3 Steps to Creating Your Online Sales Funnel Plan
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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
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14 Comments
July 29th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Long been an advocate of planning first. One of the reasons I use mind maps so much to make sure that I have a viable system.
Mike Paetzold´s last blog ..Follow up is the key
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July 29th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Great post, Luca.
It all works much smoother when you understand where you are going and what you are trying to accomplish. A bit of front end effort is also a major time saver though it might not seem so at first.
Earl Netwal´s last blog ..Get 7 Day Trial for $1.00 Niche Profit Classroom
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July 29th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I understand where you are coming from with that good solid piece of advice. I can say I also jumped in haphazardly to this business. And I also agree stepping back and re-evaluating the process is necessary. You are passing along some useful tips that I think will be helpful for future people who may want to jump right in to this or any business without planning. Thanks.
Andre Arnett´s last blog ..Niche Profit Classroom 2.0 $1 For 7 Day Trial
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July 29th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Great advice Luca – and good of you to share the info to help others avoid your mistake… Planning your funnel and building it to also lead into your next product are two hallmarks of successful top-level marketers, and fortunately free to emulate!
Doug Champigny´s last blog ..Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Cindy Battye…
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July 29th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Your right, planning is very important to long term success. Like you said, when people generally start out, they just want to get going. But without a plan, it could result in unnecessary wasted time later on.
Joel Osborne´s last blog ..Learn From The PLR Secrets Expert
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July 30th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
As you mention planning is important and should not be skipped. I also agree with your point about promoting high quality products. If you don’t offer products that will be of use and add some benefit to your customers need, you will likely not be successful regardless of your planning. Good points in this post.
Lonnie Minton´s last blog ..Three Tips For Building Your List Now
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July 30th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Great way to put a plan together.
I, like you just jumped in headfirst with no thgouht to what I was doing whatsoever.
Had been running that way for about a year and a half before I got involved with a group of like minded people and was able to work with them to get me on track. It has been a long road and I am still not quite there yet, but am getting much closer.
I have been spending a lot of time lately re-evaluating some of the stuff I originally put together and have been going back and planning it out much better.
You just won’t do very well without a plan and I like many have learned that the hard way.
Thanks,
Brett McEllhiney´s last blog ..Try Out Niche Profit Classroom For Only 1 Dollar!
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July 30th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Yes, planning is key but keep the door open for re-planning and fine tuning.
Fred
Fred Lotgering´s last blog ..Twitter Marketing Giveaway – Bob Tompkins & Reed Floren – Contributors Requested
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Mike Riley Reply:
August 12th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Could not agree more, Fred. No matter how good your plan is, there is always quite a bit of fine-tuning, testing and re-testing.
Mike Riley´s last blog ..How to Find A Favorable Debt Negotiation Service
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August 2nd, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Great suggestions. I’m especially guilty of not planning but as you mention, it’s an important part of the process. I knew I bought Mind Map for a reason. thanks.
Mike Humann´s last blog ..College Financing: The business of College
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August 7th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Having a plan is important for any business, but many online marketers don’t realize at first that it applies to them too! As Fred mentioned already, don’t forget to review your plan periodically, as your goals and methods can change as you become more skilled and find your “true calling”. It helps to keep you on track as well.
Jacque LaMantia´s last blog ..Internet Marketing Success Requires More Than Just Technical Support
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August 9th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Like many online marketing beginners I to jumped in and tried to make money without doing the prep work. Good post for those beginners like me who think they can just reap the rewards without proper planning. thanks.
Larryj
larryj´s last blog ..“The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay”
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August 10th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I think the Step 3 is perhaps The Most Important! Our sales plans might change and they do, as we have to adopt to changing nature of the online business but once you have a communication flowing with people – that change can be quite painless!
Alex Sysoef´s last blog ..Income Fitness By Barbara Ling
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August 15th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
I think planning is the area that might be the most difficult. However it is really necessary to have a game plan. With the amazing flood of new products to promote this summer, there are a whole lot of choices for affiliate marketers. I notice more and more products are receiving open criticism and “do not buy” comments on blogs that are more than the negative ad title that just wants you to get to their page so you buy from them. These blog authors will give you solid reasons behind their warnings.
Anyone just starting out on the internet should spend some time researching the people who are great to follow and learn from vs the ones who just want to sell you 5 new products each week.
It is my opinion that the white hats (good guys) are winning the battle vs the people who are just out to make a fast buck with no concern for how they do it or what they sell. It seems that this is going to protect the consumer who gets bombarded with “buy me” email offers.
The good may finish last, but I feel that in a system where getting your reputation built up can take some time, that finishing is what it is all about and not compromising yourself by getting into the make a buck no matter what scenario. I have seen good friends get caught up in promoting anything and everything. I have even tried to remove people who were once my friends from my email contacts and told them I was going to block them.
I feel this is why having blog posts that encourage people to run their business the right way are so important.
Thanks for this information.
Rocque´s last blog ..Now This Is Encouraging
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