are like screaming from the rooftops how fabulous it is. Do we have that same passion about our business? Because if we don't like, then you need to like check yourself and say like okay, what can I do so that I feel this much passion about my business, that I do some great lipstick? You know what I mean. So it's definitely a mindset.

Speaker 1: 28:51

Yeah Okay, great lipstick. You know what I mean. So it's definitely a mindset, yeah, okay. So let's move further into the final. So let's say, we're getting people onto our email list. So what does the funnel look like once they're on your email list? Where do you go from there?

Speaker 2: 29:02

So I kind of go by a formula and it's you know, delivering, so you're delivering your lead magnet, whatever that is. That's going to be your first email is like the delivery. And then my second email is always my, about me, and that's where I'm trying to build this connection. I'm telling a little bit about myself, I have a picture of myself, I'm positioning myself as an expert, but more so just building that connection. There's a book that I read and I always forget the name of the book, so, but it talks about which is funny because it talks about your memory. And there was a study. There was a study in this book and it was called the Baker Baker study and it was saying that people are more likely to remember that you were an actual baker than your last name was Baker. And the reason why is because there's that visual connection of if somebody says you're a baker, you think white hat, like apron, croissants, like pastries, you think you associate it with that and that's why people have like a hard you know, like can remember that and I am so guilty of I'm horrible with names, but I can remember, like your sister's name, where you live, like all of these things, but I'm horrible with names, and so think of that when you're writing this email. How can you connect with people? Do you have kids? Do you have a dog? Where do you live? Like, think of all these things that will like connect people where they have a connection to you. Like, oh, I have a Labradoodle, or oh, I have a teenage daughter. Yeah, they're really hard, you know. Like, whatever you feel comfortable talking about, those are like the connections, and that's why it's important to incorporate as much as you're comfortable into your marketing, because people connect with you in that way. So that's usually my second email and then the series of emails is it depends on what you're selling, but it's like value, value, value and then offer. So you're sending five or six different emails that are about me connection. You're giving them value and you can still have a call to action at the end of these.

Speaker 2: 30:58

Usually my call to action is I'm not selling, but just getting them in my other networks, like hey, follow me on Instagram. Hey, here's my Facebook group. Hey, check out my podcast. Like, I'm trying to like figure out. Okay, I know that they're reading my email, but usually we consume content in more than one way. What, what, what, how do you like to consume your content? Is it on Instagram? Are you a visual? Or are you like one of those that is a multitasker and likes to listen to podcasts Like what is it? And try to include those as your call to action. Get them in your different networks Right, and then at that point you can do one of two things.

Speaker 2: 31:35

You can try to sell to them. You're holding their hands, you're walking them through the process or you can add them to just your regular email list that you're sending out every week or whatever, and then, when you get to the 20, you're nurturing them a little bit more and then, when you are ready to sell, they're in there. Kind of the advantage of selling, you know, in the same funnel is, say, you have a product like I have a product that's Grow your Gram how to grow Instagram, and if they come in through a lead magnet, that's how to plan your Instagram. And then I'm giving them all these tips I can. I know that they're interested in that and I can sell them on that. So that is like an example of like a sales funnel.

Speaker 2: 32:17

Um, but it's still like even then you have to nurture people for a while for them to really like, be a warm audience where they're like okay, I'm ready to buy. I'm ready to buy Like. If people tell you like oh, you can do this in five emails you can sell. Like it's a little bit harder to sell, you'm ready to buy Like. If people tell you like, oh, you can do this and buy the emails you can sell. Like it's a little bit harder of a sell.

Speaker 2: 32:34

You also have to remember there's that, that point of resistance where you know like anybody will like can spend $47, and there there's not a lot of resistance there. But if you are selling a product say you are a photographer and your packages start at $2,000, it's going to be a little bit harder of a sell. It's going to take a little bit longer to sell them on that, and so that's why you want to keep continue nurturing them and understand like the psychology in it is people need a little bit longer. People are not going to impulse buy a $2,000 without without actually like knowing your product and service and knowing what you offer. So those are just different things. To think about is just understanding the psychology in it, understanding that it takes time to to build that trust, and we're inundated with so much information out there, and so be patient with the process, but continually work on getting people in your funnels.

