If there’s one thing consumers across all industries agree upon, it’s this: They have no time or patience for long, drawn-out processes. 

Convenience and ease of use is the way of the future. 

Which is why it’s important to ask yourself; is my brand catering to my consumer’s preferences? And does it make buying a straightforward, painless process? 

The answer to these questions exists inside your sales funnels. 

Now you might be sitting there thinking “what even is a sales funnel?”

So to make it as simple as possible, let’s say that a sales funnel is your customer’s journey laid out visually from point A (where they first stumble onto your brand) to point Z (when they complete a purchase). 

And between those points is a whole lot of gentle nurturing with the aim to build a relationship with that person so that they trust your brand and decide to support your business and purchase something from you. 

It will look a little something like this.

This is your basic simple sales funnel. And it should look somewhat familiar as most if not all customers will make their way through some sort of sales funnel before making a purchase.

My goal in this article is to help you shorten and refine your funnel so that you can increase your sales and build a better relationship with your customers. 

The Shortest Sales Funnel Wins

Ideally, you want your customer to move through your simple sales funnel as quickly as possible, as someone who spends too long moving through it will end up frozen by indecision or lose interest. 

A long, poorly thought-out funnel just isn’t going to cut it. 

It’s possible to close more sales with a simpler, shorter sales funnel approach, as a simple sales funnel is going to nurture your lead and help them feel supported, while still moving them towards that sale. 

So, here are a few pieces of advice for enacting change within your brand by creating a shorter, simple sales funnel for your business!

Make Buying Simple

In order for the sales process to begin, you need to have a simple, foolproof way for people to contact your sales representatives. Now, this might sound obvious, but a lot of businesses overestimate the ease with which customers can contact them. 

Have you ever scrolled through a restaurant’s website, where you’re sitting there, drooling over the menu, but when you go to make a booking, it tells you that you need to email them asking for availability? 

Or maybe you’ve tried to book an appointment with an amazing hairdressing salon that you found on Instagram, but the only way to contact them is to send a Facebook message? 

Making it hard to contact your sales representative is a huge roadblock for a lot of consumers, and it could result in them taking their business elsewhere – maybe even to that restaurant down the road with the online booking system… 

If your potential clients have to make a concerted effort just to find your email address or your phone number, it’s time to simplify.

How do you do that?

If, for example, you run a service-based business like a restaurant, hairdresser, or spa,  you might introduce an online booking system or timetable schedule. Or if you run a freelance business or a B2B business, you could check that your contact details are clear, and located in as many places as possible. 

You don’t want your potential customers/clients having to run around just to find a phone number to contact you. 

Be a Guiding Light

Your sales representatives should lead the way for your potential customers – be a guiding light. Why? Because putting the ball in the court of the customer can equate to wasted time and a depleted bottom line.

Putting the ball in the court of the customer can equate to wasted time and a depleted bottom line.

When you leave people to their own devices they tend to get lost in the process. There is a lot of noise and distraction out there, so unless you’re nurturing and guiding your leads, you are bound to lose more than a few. 

There is a lot of noise and distraction out there, so unless you’re nurturing and guiding your leads, you are bound to lose more than a few. Click To Tweet

You need to take prospects by the virtual hand. Give them the information they need and lead them, as directly as possible, to the point where decisions are made. When you start building your simple sales funnel, always keep the process and end purpose in mind. Create a strategy where one thing leads logically into the next.

Remember to always include a call to action (CTA) in every step of your sales funnel. Give them that next step to take, and make it glaringly obvious what you want them to do. You wouldn’t expect someone to walk off a ledge into the wide-open –  you need to build them those steps. 

You wouldn’t expect someone to walk off a ledge into the wide open – you need to build them those steps.

Respond Quickly

Very little time should pass between when you get enquiries and when you respond. That period of time is important as that’s the time in which prospects might choose the competition. Plus it’s a reflection of your brand’s overall responsiveness and professionalism. 

Reply quickly to enquiries while crucial emotions are still high. This is your time to close a sale, and even if it’s not a sales enquiry, a quick, professional response will give them a good impression of your business which might result in a sale down the line. 

