Section 4.05 Sales Funnel

Module 4

Without a sales funnel, your efforts are wasted – Melvin Mayard

What is a sales funnel?

It is, in a nutshell, the process of enticing clients in order to make a sale.

Following a certain method, the efficacy is determined by the product, offers, contents, and pricing:

• Awareness – bring to their attention

• Considering – Believing the message

• Preference – Align their interest

• Action – They Choose to act upon their Desires

• Loyalty – they trust and but the product

• Advocacy – they are well pleased and promote the product

Because it all starts with marketing to advertise potential clients, this is sometimes referred to as the Marketing Funnel.

Every business, in some fashion, goes through the same process. The same sales funnel method may be found in the following places:

Retail store
Email
Website
Social Media sales

Importance of the Sales Funnel

The path prospects follow to become your customer is depicted in your sales funnel. Understanding the marketing or sales funnel will assist you in developing your ideal approach for future success, as well as determining at what stage any prospects will drop out and never convert to a sale.

Helps you to know how to relate to customers

Do you realize that businesses have their own language? The way we define our products, provide content, and communicate with our customers can all have an impact on how far they progress down the sales funnel. Once you’ve identified a potential customer’s sales funnel section, you can quickly adjust the tone of your writing, create well-directed content, or make appealing offers to better relate to their needs.

It helps generate more sales

You’ll lead more potential customers to the Action section if you choose a fantastic marketing approach and know how to relate to your customers better. In fact, mastering the sales funnel will help you earn more sales in the long term. The key to mastering the sales funnel is to discover how to guide them in a systematic manner toward your desired goal.

Helps you to pick a marketing strategy

The sales funnel helps you figure out which marketing tools or company model you’ll need to succeed as an entrepreneur. Some marketers prefer to concentrate their efforts on customers who have already reached the Decision stage of the sales funnel. This makes it easy for them to get clients to click on the “Action” button.

Sales Funnel Process

The sales funnel serves as a blank canvas for describing and enhancing your sales process in order to increase revenue.

Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her to solve a problem or achieve a goal,not of selling a product or service -Brian Tracy

A.I.D.A Marketing Concept

E. St. Elmo Lewis, an American businessman, created the AIDA concept in 1898. The original goal was to use scientific approaches to construct advertising and sales procedures in order to optimize sales calls and the interaction between seller and customer regarding the product.

A.I.D.A stands for

• Attention: The first stage in marketing or advertising is to think about how to get people’s attention.

• Interest: Once a consumer is aware of the existence of a product or service, the company must try to pique the potential customer’s interest.

• Desire: Once a customer has expressed interest in a product or service, the goal is to make them want it, shifting their mentality from “I like it” to “I want it.”

• Action:The ultimate goal of any marketing effort is to get the recipient to take action and buy the product or service.

As a result, according to the AIDA model, Awareness leads to Interest, which leads to Desire, which leads to Action.

Let us consider ways to use the AIDA model by looking into each part of the hierarchy.

First Step: Attention

Many marketers neglect the importance of attracting attention. It is thought that the product or service has already piqued the interest of consumers, which may or may not be true. In any case, don’t assume that everyone is familiar with your product. “Creative disruption” is one of the most effective methods for drawing customer attention.

Second Step: Interest

The most difficult element is usually generating attention. Concentrate on what is most important to your target market in terms of your product or service, and only deliver the most crucial message to consumers.

Third Step: Desire

The AIDA model’s second and third stages are linked. While you’re attempting to pique clients’ interest in a product or service, it’s critical that you help them understand why they “need” it.

Fourth Step: Action

The final phase in the AIDA concept is to get your customer to take action. A call to action should be included at the end of the commercial, which is a statement intended to elicit an immediate response from the consumer.

New Developments with the AIDA Model

Many criticize the AIDA model for being too simplistic. Therefore, there are many variations of the AIDA model such as the:

AIDCAS (Action, Interest, Desire, Confidence, Action, Satisfaction) model
REAN (Reach, Engage, Activate, and Nurture) model
NAITDASE (Need, Attention, and Interest; Trust, Design, and Action; Satisfaction and Evaluation)

A visitor comes to your website because of a suggestion, social media, or a Google search. They’ve automatically been exposed to your advertising and are now a potential customer.

This is where your marketing must shine, or they will go without taking any action to become your customer. The prospect must view the product or service offer as soon as possible and be prompted to take action, which is known as a ‘call to action.’

The simplest stage of the process is known by the acronym A.I.D.A

Summary