11. How To Build a Lead Generation Funnel in Your Local Business

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Okay guys, are you obsessed with funnels? Me too! 

Kidding guys, until just a couple of years ago I didn’t know what a funnel was. Everyone kept talking about funnels, and it didn’t occur to me that they were just talking about the basic marketing funnel. At the very top, you have brand awareness; people have to know your brand before making a decision. Then you have the nurture phase built of the audience that found you in the brand awareness phase. After this, is the purchase phase where you finalize their purchase or conversion. 

Now, I was confused because I kept hearing about click funnels. All that means is that you’re using a platform to work with your client through creating a relationship. You’re walking them through a series of steps. Like getting automated emails or leading them to new website pages to purchase. These methods are strategic and a click funnel is a platform to help facilitate that. I use a platform called Kartra and I will link my affiliate code below so you guys can check that out.

If you want a funnel to create more business, you’re going to need traffic. Imagine an oil funnel in your car, you have to pour the oil into the funnel to get it into your tank. This is where Google, Social Media, and paid ads get traffic to your funnel. 

I’m sharing the three things to get your funnel operating properly in the context of a locally-based business like a salon, a boutique, or a real estate office.

Great Experience that Provides Value

Through every step of the funnel I want you to consider your customer experience. You need to tell your audience why there is a problem that needs to be solved and why you can solve that problem. This is where a community is so impactful, because people love to share their experiences. 

Let’s walk through an example. If I’m a salon owner trying to get traffic to my funnel, I could start promoting a women-and-wine night at the salon. At the top of my funnel, I need to bring traffic to this event. I can use social media, paid ads, tap into my email list or local community. This event not only provides a great experience but also some great value to me as the salon owner. If traffic comes to or hears about this event, I’m working on that brand awareness part of my funnel.

Make Decisions Easy for People

In your customer experience, you have to make things easy for people. If I’m promoting this salon event, I have to make sure that the details are crystal clear. If I make it easy to come to the event, it will be that much easier for them to make a purchasing decision down the road. 

Breaking it down in terms of the funnel, promoting the event is the brand awareness phase, your audience saying ‘yes’ is moving them into that nurture phase, and people attending the event is where we move them into that purchase phase.

Clear Call To Action

So we’re at this women-and-wine night at our salon and we have an incentive if you book today. Let’s get people on the calendar and give them a bonus, like a free massage or entry into a drawing. Keep it simple and provide a clear call to action so they know exactly what is happening. This makes their purchase decision even easier. 

The beauty of the funnel is that you can test your funnel throughout the process. What worked, what didn’t, what can you try next time? If I understand that 50% of people who see my event are going to attend, and 50% of those attendees book a service, and 25% of those who book a service end up becoming long-term customers, I know that I have a solid lead-generating machine. Think about how you can always bring traffic into your funnel. Maybe your next step is to create an automatic funnel via email because you know it works in person.

Not only are we creating leads for ourselves, but we are creating a great customer experience and providing something of value. We have so much opportunity to build more business if we get strategic about it. So guys, make a plan, create flow charts, and test, test, test your funnel. 

Let’s also remember that the Lord directs our steps. Sometimes our plans take longer than imagined or become more complicated, but at the end of the day, this is where we walk in the direction of peace, walk towards building our business in the way we live our lives, and build these funnels so we have something reliable to book business.

If you’re interested in building a funnel, here is a code for Kartra. They have membership sites, email sequences, bookings for meetings. It’s probably the best all-in-one funnel creation service that I’ve found.

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