As an entrepreneur, a tremendous amount of your focus goes into attracting new clients and earning their trust. But how do you know if your efforts are working? You could be getting more clients just by tweaking your sales funnels! The types of sales funnels you use can truly grow your business.
What Is a Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel guides clients on their journeys to purchase your services. It starts with the discovery of your business and ends when they click “purchase”.
No single type of sales funnel is perfect! You really have to keep a close eye on your funnel strategies to see if they’re working or not. (Pro tip: leveraging a business database can help with this.)
The most effective types of sales funnels do more than just steer or instruct clients to make purchases—they build trust along the way. Clients will only interact with your advertisements if they like what they see! Once they are drawn in by your campaign materials, clients will likely want to know more about you.
What a client learns about you on their journey through the sales funnel can mean the difference between clicking away (without making a purchase), making a single purchase, or making many purchases over a lifetime relationship.
What Are the Most Important Types of Sales Funnels for Businesses?
The sales funnels you should use depend on the sort of business you’re running. Here are five types of sales funnels to think about for your business!
Lead Magnet Funnel
The sole purpose of a lead magnet funnel is to collect information on potential clients. Some of them will follow the funnel to purchase right away! But even if they don’t, the goal is to collect email addresses so you can advertise more directly in the future.
For a lead magnet funnel to work, you need an irresistible service offer (like a limited sales event or free webinar) and a landing page for that offering. Require an email address from interested clients to sign up for your freebies!
Your landing page should be dynamic—complete with video, images, and clarifying text to build a connection with curious new clients.
Related: Why Service Providers Need to Use An Automated Sales Funnel
Discovery Call Funnel
This is one of a few types of sales funnels uniquely suited for service providers. Product-based businesses (like those that sell surfboards) likely don’t need to discuss purchases or packages with their customers before making a sale. But service-based businesses (like those who provide surfing lessons) often find success when using a discovery call funnel!
Clients in search of particular services will often come up with tons of questions when browsing their options.
Among them are:
- Can your business fit my unique circumstances?
- Is this package adjustable?
- How much will my budget afford me?
It is far easier to answer those types of questions over the phone than it is to address every inch of gray area on your website. Plus, chatting with your potential clients helps build trust that will often lead to a sale—or many sales over time!
Self-Liquidating Offer (SLO) Funnel
Self-liquidating funnels are another great way to gain access to potential customers. They are unique to other types of sales funnels because they typically don’t turn a profit—but you won’t lose money on them, either.
So, why bother? While SLO funnels won’t earn (or lose) you any money upfront, they do expand your lead pool for future sales. Essentially, an SLO funnel is a long-term move. Think of it as planting the seed for sales and walking away.
Webinar Funnel
The webinar route is the best for building trust fast. Talking with your leads (especially in real-time) proves that you are as authentic in-person as you are in your written business values.
Alternatively, you can make automated webinars so clients can tune in at any time of day. It helps if you use footage from proven live webinars when designing your automated version. After all, if clients were persuaded to do business with you via the live version, it will likely work when recycled.
Content Funnel
If you have a flair for creating content that dazzles, you’ll experience success utilizing a content funnel. Content funnels are extremely straightforward: first you design content chock full of sign-up options and calls-to-action. Then, share your content links on relevant social media pages to attract new leads!
The beauty of using content funnels versus other types of sales funnels is that you can sprinkle your content across the Internet wherever you suspect clients are. There’s no limit! Just be sure that your content outshines similar posts for maximum results.
Which Types of Sales Funnels are Best for Your Business?
Now comes a very important step. You have to decide which types of sales funnels are right for you. There are specific funnels that work well for service providers and others that work well for product providers. Have a look at the breakdown!
Types of Sales Funnels For Service Providers
If you are a service provider, you should consider four main types of sales funnels for your business:
- Lead Magnet Funnel
- Discovery Call Funnel
- Webinar Funnel
- Content Funnel
SLO funnels are not recommended for service providers because services don’t typically simmer well long-term. In other words, a client either needs you or they don’t.
On the other hand, the four types of sales funnels listed above work fast to draw in an immediate profit and satisfy an urgent need for clients.
Types of Sales Funnels For Product-Based Businesses
If your business is product-centered, SLO funnels or content funnels will work well for you! SLO funnels get your brand out in the open, leaving potential clients to think about your products… until, whammo! They make a purchase sometime down the line because they just couldn’t stop thinking about that “great t-shirt” ad.
Content funnels work more immediately (no matter what sort of business you are running). Just be sure to share your content where there is a need for your products (or services) and you will definitely pique some interest.
You believe in your business! But you will only be as successful as your sales funnel. No matter what strategies you’ve tried in the past, use this article to rework your lead generation process. Different types of sales funnels can make all the difference!
Ready to automate your growth with powerful sales funnels? Snag my Automated Client Workflows to start automating your customer sales journey with funnels.