It takes time to generate, nurture, qualify, and convert leads to sales. This process can take significantly longer if done manually.
According to studies, one way industry-leading organizations outperform their competitors is by automating sales activities into a funnel.
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So, how long are you going to be waiting? One of the most straightforward ways to acquire and nurture leads is to use an automated sales funnel. The marketing team has complete control over the messaging, while the sales team receives qualified prospects that are ready to buy.
Automated Sales Funnel: How does it work?
Consider a standard funnel for pouring things into a bottle to better comprehend the sales funnel. You pour something into the funnel’s top, and it goes through narrower sections before eventually filling the bottle at the narrowest position at the bottom.
The bottle represents your firm in the sales industry, and your goal is to fill it with loyal consumers. Prospects enter the funnel at the top and work their way down before becoming customers. When it comes to sales funnels, not everything that goes in at the top is guaranteed to come out at the bottom.
An automated sales funnel is just a regular sales funnel with the addition of automation to keep things moving along. However, you’ll require automated sales funnel software to set up the automation.
Sign-up forms, some scheduling software, and other funnel-building software solutions are available, however, depending on your business and funnel, sign-up forms and scheduling software will be the most useful.
The major benefit of automation is that it allows you to produce more income with a less manual effort from your sales force while also weeding out unqualified leads.
And it makes sense: less prospecting time equals more closing time. Email marketing and marketing automation, according to 64% of e-commerce marketers, increase sales.
There’s no denying that running your own company may be extremely time-consuming. Every day, you’ll spend hours sifting through data, chatting to your team, and determining what you need to do next to boost your profitability.
You may believe that you do not have sufficient time to create a sales funnel. That is where you are mistaken. For new business owners, a sales funnel is a metaphorical funnel in which you catch potential leads at the top and strive to move them to the bottom of the funnel, or convert them.
Consider the funnel from the top-down, with three major steps:
- Awareness: Consumers must be aware that your brand/product/service exists.
- Consideration: They must now consider whether your product can help them solve their problem or improve their quality of life.
- Decision: The last decision is whether or not they buy your goods, sign up for your email, or acquire your ebook.
You may automate your sales funnel using the three strategies listed below, allowing you to focus on other elements of your business while sales “funnel” in.
Create Article to Entice Potential Customers
You’ll need to do some preliminary work to have your automated sales funnel up and running. Creating quality content that will attract potential consumers is the best approach to get your sales to funnel started.
Many customers make purchases to remedy an issue. The easiest method to do this task is to think about how your product or service will solve an issue for clients or how it will improve their lives. Begin by brainstorming topic ideas that could raise awareness while your client base is exploring the web.
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If you’re trying to sell a marketing course, for example, you’ll write material about the most common mistakes new marketers make, marketing success stories, and marketing tips and tricks. You’ve completed the first step when your clients come across your article(s) while searching for marketing information. Awareness.
Make use of a powerful lead magnet.
The contemplation phase is the second and most essential step in the sales funnel process. You need to jump in after they’ve finished reading your post and show them what you have to offer that can help them solve their problem.
Lead magnets come in a variety of shapes and sizes. A free ebook, guides, a discount, a webinar, and access to podcasts or courses are all common offers. You can utilize machine learning to track your clients’ activity and have the lead magnet appear at the perfect time.
You may usually trigger a popup when a customer reaches the bottom of the page or is about to leave your website. The popup will entice leads to input their email address to receive the gift you’re giving out. The term “free” is one of the most appealing words you can employ in your copy because everyone enjoys obtaining something for nothing.
When you set up lead magnets to appear automatically, you’re automating your sales funnel to help clients get to the bottom of the funnel, where they may make a decision.
Create split tests
Making sure you’re continually refining and revising your funnel to enhance conversions is an important part of having a good automated sales funnel. Fortunately, thanks to automation, you won’t have to check your funnel every day to see if it’s still working.
Instead, create split tests that employ different popups for different clients at random. You could, for example, have one popup offering consumers a free ebook and another offering them a 25% discount on their first order. Both require that customers provide their email address to receive their code/ebook and, in the process, subscribe to your newsletter.
Try each of these tests for a week, then compare the results to discover which one performed better. If the free e-book performed well but the coupon did not, you can try a different approach versus the ebook to see if anything changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bottom Line
An automated sales funnel can help you generate and nurture leads. It can assist drive your sales efforts while freeing up your team from earlier in the funnel manual activities.
It takes some time to build up an automated sales funnel, but once you do, you’ll have a system that works like butter. While you focus on other aspects of your business, a successful automated sales funnel increases your profitability. For every entrepreneur, this is a win-win situation.
