Its Time to Think Outside the Sales Funnel

I recently joked that I hate sales funnels. Not only do I hate sales funnels in general, I especially hate the way they are sold as the only option to grow your business.

Just like growing an email list, reaching 100k Instagram followers, or hitting that “six figure income”, sales funnels are promoted as the perfect solution, yet I see them causing more fear, stress, and disconnect for small business owners than actually being helpful.

Despite my deep dislike of sales funnels, I do appreciate a few of the ideas behind them:

Does it help to have an idea of how someone moves towards working with you? Absolutely.

Does it help to map those paths out on paper (or an app if that’s your thing) so you can see where your customers are coming from and what they need? Absolutely.

Can it be helpful to systemize and automate some aspects of your marketing? Yes and yes!

And that’s the end of the list

Does expecting every person to take the same path make sense? Or even three or five or 10 predetermined paths? Not to me.

Why? Far too often, I find that sales funnels are limiting for both the customer and the business owner.

When you set up a sales funnel, you predetermine WHO you will work with and HOW they will work with you. You eliminate flexibility, creativity, and connection.

Does it really help you to reduce customers and potential customers to “pain points”, “prospects”, “targets”, and “conversions”? I don’t think so – I think that moves us farther away from truly connecting with our audience and building a real relationship with them.

Before we get too far into this, let’s look at what a sales funnel is so we are talking about the same thing.

A traditional sales funnel has four segments:

Awareness – make someone aware of you or aware of the problem they have (so you can solve it)
Interest – attract their interest (which shiny new thing do you offer?)
Desire – get them to want to work with you/buy from you
Action – move them to a sale or action

This general outline has been modified and expanded over the years – sometimes you’ll see extra steps or the titles will be slightly different – but the concept is the same.

A traditional sales funnel looks like an inverted triangle as your prospect moves ever closer to the tip or end of the sales funnel, and converts to a customer to finish the sale or the specific action you want them to take. (ugh. I feel like I need a shower after writing that!)

When planning a sales funnel, you usually start with the end result – what do you want someone to do – and then you move backward up the funnel to push someone down towards the bottom of the funnel to make the decision you want them to make.

Again, yes, it makes sense to realize who your best audience is, but does it make sense to completely shut out someone outside that narrow range of your “target audience”? What about someone who, for whatever reason, doesn’t opt in to your sales funnel?

For example, you can have people who are raving fans of you, your work, everything you offer and routinely sing your praises to everyone they meet, but because they aren’t the right client at the right time (or maybe they’ll never be a client), they won’t fit into your predetermined sales funnel box. If someone is a fan, but they aren’t moving to work with you – are they less valuable because they aren’t in your sales funnel.

So let’s look at sales funnels, where I think they fail, and some ways to think outside the sales funnel.

Funnel Problem One – Being Vague and Unfocused

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Not everyone in the world is the best client for you – so capturing emails and contact information of people who wouldn’t be a good fit for you wastes everyone’s time.

Think Outside of the Funnel:

Who do you *really* want to work with? What kinds of clients make you happy to go to work in the morning? Those are your people. Don’t try to talk to everyone with a pulse – talk just to your people. They get you, you get them…its a beautiful thing!

Funnel Problem Two - Pestering People:

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My biggest reservation about sales funnels is that they have one job – to capture someone and then push them through your funnel grinder. Your client (or potential client) has no control (other than to opt the heck out as soon as possible) – they are just helplessly falling through the process you’ve created.

Think Outside the Funnel:

I don’t believe you build trust by endlessly sending someone emails until they buy (and are then placed in another sales funnel to get them to do the next thing).

Is it a good idea to send someone an email every now and then to remind them that you are still around and available? Absolutely.

Does it help to have a schedule so you don’t forget? Yes.

Does it have to look like 3+ emails every single week? Not so much. Are you really building trust by filling someone’s inbox with “last minute offers” and “do you still like me” emails? No.  You are building dislike and distrust – not the direction you want to go in.

If someone joins your email list, they’ve done you are a favor and your job is now to not waste their time. Be respectful of the space you take up in someone’s inbox

Funnel Problem Three – Doing the same thing as everyone else

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You’re told that you need to create a freebie, a landing page, an ebook, a webinar, and who knows what else.

Is that something you want to do? Do you have a burning desire to speak in front of people? Then maybe a webinar makes sense for you. Hate video? Then don’t do a webinar!

Do you love to write and share your ideas with others? Then maybe an ebook makes sense. But only if your people would be interested in reading something from you. If not, your time can be better spent elsewhere.

Think Outside the Funnel:

What do YOU want to do? What do you think your audience would enjoy and value? Find the cross-over between what you are excited about doing and what your audience would be excited to see.

This is not a free pass to not do any marketing at all (for those of you who dread all forms of marketing). Instead, it is an invitation to think about which forms of marketing you can at least tolerate

Funnel Problem Four: Not Providing Value

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And speaking of webinars and freebies….they are not all created the same. You won’t build trust by creating a lot of hype and promise around something that, frankly, isn’t very good.

Think Outside the Funnel:

You don’t really have to “create” anything, but if you do, make sure it is something you are proud to share.

If most of your webinar is selling your thing…that’s an infomercial, not a webinar. Go back to the drawing board and start again.

If your blog post/pdf/other freebie is something that can be found via any Google search, you aren’t providing value. Dig deeper and earn your audience.

Funnel Problem Five: Not everyone comes from the same place (literally)

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If your entire sales/selling process is done via email & internet funnels – you are missing the chance to connect with a lot of people.

Think Outside the Funnel:
Don’t limit your marketing efforts to only one platform or path. Some people will prefer to connect in person, others via email, and still others only via referral. Don’t expect all of your customers to come from one place. Recognize that your clients are individuals with specific needs and not monoliths.

Funnel Problem Six: Not Building an Ongoing Relationship

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If you capture someone’s email and shove them through your funnel and they end up buying from you…then what? Or if they “drop out” of your funnel…then what?

Think Outside the Funnel:

Stop seeing people as “prospects” and treat them like real humans. Talk to them, learn more about them, and always look for a way to be useful and helpful.