Everyone knows that success in sales depends, generally, not only on the selected category of products/services that you offer but mostly on the chosen marketing strategy. Choosing the right one is necessary in order to create good customer turnover within your business. And it’s not so easy task as it seems at a first glance.
Most of the time there’s no shortcut, and you should prepare for a long ride. It is because of the overwhelming amounts of offers and a very low trust from the potential prospects. This means you should warm them up properly before convincing to spend their money.
In the modern world of marketing, the approach of using a sales funnel has become a unique Aladdin’s lamp. It will help to lead a client to the purchase very subtly and unobtrusively, taking into account all the fears, doubts, and desires.
So, let’s dive into details.
The sales funnel is…
The Layer Model
This term is a whole complex of characteristics that would not fit into one simple definition. However, we decided to characterize the sales funnel, in general, as a marketing strategy.
Its main point is to lead the potential customers through the 5 stages – from the status of “cold stranger” to a “regular buyer”. So, the main goal of the funnel strategy is to create recurring clients with life-time value (LTV). This will bring you a stable and predictable income which is crucial for any business that you’re in.
The word “funnel” is used here because you’re filtering down your incoming traffic through the stages. In the end, only a small percentage of the audience left but these people are essential for your business – they’re its blood.
Conventionally, a funnel is divided into 3 layers – an upper, middle, and lower layer. Translating into a marketing language:
- Upper layer – Target audience;
- Middle layer – Potential buyers;
- Lower layer – New and existing customers.
The key takeaway here is to provide more and more interesting content and bring more value to the audience through each layer.
Below are some statistics showing that the funnel strategy actually works:
- High-quality content at all stages of interaction convinces 87% of potential customers to trust the seller;
- 63% of customers begin to trust only after the proposition with clear benefits has been repeated 3-5 times;
- Encouragement of customers increases sales by 47%.
AIDA model
We have already considered the first scheme of the funnel with the upper, middle, and lower layers. Let’s move on to the next big thing, which has its own name – AIDA – which stands for Attention. Interest. Desire. Action. And let’s look at the funnel from a different angle.
This is a genuine 19th-century discovery, authored by Elias St. Elmo Lewis – the marketing pioneer. But don’t worry – nothing has changed with human nature since then.
Management of customer emotions throughout the sales process is the secret to this strategy. It works like you’re pulling the customer with a thin, inconspicuous thread that originates at the “want” stage and successfully leads to the “buy” stage.
Let’s analyze the AIDA system in stages:
- Attention. It is necessary to attract the attention of new customers with a high-quality and catchy content. The audience needs to see a shiny wrapper of your offer, inside of which there’s a lot of exciting and valuable stuff.
- Interest. Now show your customer that you are aware of his problems/desires and know how to solve them (or make them happen). Make him interested in “quick wins” and engage more.
- Desire. At this stage, the customer realizes that your company offers a good solution. He’s still doubting rather buy or not, but it is your turn now to convince him by pointing out the benefits of your offer.
- Action. Now it’s the key stage of a funnel. You have to carefully show the advantages of making the purchase and the disadvantages of not buying, and finally, tip the scales in your favor.
This is a generalized view. Though you should adapt it to your business, taking into consideration all the specific, but remember, it fits any situation.
