Having a good funnel system is a bit tricky. One the one hand it needs to have enough steps to create meaningful interactions with prospects at each stage. On the other, it cannot have too many or be too complicated. Some of the many multi-step options out there are not really feasible unless you have a full-time business development person.
Here is a simple four-step funnel:
1. Leads
– This would be any sort of contact from your various communication channels. All you need is a possible suggestion of interest to qualify as a lead.
2. Prospects
– This would be what some call ‘qualified leads’. You have had the first initial contact with them and there is a real possibility of a connection point for your business and their needs.
3. Conversations
– Once a Prospect is in place, there may be one or more ‘conversations’ about their needs. The content of those conversations will vary from person to person, but the main point is that you are addressing their felt needs, answering questions, providing resources, etc. Some of these conversations will result in them becoming a customer and some may not. But in either case, you have added value to someone.
– You may have a preferred path of information that you wish to provide, which is a good plan. But…
– The other important point to note is that you cannot specify ahead of time how many of those conversations you will have. Some clients take a longer time to consider their options than others. They may come back to you with a series of questions or concerns. Others are ready on the spot. So you can have a plan for what an ideal set of conversations may look like, but you need to be ready to flex.
4. Customer/Client
– They have decided that you have the solution to their needs, and a business relationship has begun. At this point, it is a matter of meeting their needs and expectations.
Now here is the key: how do you track all of these steps in your funnel? Do you have a system for visualizing them all or seeing which stage each of these prospects are at in your funnel system? This is where the real power comes from so that you can make certain that no one is falling between the cracks. You need a system to quickly add someone, and then to follow them up so that they make progress with you.
The system needs an overview function, so that you can see the entire funnel at a glance, but you also need a drill-down function to really track the specific details for each person.
This is what we help businesses to do.