Speaker 1: 33:32

It's a numbers game.

Speaker 2: 33:33

At the end of the day, it really is like a numbers game.

Speaker 1: 33:36

So, uh, again, I have multiple things I want to cover here, but one of them is you mentioned, like the, it takes time. So that initial funnel where you're, you know, delivering, talking about yourself, introducing yourself, and then the five or six emails beyond that, what's kind of the timeframe of a client coming into your funnel and then kind of getting to that end point? How, how quickly are you sending out those emails?

Speaker 2: 33:59

So I do right away. They receive the freebie, whatever that is like instantly, and then I like to do the first one like a day apart, and then I break it up into two or three days. I kind of think of and I know people do it differently, so I don't know if there's like a set way to do it, but I think of my own habits, like I, my younger self, is my ideal client, and I think of there's certain people that I sent for their email list and if I'm getting a million emails, it's like I put them to the side and eventually, when it's like stacked up to like 15 emails, I just leave them all because I'm overwhelmed.

Speaker 2: 34:33

And so I, I like to give them two or three days, cause that's kind of, that's kind of my, my habits and my behaviors is okay, I'll get to that in a minute, but I don't want to be overwhelmed and I, I my personality, I unsubscribe If I get spammed. If I'm getting too many emails from the same person, I'm just like, okay, I'm not even reading these, they're stacking up unsubscribe. So that's just kind of how I do it, but I don't know if there's necessarily a right or wrong way, because people have success at spamming people too.

Speaker 1: 35:04

So there's that. So I signed up for one and I don't remember what it was or who it was at this point, but I literally got four emails from this person in one day. For in one day I was like are you kidding me? I was like I could not, I don't. I'm like I don't care what you're selling me. It could be the, the fountain of youth, and I don't care.

Speaker 2: 35:22

Like we don't have time for that.

Speaker 1: 35:26

I'm like just go away. So yeah, I definitely think there's a, you know needs to be some spacing there. And then, um, what about? So let's say they go through that funnel and they get to the end. They don't purchase from you yet, um, do they? Do you have some way that you kind of um, what's the right way to like segment, I guess, like the ones who have purchased versus the ones who haven't, or they all go into your general? This is the emails I send out every week.

Speaker 2: 35:54

I keep them segmented in. I use flow desk. I'm their unofficial page person, because I love flow desk.

Speaker 2: 36:00

Yeah, you feel me. And so I do keep them segmented on whatever the. You know, I've create a segment for that lead magnet. So if I want to like target them for something specific, I can, but I add everybody into my main list, so I do that. So that's kind of how I do it. So if I want to like target them for something specific, I can, but I add everybody into my main list, so I do that. So that's kind of how I do it.

Speaker 1: 36:17

Yeah, awesome, okay. So this has been super helpful the the idea of getting you know your kind of your cold audience onto your email list, nurturing them, um, through the sales funnel and then putting them into your kind of general audience. So you talked about the 80 20 rule, which I love. I've always said it's like 80% value, 20% sales, but I love the way you described it as more of like 80% what they want, 20% what they need. I think that's a really neat way to kind of differentiate between the two. And so you mentioned that the emails you're sending to kind of your general audience. Then you said weekly.

Speaker 1: 36:52

You mentioned that the emails you're sending to kind of your general audience. Then you said weekly, right, yeah, weekly.

Speaker 2: 36:55

And you're doing those like with that 80, 20 kind of giving value providing information, then obviously selling to them as well.

Speaker 1: 37:01

Okay, so final thoughts on the sales model. Clearly it's not the scary, overwhelming thing that we all have thought it was at some point. It's very tangible. It's very easy to do. As far as the setup process of this, like Kenny, you kind of broke it down a little bit, but if someone was brand new listening to this going, I like this is all new information to me. I'm just learning how to do this. How much time and energy do they need to devote to like getting this kind of put into place and what does that process look like? Because this is the great thing, in my opinion, about sales funnels is it is sort of you create it and it runs in your business in the background while you're focusing on everything. You can focus on that client acquisition, you can focus on getting people into your funnel, but then everything else kind of runs automatically. But how much are you putting into in the beginning and what does that look like?