Make sure that you’re checking emails at least twice a day (once in the morning and once before you sign off for the day). And don’t forget to keep an eye on your social media inboxes by checking them at least once every day.

Listen Intently

If you listen properly, people will naturally tell you (in words, actions, and between the lines) what they do and do not want. This will help you to cater your offerings to each individual – and subsequently cut down the amount of time spent in-pitch. 

If you listen properly, people will naturally tell you (in words, actions, and between the lines) what they do and do not want. Click To Tweet

This shouldn’t be too hard to do as women are natural listeners and are taught from a young age to pay attention to what others say, which is an essential sales skill. If you are interested in learning more about why women are ideal sellers, check out my other article: Sell Like a Lady: Why Women are Better at Selling than Men.

So make sure that you’re paying attention to what your leads are saying. This will help you tweak and tailor your simple sales funnel so that your ideal prospect comes out the other end a happy customer.

Offer the Right Bait

Avoid presenting all your options to every potential customer. This will be overwhelming and confusing for an unsure lead (which let’s be honest, is about 90% of people). 

Remember, you need to be the guiding light. People generally aren’t good at making decisions, and the more options there are, the more flustered they become. 

Offer only what you believe will suit each person, in order to shorten explanations and reduce the number of decisions your prospects need to make.

This may require you to have different sales funnels for different segments of your market. 

For example, Fempire is primarily a business that certifies women business coaches, and two of our main goals are;

1. Finding new prospective Fempire Coaches
2. Pairing interested business owners up with their own Fempire Coach

Now, these are two very different markets, which means that we need to have two unique sales funnels to reach each of these target markets. After all, there would be no reason to nurture a lead all the way through our certified coaching funnel if they’re looking FOR a coach, not to BECOME a coach. Therefore we need both a becoming a coach funnel AND a find a coach funnel, as we’re targeting two very different markets. 

So make sure that throughout your simple sales funnel your offerings appeal to the right target market.

Make sure that throughout your simple sales funnel your offerings appeal to the right target market.

Eliminate the Hassle

You need to get rid of any unnecessary processes and paperwork. You’ve heard new clients complain about “signing their life away”, and this can be a sign that your processes and procedures need a rework. 

Whether or not you can do something about this, is dependent on the type of business you’re running. 

If your product is a franchise, for example, you’re going to need all of that paperwork because there are a lot of legalities involved in buying a business. But if they’re signing up for an online membership site or hair treatment, you can probably cut down on the formalities. 

Can you turn that three-page disclaimer into one? Or introduce a “click here to agree that you’ve read and accept all of the terms and conditions” button to your online sign-up page?

If you can safely devise a way to lessen the process of signing on or purchasing your product, take the opportunity to do so as it will give your leads less of a reason to hesitate.

Make it Easy to Say YES

When the time comes to close the sale, make it easy for them to say “Yes.” A customer should never have to wonder if the time is right to commit. Don’t hesitate to sell, or put doubt in their minds by acting uncertain. The way that you act will affect the way that they react. 

So make it clear, concise, and ask for that yes. 

Build a Better Funnel

How do you know if your simple sales funnel is doing what it’s supposed to? 

Your sales numbers will reflect whether your current sales funnels are working, but don’t be afraid to also ask for feedback. Set up a survey or send a follow-up email asking for your current customers’ and clients’ honest opinions. 

Online funnels, in particular, are great as tracking your analytics is generally easier with online analytical tools. For example, if you’re running Facebook Ads you can assess how your funnel is running in real-time using Facebook analytics – and the same goes for Google Ads and google analytics. This means you can adjust and tailor your funnel as you learn what works and what doesn’t.

Creating an effective, simple sales funnel is not something that you can just ‘set and forget’. 

Creating an effective, simple sales funnel is not something that you can just ‘set and forget’. Click To Tweet

It takes effort and planning to start seeing the results you want. 

These tips will help put you on the right track, but you need to follow through and work hard to build that perfect simple sales funnel for your business.

The shortest, most effective sales funnel wins – so make sure you’re in the game.

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If you feel like you need some help building an effective simple sales funnel, get in touch for a chat with one of our expert Fempire Coaches – they know how to get you set up and selling quickly! Click here to find out more about coaching with Fempire. 

And if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. We’d love to chat xx