Show notes
So this is a first for the epic personal trainer podcast. We're doing our first little mini series, a three parter all based on sales funnels.
And I've split it up into these three parts because it can become quite big. And I wanted to separate it into nice, clearly defined sessions.
So today we're going to be talking about what a sales funnel is, the whole concept and all that kind of stuff. Then in the next session next week, we're going to be going over sales funnels for online trainers. And then after that, the session is going to be about the in-person trainers.
Because there's a lot of differences, especially between online and an offline, the in-person trainers with how it works with getting new clients.
Today, I wanted to use this session, introduce you to the whole concept of what it is and all the steps and the stages that that are involved.
So from that, you're going to be able to see how important they are to your business and how you can use them. And how they're going to fit in with your whole marketing strategy.
So let's get cracking with some sales funnel training.
What is a Sales Funnel?
So to start with let's explain what a sales funnel is. Some of you maybe have heard the term and don't know what it is. Some of you may be hearing it for the first time. But a sales funnel is basically a marketing term used to describe the process a potential client can go through before buying your service. Now there are steps or stages to a funnel and you can split them up to cover where your potential client might be in their buying journey.
So these stages sometimes have different names, but they will kind of mean the same. And sometimes referring to the same stage. So, first off, if you think of a funnel, it's widest at the top. This is top of the funnel and this is called the 'awareness' stage for a lot of people, some people call cold traffic, right. You're reaching out to people that are kind of unaware of who you are.
The next stage, which comes down where the funnel starts to get a little bit smaller. Is the 'interest' stage. The stage below that is the 'desire' stage. And at the bottom of your funnel is going to be the 'action' stage.
So each stage helps you understand and kind of know what your potential client's needs and preferences and all that kind of thing is so that you can help them move down the funnel to the next stage until they hopefully buy your product or service.
So for instance, you can talk a little bit differently to a potential client that is in the awareness stage, that top of funnel stage. Compared to somebody that's in the action or even the desire stage, which is more at the bottom of the funnel. They are more warm or hot and more ready and prepared to buy.
So let's get into more detail about what each stage is about.
Awareness Stage
So, this is where a person that was previously unaware of you or your business now becomes aware of you or your business. It's where you're going to reach out to what is known as 'cold traffic', which is basically another way to describe people that do not even know you exist or even know that they have a problem, that you can solve for them.
Reaching out to cold traffic at the top of the funnel or having them find you can be done in a few different ways.
Quality Free Content
If you have a main way of delivering quality free content that can be searched for, then people can find you that are looking to solve a problem that they might have. So searchable mean you have a blog which can be searched on Google or a podcast on podcast apps, or YouTube on YouTube.
So if you post regularly and you create useful content that helps people within your niche solve their problems, then they're going to go and type in some kind of search term that hopefully your content can appear in the results for.
So for me, I hope that people that are not aware of me or epic personal trainer, go to their favourite podcast app and type in something like 'personal trainer business' or 'business tips for personal trainers' or something similar.
And hopefully I'll turn up in a search results and then they can take a look at my podcast and my episodes and give my content a try. And if they like it, like what I create, then they can move to the next stage of the funnel by engaging with my content.
So maybe leaving a comment or visiting my website, or even downloading one of my lead magnets and joining my email list.
So if you haven't done that already, by the way, go join my email list.
Social Media
So while social media is mainly a place for you to communicate with your existing audience, you can be discoverable by new people, through creating great posts, using good hashtags. And if you do that, then people see your great posts and then they're going to share them, hopefully with people that are going to appreciate it.
Now, if you can get on the good side of these algorithms, then social media platforms will show your content automatically to more and more people that they think are going to benefit from seeing it. That's going to give you more eyeballs on what you're creating.
Now I'm going to go over two more quick ones for awareness.
Influencer Marketing
The first one is influencer marketing. Now this isn't just about paying a person with a million followers, a ton of cash to speak about you on their page or on that channel, we can be a little bit more clever about it.
So let's say you have a podcast, you can invite them and have them on as a guest where they can talk about their experiences or their expertise and that can help your audience.
So you can do something similar with YouTube video, or even have them as a guest writer if you're having a blog.
Now, whatever influencers are involved with kind of work or projects they're helping to create, you can bet your ass they're going to promote it to their own audience. So that's giving you free access to their large following rather than chucking cash at them and asking them to do like one real or one story.
Paid Ads
Now one final way for the awareness stage is to run some paid ads. You can target people that fit your ideal client and appear in their social media feeds, their search results on Google or even on display ads on their favourite websites.
When done, right, you can pretty much follow them around the internet giving you a lot of touch points or interactions which you're gonna then increase the chances of them clicking on one of your ads and entering your world.
And that might lead them to a then downloading your lead magnet or buying a product or service that you offer.
Interest Stage
So when somebody does now become aware of you and what you do and what you sell, they've moved to that next stage, which if you remember, is the interest stage.
The main thing you want to focus on with people in the interest stage is building relationships, providing value and addressing the specific needs and concerns of your ideal client.
Interact
And you can do this by making sure you respond to any person that likes your page, or follows your page, or even leaves a comment on the content that you publish.
You need to be responsive to your audience and interact with them and follow up with them. Anything where they might reach out to you about you need to respond.