Speaker 2: 37:54

Yeah, I think it's like a work in progress. You know, like I said, I have I have a handful of different lead magnets and I'm always coming up with with new stuff, and that's what where we struggle a little bit, like you can't compare your beginning to somebody else's middle, and a lot of times I get clients that are like I want my business to look like your business and I'm like I've been doing this for 15 years, like the skills that I've learned, and so you know it's starting with that first one and you know like just, you know B minus, just get something out there. You can refine it, you can fix it later, but get something out there. What I have found you know I'm big on automations and systems and processes and I have found that once you've created one or two, it really is a process of duplicating and tweaking. You know like I will take, I'll create an automation in Flowdesk like a workflow and it's for a lead magnet, and then I come up with a new one. I duplicate that and then I go in and I and I take bits and pieces and I change it and customize it. But I'm not reinventing the wheel every single time, I'm just I'm just kind of tweaking it.

Speaker 2: 38:57

So that's the thing is like the beginning in your business, setting these up. It does take. It does take time. You know like, and some people you know there's more than one way to get from point A to point B. Some people do it fast and other people it takes a lot longer and that's okay. But just making it a priority, that, okay, I'm going to work on this, and that might mean I'm going to work on it an hour a day for two weeks until I can get it. But I, you know, like I said, once you've created it at once, it really is just a process of just like duplicating and just tweaking and changing and fixing and improving. So it's not, you know, it sounds overwhelming and a lot of work, but it's just that original, just getting it. Once you have it, it's like okay, like I can do another one, I can do another one.

Speaker 1: 39:41

So Well, and a reminder to everyone out there that maybe the perfectionist, like it does not have to be perfect the first time you do it.

Speaker 1: 39:48

It is the like you said the refining, the tweaking, like going in knowing that it's okay If you just start with this one thing and then you build on it from there. Don't think that I don't want anybody listening to think like, oh, I have to have all 10 pieces in order, like just get the first part going, just build out a lead mind and get people on your email list, get that delivered email, then add the rest. Because I think a lot of people get kind of paralyzed by this idea that, like I have to have it from a to z perfectly figured out and mapped out and and then, like, every email has to be perfect. And so I did think of one more question before we wrap up is when you talk about going in and saying, okay, I'm going to start this thing, I'm going to build it, and then I'm going to duplicate it and I'm going to kind of tweak it and see what's working.

Speaker 1: 40:29

How do you judge the success of a funnel? Is it? Because I feel like it's not just on how many people purchased or made a sale. There's other things, like what are the things you're looking for to determine whether your funnel is really working for you, versus like, oh, I need to go and make some changes somewhere.

Speaker 2: 40:48

Yeah, okay. So now this is the analytic geeky person in me. But, um, you know you can in in flow desk or any email marketing program that you're using. You have your analytics and you can see. You know there's two things that to look for is like open rate. And then there's click-through rate. Are they clicking on your call to action? And so I will look at my funnels and I can see, okay, they opened. You know, your first email. You're gonna have a really high open rate because they wanted it. You're sending it to them. And then, and then they they kind of like you know they might like decrease a little bit, but you can see like, okay, people are unsubscribing at this point or people aren't clicking at this point, so maybe this content isn't very valuable. People don't find this valuable.

Speaker 2: 41:30

So I think that that is a piece that people really don't look at is like are you looking at your analytics? Like, are you? Are you just looking at the end result? You know like, okay, people are signing up or people aren't. But I'm not selling, but it's. You have to look at your funnel, you have to see what's working, you have to test it and see.

Speaker 2: 41:49

So if you again, if you don't have people signing up, then it's either you know traffic, your offer, your story, or you know like you're at what you're offering, wait, your hook. Okay, it's either your traffic, your hook, what it is, how you're selling it, or it is, oh my gosh, look at me just like totally blanking. Okay, with your traffic, you're off your hook, your offer, or what, what you're offering. There we go just do that, right, yes, yeah, yeah, that makes sense, oh, yeah. So it's one of those things. So, if you know, if you think it's really great, maybe look at your traffic, look at your website. Are you getting traffic from your website or are you? When you post on social media, are people responding? If not, then it might be like your hook. It might be like, okay, people just aren't interested in this and change it up. But but if you're getting, you have to like really understand every step of the funnel. So if you're getting people who sign up, but then they're starting to unsubscribe, look at your emails and okay, maybe this email is, maybe I'm not giving them good content, and kind of change it. So I think, looking just at that.

