If I ask you which part of the sales process do you struggle most with, what would you answer?
If you’re anything like me the answer would be – lead generation.
Well, we’re not alone. 37% of the marketers say the most challenging part of their sales process is prospecting and lead generation. Even though it’s hard, it is the most crucial part of the sales process. Without leads, there is no sales pipeline and without sales, you’re out of business.
Sales are the lifeblood of any business.
If you haven’t already put time and effort to generate a steady flow of leads, now is the time to start; and the easiest way to make sure you have a steady flow of leads is an automated lead generation funnel.
What is a funnel?
The process that helps you convert a stranger into your paying customer is called a funnel. It’s the path your customer takes to purchase from your business.
Every business has a sales funnel. It might not be a very effective sales funnel, but everyone has one because every business (supposedly) is trying to turn strangers into leads and leads into customers.
Why do I need a lead generation funnel?
Your website is often the first or second point of contact your customer makes with you. Almost 96% of your website visitors you have aren’t ready to buy but that doesn’t mean that they’re never going to make a purchase. They’re interested in what you offer and maybe even buy from you when they’re ready.
That’s where the lead generation funnel comes in. The goal of the lead generation funnel is, well – to generate leads.
It’s not about the fancy design or eye-catching images on the website. It’s the ability to turn visitors into leads that counts. If I had to choose between a decent website with an automated funnel to generate leads and a beautiful eye-catching website, I’d choose the former.
This kind of funnel can be used to generate leads, building your email list or grow your audience
How can I build one?
The game plan behind the funnel is pretty simple. It’s a 3 part system that takes traffic, lead conversion and leads nurturing into account.
- Traffic – sending people to a landing or opt-in page
- Lead conversion – the visitor gives you their contact information in exchange for the lead magnet you’re offering
- Lead nurturing – you send a pre-planned series of automated emails to nurture them to pitch your product or service
This ‘Traffic → Conversion → Nurturing’ method can turn your cold traffic into hot leads.
This is how your entire funnel looks like,
To set up a funnel like this, you’ll need,
- An irresistible lead magnet
- A landing page with an opt-in form
- A traffic source
- An email autoresponder
- A thank you page
Now that we got the whole concept covered, let’s build one for your business.
Step 1: Create an irresistible lead magnet
Create an irresistible lead magnet that solves a problem your customers have or answers questions your clients always ask.
Your lead magnet doesn’t need to be complex. These are usually digital downloadable content. Think free PDF checklists, reports, e-books and cheat sheets. It should be easily consumable, relevant and hugely valuable to your customers.
Don’t think too much about aesthetics and don’t spend too much time or money creating your lead magnet.
You can just write down on Google sheets and export the file as a PDF.
Make sure it gives immense value to your customers.
What to do next?
- What’s a specific problem your clients face that you can solve with an easy consumable guide? Come up with 5 ideas
- Decide on the lead magnet that is easy for you to create
- Create a lead magnet. You can use something like this template to get started
Step 2: Create a landing page with an opt-in form
The sole purpose of a landing is to convert its visitors.
Set up a landing with an opt-in form where your customers can enter their contact information in exchange for the lead magnet we created.
Even if you don’t have a website right now, you can set up a landing page with services like Leadpages, or Convertkit.
If you’re starting out, I’d recommend getting an account on email marketing services like Convertkit or Mailerlite, which provides landing pages and creates quick landing pages. We will also use these email marketing services in our email autoresponder.
Here’s a quick video on how you can create landing on ConvertKit
Free Landing Page Builder: Promote Your Next Big Idea in Record Time
What to do next?
- Signup for ConvertKit or any other email automation service
- Create a landing with their pre-built templates
- Set up an incentive/lead magnet delivery email
Step 3: Sending traffic to your landing page
Now we have an irresistible lead magnet that helps your audience and a landing page with an opt-in form where they can request the lead magnet in exchange for their email address.
The next step would be sending traffic to that landing page.
There are organic and paid ways to bring in traffic like SEO, PPC ads, Facebook ads, Youtube videos, and email marketing. The key is, to begin with, one or more traffic sources you’re comfortable with.
Facebook ads are a very effective way to bring in targeted traffic. You can easily target your core audience and start with a small budget.
If you’re new to Facebook ads, check out this step by step guide by Hubspot on how to run Facebook ads.
What to do next?
- Create a Facebook ad to bring in traffic
- Start with a $100 budget ($10 for 10 days)
- Analyze and optimize your ads
Step 4: Set up email autoresponders
You know have a steady flow of potential clients and their contact information. You need to nurture your relationship with these leads to convert them into your paying customers. It’s often done in a form of pre-planned series of emails.
This is the part where automation happens.
Deliver the lead magnet immediately after they request it. Over the course of the next few days, send them a series of emails to introduce yourself and pitch your service.
Ideally, your email sequence should be like this
- Welcome/lead magnet delivery email
- Introduce Yourself and Find Out Their #1 Problem
- Solve their #1 problem
- The Next Step email
Make sure you don’t send too many emails and annoy them.
This quick video will show you how you can create an email sequence in ConvertKit
What to do next?
- Write down your followup emails
- Create an email sequence in an email autoresponder
- Trigger this sequence after someone downloads your lead magnet
Step 5: Create a perfect thank you page
Thank you pages are often overlooked as an afterthought.
Most of the thank you pages out there don’t serve any purpose except just to confirm that someone has successfully opted in. So, you may be wondering what’s the big deal?
Well, thank you pages makes a crucial point in your customer journey.
People who end up on your thank you pages are the people who stopped being a passive reader and took an interest in what you offer. This is the moment where someone stopped being a prospect and ready to become a paying customer.
A visitor on a thank you page is primed to take the next step and if you’re not taking full advantage of that momentum you’re leaving on the table.
A high converting near-perfect thank you page consist of 3 key factors
- A confirmation message
- A clear CTA (Call to action)
- Specific instruction on what to do next
Craft a high converting thank you pages with these key factors in mind and take your lead a step closer to being a paying customer.
What to do next?
- Create a high converting thank you page on your website
- Redirect people to this landing page once they submit their details on the landing page
Conclusion
This is a proven system to get qualified leads from your website on autopilot. Understand your customers and set up a lead generation system tailor-made for them. If you set up the right systems, your sales pipeline will be flowing with quality leads who’re ready to become your customers.
Lead Generation Funnel Assets
If you don’t want to start the whole thing from scratch, you can access my complete lead generation funnel assets which include a funnel blueprint, landing page templates, email scripts and a lead magnet template here for free.