Creating The Perfect Sales Funnel: Part 4 of 4
Written by Jeff Demers on 04/26/2017
The “old school” way of doing sales was to get a customer, make them pay for as much as possible, and then never talk to them again! The reasoning behind that was because you just maxed out their credit card for something that wasn’t worth half as much and you needed to get out of Dodge as soon as possible before they realized the mistake that they had made. Which is why in today’s edition of Creating The Perfect Sales Funnel, the final stage talks about retention.
In today’s world, especially in the online marketing world, trust and rapport are probably just as important to the consumer than any other part of the transaction. Consumers need to be able to trust you. They need to know exactly what you and your business are all about. Otherwise, they will never come back and buy from you again, if they ever bought from you in the first place.
Which is why the final stage in creating the perfect sales funnel is all about retention. How do you keep your current customers happy, and turn them into repeat customers? Better yet, how do you turn them into customers of your higher priced products? Some online marketers would call these products your product maximizers. Which means you have one high ticket product (or maybe more) that you really make most of your income on when marketing online.
So even though the keyword for stage four is “retention,” the main purpose for retention is to get more sales from the customers who have already purchased from you. So how do you do that?
In pretty much the same way that you got them to purchase from you during stage three; The sales stage. By including these, it can make sure that you truly are creating the perfect sales funnel.
Free Trials
Free trials can be right for the right buyer, and they tend to work out better in stage four then they do in stage three. In stage three when someone is searching for free trials, it’s usually because their credit card is in hiding and has no plans to come out. So most people that do free trials prior to a purchase are less likely to become customers. However, in stage four, that credit card has already had a taste of freedom and it has already been used to purchase from you. So the customer is much more likely to purchase after a free trial in stage four than in stage three.
An example of a free trial would be when you created a customer in stage three simply by them purchasing your lowest package. In my company’s case, it would be a $47 package that includes up to three websites, and a basic email marketing system. Whereas in stage four, I might bump them up to the $97 package after a free trial of two weeks. The package would include something like a webinar service to go with an advanced email marketing system, full analytics, and up to 10 websites. Again that’s just an example, but I do have something similar to offer. But tailor your products accordingly based on what you have available. Don’t throw the time share in their face if you also have a free vacation to offer first.
Demos
Send out an email to your customers who have already purchased from you which includes a video walk through of the higher packaged products or your most expensive product. This way your clients can see first hand exactly what they will be getting and what the product looks like prior to them making the decision to purchase from you again.
Free Consultations
Offer a free consultation to your customers who have already purchased from you. Set up an appointment to do a live hangout with them online through Zoom or GoToWebinar (to name a couple). Or if they are local, set up a time to meet at a local restaurant to discuss how you can help them take their business/lifestyle to the next level. Point out the benefits of the products that they have already purchased, and then let them know that they could really benefit by jumping up to your higher package or your high ticket product.
Quotes/Estimates
Make sure that your buyer already knows everything that you have to offer. Chances are, if they are buying from you to boost their business, they are not just going to stop with you. I own many products from many companies, and they all take care of a different aspect of my business. If you’re in online marketing, you can probably create a list of about 20 products that you currently use for your business, some more significant than others. So if your past buyer is still shopping for more, make sure they know what else you’re offering as they might be looking to upgrade their business/lifestyle even after purchasing your product. Don’t take that as an insult as your product that they initially purchased may be their favorite to use. But it may not cover all the needs that the buyer has. So make sure they know what else you have once they become a buyer in stage three.
Outside of those four ideas, always make sure that if you send out a lot of emails, that the majority of those emails have nothing to do with buying from you. Because the key to email marketing is….It’s not all about you. It’s about them and making them happy. If you do that, then when they see a sales email from you, they will be more likely to open it to see what you’re offering. But if you’re always sending out the “buy this, buy this, buy this, buy this” emails, they will most likely end up blocking you and unsubscribing. Take care of your list and they will take care of you.
So that’s it! That’s my final stage for Creating the Perfect Sales Funnel! I hope that it helps you grow your business bigger and better than ever before. If you missed any of the other stages, please feel free to go to them through the links below:
Stage 1: The Traffic Stage
Stage 2: The Leads Stage
Stage 3: The Sales Stage
If you’re looking for something different in your life and you are searching for a group of like-minded, freedom living entrepreneurs, then check out this video below. The only risk for not watching it, is that your life doesn’t change.
To your success!
Jeff Demers
The Motivated Mindset
Twitter: @JDemers2015
Instagram: JD_the_veteran_entrepreneur