Speaker 2: 42:53

But you know, just on a side note, something really interesting is I talk about numbers all the time and it's a numbers game and we are often comparing ourselves to these people who are very successful, you know, making millions of dollars or whatever.

Speaker 2: 43:08

But I have, I have worked with people who make over a million dollars and when I look at their numbers and what they're converting, they are not converting any more than what people and this is just like the norm. This isn't like always, but like they're not converting at a higher percentage than somebody with a lower like, following or anything. So does that make sense? So if somebody has like, say they have 10 000 people on their email list and they're trying to sell something, you know they're probably getting about 5% or whatever the percentage is, it's the same percentage for somebody with a lower following. So that right, there is a motivation. Like it's about growth, like you got to keep growing and tweaking and changing and you know, really successful people fail just as much as people who aren't making very much money. But it's being consistent and just keep moving through it and getting good at failing and just trying and testing everything.

Speaker 1: 44:06

Yeah, and I think it's it's so helpful too. And this is something that's helped me, because I used to be someone who didn't like to necessarily look at my analytics. They were a little scary and I was like I don't know that I want to see where I'm doing something wrong. Because it felt too personal, because as a personal brand, as someone who, like, I've created these things it's not like I went and had somebody create them for me and I can separate myself. It felt like it meant I had done something wrong or I had failed in some area.

Speaker 1: 44:31

And once I was able to separate, like, oh no, they're unsubscribing at email number four. So email email number four, it's not that I've done something wrong, it's just that, like it's not, it doesn't connect, it doesn't resonate, or maybe I'm sending it too quickly after the other ones and they're just getting tired of it. Like you have to kind of take a step back and go. It's not me that they're rejecting, it's something in the process and I can fix whatever's in the process. And so I think that's really helpful for people to recognize too, that going in and looking at your analytics does not mean that you've done something or that you're wrong. It's that there's just something that needs to be tweaked and fixed. It's, it's totally fine. It's like making dinner for your kids and you realize like, oh, that was a little too spicy. Let's maybe like not put so much red pepper in it next time, or let's make a little bit of a change next time, so they will want to eat it, you know it doesn't mean you're a bad parent.

Speaker 1: 45:19

It just means that you have to make a couple changes. Same thing for our business. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Well, this was so helpful, brittany. Thank you so much. I think you've really broken it down in a way that feels doable and feels like something that you know is not so overwhelming and scary, so I really appreciate that. Um, let us know where we can find you or follow you or connect with you if somebody wants to reach out to you.

Speaker 2: 45:41

Yeah, awesome, um, I. My main platform is Instagram and it's Brittany dot Schroeder, but you can find me on my website at Brittany Schroeder, and I have a podcast, redefine your business and a Facebook group. I mean, I'm everywhere, girl, I'm just everywhere. Just like Brittany Schroeder, you will find me, so I'm there. I also have, um, I can send this over to you, but I do have, like um, a list of of lead magnet ideas.

Speaker 1: 46:06

If people are like.

Speaker 2: 46:07

I don't even know where to start, but I do have a list and I can send that over to you too.

Speaker 1: 46:12

Yeah, I'll definitely send that over. I'll add it into the show notes so people can grab that, Cause I know that's super helpful and that's again the first thing they need to kind of get working on to get people onto their list. That'll be really helpful. Well, and I'll and I'll link to every other, all your platforms and everything as well, so people can head down to the show notes to grab those links, connect with you, follow you, get to know more about you and reach out to you if they want to work with you.

Speaker 2: 46:31

Awesome Thanks.

Speaker 1: 46:32

Kendra, thank you so much for tuning in this week. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love for you to take a screenshot, share it to social media and don't forget to tag. Girl means business and, as always, we greatly appreciate any reviews you leave for this podcast. Thank you.