The Stupid Simple Sales Funnel (All You Will Ever Need)

January 15, 2018  •  Marketing Strategy

In 2010, I was a broke pastor making $33,400 per year. I enjoyed the work, but I was super frustrated with more bills than dollars at the end of every month.

My wife was the breadwinner, but desperately wanted to stay at home with our newborn son. This made it sting even more.

I knew something had to change. Drastically. So I got to work learning how to market my newly-acquired skills as a digital marketing consultant. It took 18 long months of grinding it out in the trenches. Making every mistake you could make. Taking on clients I didn’t want to work with. Failing. Trying. Failing again.

The Only Sales Funnel You'll Ever Need
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock Photos

But the day finally came when I was ready to quit my job and start my own business … officially. My wife could finally quit her job too and stay home.

I made a deal with myself: I wouldn’t needlessly put my family in financial jeopardy.

In other words, I needed the safest, surest bet I could find to make a LOT of money in a relatively short amount of time.

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The good news: through all my trial and error, I found a simple way to get all the traction I needed. In fact, it’s so simple and so effective, I still use it to this day with continued MASSIVE results.

The bad news: it took me 18 months of spending my own time and money to get there.

The best news: you get to cheat and skip those 18 months and benefit from my mistakes.

What I’m about to walk you through is literally the only tool I used to go from a broke pastor making $30,000 per year to a thriving business owner doing $30,000 per month in revenue within 12 months of launching.

Here it is:

CONTENT > LANDING PAGE > NURTURE SEQUENCE > CALL-TO-ACTION > CONVERSION

That’s it. Even though it may seem simple, I’ll unpack each level in detail to make sure it’s crystal clear what to do and how you can set this up in your business.

5-Step Sales Funnel

STEP 1: CONTENT

The word “content” means anything you publish online. This includes “organic” methods like a blog post, an Instagram image, YouTube video, a tweet, or email. But it also includes paid options like a digital ad placed on platforms like Facebook or Google AdWords.

Two methods: Paid and Organic.

One mode: Content.

The goal of content is to make “first touch” with your Ideal Persona, the client or customer you absolutely dream of having. You get into his or her head and heart and think, “What does my Ideal Persona need, want, or desire?” Then you filter your expertise through value-added content.

STEP 2A: LANDING PAGE

We build every single Landing Page on the principles of sales psychology. I’ll spare you the boring details, but the gist is having an integrous way to translate the attention captured from your content into action.

Good design is a must. You want your landing page to clearly demonstrate that you understand the pain points of your Ideal Persona by addressing them early and often.

Your Landing Page (also called an optin page) needs to have some way to capture the information of a prospective customer or client. We do this by producing a short, value-packed three to five page resource (usually a PDF) a visitor can download in exchange for an email address.

Think of it this way: Content gets the click, Landing Page gets the conversion.

STEP 2B: THE GODFATHER OFFER

When a user downloads the resource, instead of taking them to a lame and ineffective “thank you” page, they’re immediately taken to “The Godfather Offer.” On this page, we ‘make them an offer they can’t refuse’! (Mad props to Nicholas Kusmich for the idea!)

For Think Digital, we offer a free Strategy Session which has a retail value of $250. This isn’t made up, fake marketing nonsense either. People who sign up get a real call with a strategist from our team where we dig in to their business and help align their marketing with their goals.

The Godfather Offer is contingent on you offering something of tremendous perceived value.

If you’re selling a course, give at least a 50-60% discount. If you’re selling high-ticket coaching or services, offer a free session where you bring tons of value.

The key to a good Godfather Offer is the ability to take it away. =) We use a tool called Deadline Funnel to make sure the Godfather Offer is ONLY good for 72 hours. It’s an amazing tool I couldn’t market without!

STEP 3: NURTURE SEQUENCE

I’m not sure there’s a more underutilized tool in business today than the email list. It’s a MASSIVE asset to any business (when leveraged properly).

In some cases, this bolsters an end-game conversion rate from an average 1-3% to 20-25%. (When I say “end-game” I do NOT mean email addresses. I mean purchases made, appointments booked, or some other relevant business activity related to your Godfather Offer.)

In most cases, we deploy a simple three-email nurture sequence that delivers one email per day for (drumroll) … three days. It’s written in story/narrative form and draws people back to the Godfather Offer.

STEP 4: CALL-TO-ACTION

I’ve alluded to this in the other steps, but this is what you want your prospect to ultimately do. It’s your ask. Sign up for a strategy session. Buy this course. Attend this webinar. Purchase this ebook. Make it very clear and direct, as it should be the focal point of your Godfather Offer.

STEP 5: CONVERSION

Once you build an effective digital marketing system like the one I’ve described here, you can predictably scale your ability to produce conversions. It’s not based on whim or emotion. It’s based on a simple system producing predictable results.

That’s it.

A good friend once told me, “Once you know how to market your business online and turn $1 into $2, you’re free.”  That’s what this system does. It sets you free.

I have to warn you: while this outline may SEEM simple, it can be incredibly challenging to pull this off correctly. It took me 18 months of testing, tweaking, and ad spend to get the initial mix just right.

But it works. In fact, it works so well my wife is still at home, all these years later, with our THREE kids!

FOLLOW this system. It’ll get you where you need to go.

About Justin Wise

Justin Wise is the founder of Think Digital, a digital marketing company that simplifies lead generation for small and medium-sized businesses. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa (by choice) with his wife and three kids. Find out more at JustinWise.net.