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3 Steps to Creating Your Online Sales Funnel Plan

Recently I took a look at my online business sales and marketing plan and realized that I don’t have all the important pieces in place.  I thought I did but in the excitement of starting my online business I rushed through the most important step – the planning phase.  As a result I’m taking a step back and re-evaluating my plan and making the necessary changes.

The planning stage is especially important when you’re creating your sales and marketing strategy. Take the time necessary to map out how your content, products, services, and marketing are all going to work together to build your profitable online business.

If you’re new to Internet Marketing take these steps now, right away. If you’ve been in the business for awhile it may be time to take a step back and look at your original marketing plan (you do have one, right?) and re-evaluate it to make sure you have all the pieces in place.

Step One:

Promote high quality products that will be of use and benefit to your potential customers. The products could be affiliate products or you could create your own high quality products. First impressions really do matter in business especially the online business as you may only get one chance to gain your prospects trust. So starting off on the right foot with your customer service plan is very important in building your business. Quality products, from the very first freebie to your largest ticket item, will help you gradually build a positive reputation for yourself. It’s also important to remember that any future dealings you have that may result in repeat business should make the customer feel as good as they were treated the first time and maybe even better.

Step Two:

Plan your product line. A sales funnel is a series of increasingly more valuable and possibly more expensive products or services to offer your customers. However, people are going to enter your funnel at different stages. Some may begin by taking advantage of your free offer while some may jump right in and buy a product or service. Create a plan for each type of customer. Plan to have products ready for each level of your funnel. Figure out which ones might be of interest and useful to your customers. Provide them with information on how each product can benefit them and also show them how your products can be implemented in their own businesses.

For instance, if your freebie product (the entry point of your funnel) is a report on “PLR Content” then your next more valuable product could be an ebook “How To Use PLR for Profits” at a low cost. The next level could be a monthly paid membership site providing high quality PLR content for their niche. Remember that at each level you’ll want to point out the benefits of these new products to your customers. If your products are of interest, add quality and usefulness to the customer they will become repeat customers.

Step Three:

Maintain the Communication. In addition to planning for a line of high quality products and services, you’ll also want to establish consistent communication with your prospects and customers. You can do this by continuing the flow of valuable information in the form of blog posts, email messages and maybe even a newsletter.

By continuing to stay in touch and providing valuable information you will not only keep customers in your sales funnel longer but it could also result in referrals to your business. You could soon find yourself starting the process all over again with new prospects.

Planning is the key to online business success. Create your sales funnel plan, marketing plan and content plan and work to integrate the three into a seamless and efficient system. Consistency is also very important and by using the same plan over and over again with each new person, your online business will grow. All of your customers will be receiving the same great quality products and services you have to offer.

I’m taking these steps seriously to improve my online business and also realize that the planning process can’t be rushed and that  it needs to be reviewed and possibly tweaked on a regular basis.

Are you happy with your online sales and marketing plan?  Do you have a sales funnel in place?

To learn more about creating and managing your Sales Funnel check out this report: Sales Funnel Strategies