Your Main Content
But the ways you can keep in contact with them once that happens, includes things like your podcast or your YouTube channel. Now, since they've discovered you and they're aware of you, the hope is that they will now be following you.
So any new content you create, they can be notified and they can keep in contact with you that way. It's a little one direction kind of thing, but it really does work. That's what podcasting especially is so good at building relationships. So this will help you build and develop trust an show your expertise and a lot more.
Your Email List
Now, if they've joined your email list, you can send regular emails at least once a week. Emails can keep you in constant contact in a very personal way. They allow you to personalize content and communicate in a way that social media can not compete with really.
And having them on an email list is a really great thing. It's a massive asset because that's a list that you own.
Right no one can take it away. You can download it and switch it to other platforms, all that kind of stuff if you wish. When your whole following is on social media, um, you are at the mercy of them. And we've talked about this before.
Sometimes social media platforms go down. Sometimes countries ban it. The United States Is looking to potentially ban TikTok. It's already banned here in India. You can't access it.
Think of all these creators that are on TikTok in the U.S and if the government there just bans that they've lost their entire following, some of these people have millions of followers and it's just going to be gone overnight.
But if they had those email addresses of each follower, then they wouldn't have to worry. They could just send them to some other platform that they can use.
So email is really, really important and it's still actually sells more than anything else. So get an email list. Then once you've done that, you can hopefully move potential clients onto the next stage, which is the 'desire' stage.
The Desire Stage
Now the main idea of the desire stage is to build your potential client's interest in your service and encourage them to actually take some action. So again, you can use email to do this. You can also use webinars or even phone calls, your know, build on that interest, start to have them thinking about actually making a buy from you.
Social Proof
You can always use social proof as well. This helps people kind of get over that last step. Social proof is basically testimonials of people that have worked with you and they're talking about you and their successes and how you help guide them.
It let's potential clients see that you have succeeded in helping people just like them.
People that were in the same situation as them, it helps to prove that you can help them too. And that your systems and methods actually work.
Now you can see that for the different stages you talk differently and communicate differently through your words, your images and offers. Okay. So for example,
If at the top of the funnel, you're maybe promoting a free lead magnet to help someone enter your world. And, you can build that relationship. And that lead magnet should be targeted to somebody that is maybe just getting started.
But in the desire stage, you can actually try and sell a product because now you've built that trust and that credibility and you've built the relationship.
And to try and build on the desires to buy you can now use strategies such as scarcity as well.
Scarcity
This can help you speed up the buying process. So, if you have say a great offer for coaching, and maybe you only have 10 slots left, right. That is a form of scarcity.
There is a limited amount of places. So interested people will try and buy fast because they don't want to miss out due to the availability being limited.
Another way to use scarcity is with time. An offer that you have will maybe expire within 24 hours is one example. So interested people need to rush and buy within that timeframe so that he can get the offer.
Now, there are a lot of other ways to use scarcity, but make sure you use genuine scarcity. You can't say that you have a hundred copies available in stock of your book. If it's an e-book right. It's not going to look good, trying to trick people basically.
So, what you could say is if you buy this book within 24 hours, you can also get a free mini course as a bonus. So people can still buy the book after 24 hours. But they just won't get the mini course.
You could also say the first hundred people to buy the book could also get this mini course.
It's authentic. You are rewarding the people that are buying early that had taken a chance on you, the early adopters, if you like that are buying before they're able to even read a review or seek out opinions before they do.
And these people they buy from you because they trust you. You've already built that relationship, they're halfway or more down through your funnel. Um, and, and that's gonna really help. They trust you and they feel more confident buying.
Action Stage
Now, the last stage in your funnel is the action stage. The bottom of the funnel.
This needs to be a clear call to action on how somebody can actually buy or sign up or join whatever your product or service is.
You need to make this buying process as simple and easy as possible as little friction as possible. So for example, your potential client might need to know what button to press to start the buying process.
You might have different buying options or even payment options, depending on how expensive your product is. And the checkout process should be really simple and easy.
It should be simple as possible. So if you are selling an ebook you shouldn't ask for details like their physical delivery address, it's not needed and it might put people off buying because they're going to wonder why you are asking.
Or they might just not be prepared to do all the work. Typing addresses can be long sometimes. So you just give up and you lose the sale.
So simple and easy is best.
Post Purchase
Now. Don't forget about after the purchase as well. Now, technically this might not be a part of your funnel, but after they've bought, you need to deliver on your promise of your product or service.
So for an e-book make sure that they can download that book straight away. If they're signing up for coaching, make sure you start a great onboarding process right away.
Send them personal videos as soon as you can, welcoming them and explaining the next steps.
This is vital so that you can avoid any kind of buyer's remorse and they're feeling confident of the purchase they've just made. And they know that it's a real thing, right. They have bought and they haven't been ripped off.
So you need to get to that stage of your relationship off to the right start because you don't want to be handing out refunds and all this early interaction can really reduce the chances of that.
Especially for high ticket items like coaching.
And if you have the right product or services to go with it, you can also take the opportunity to cross sell or upsell to them something that might also help them along their journey.
So that's it.
Welcome to sales funnels!