Below I outline the different elements of a successful online business sales funnel. This has what has worked for me and what I've applied to various information products that I sell online. It can be applied to almost any niche or market that you want to sell in.
If you imagine a pyramid, at the base of the pyramid is what I'd call Free Stuff .
This is the foundation of your online business. It's what allows you to attract visitors and potential customers to you. By putting out free stuff on the internet, it also builds your credibility and makes you an authority on a specific topic.
Free stuff can include blogging (free articles), YouTube (free videos) or a Podcast (free audios). When you create content and put it out there on the internet, it also builds up the trust and relationship with an audience. People are able to relate to you better and will be more likely to do business with you because they know, like and trust you.
An example of what I've done in my online business in this section has been the articles I write on my blog, my YouTube videos and my iTunes podcast. This video blog is a perfect example of what I'm talking about here.
It's also important to capture the information of the visitors that you attract to your website or blog. You can accomplish this by having them subscribe to your e-mail newsletter. Facebook fan page. Twitter. YouTube channel, or any other means you have where people can follow you.
2. Front End Offer
Next is to have available an inexpensive front end offer for your visitors. This is selling a product to them that is inexpensive and gets them to become a customer.
In my case, I sell a course on How To Write A Book In Less Than 24 Hours which is a great product that covers how anyone can write their own book quickly. I discovered that this is a product that my visitors were interested in by surveying them and finding out what they wanted from me.
A great way to survey your list is to use something like Survey Monkey. which is an easy free way to ask your audience questions. By surveying your list, you're able to identify what their goals and challenges are. You can learn about their challenges and what opportunity you can provide to help them solve their challenge.
This is what business is all about: identifying a need or problem and then solving that problem for people.
Another way to look at it is: business is solving peoples problems at a profit.
When it comes to a front end offer, you want it to be something that is relatively inexpensive. Depending on your market, anything from $7-$50 is a pretty good range.
However, you can also consider Kindle books to be a front end offer. I've successfully used Kindle publishing as a way to build my business and attract people as customers. Examples of this are my books Kindle Marketing Secrets 33 Ways To To Promote Your Kindle Book And Get More Sales and Life Mastery How To Unleash Your Hidden Potential And Get Everything You've Ever Wanted.
I've actually published dozens of other Kindle books like these that sell inexpensively on Kindle and allow people to become a customer of mine and receive more value from me. I've used the methods I teach in K Money Mastery to allow me to publish books that attract people from Amazon that I could never normally reach.
Typically, selling your front end offer will be relatively easy if you've done a good job with the Free Stuff part. If you've attracted people to you and done a good job providing value for free, people will naturally want more of what you have to offer. The same goes if your front end offer is good. Once someone is a happy customer, they are likely to buy more of the products you sell down the road. This is known as establishing Good Will .
3. Core Offer Upsell
Next is what is known as your Core Offer . This is what you actually make money on.
Typically you don't make much if anything from your Front End Offer. If you pay for advertising or marketing, the expense of getting a customer will even out with what you make from your Front End Offer. That's why it's important to have an upsell, known as your core offer.
Your core offer is your flagship product. It's what you're most known for. It's the comprehensive, A-Z course that solves the persons problem and helps them reach their desired result.
In my case, I've created my K Money Mastery program that teaches people how to make money with Kindle publishing. This was also identified through surveying my e-mail list and discovering that the #1 thing that people wanted from me was to teach them how to make money online.
The result that people wanted from me was to make money online. They saw the results that I had in my life, the freedom and lifestyle, and asked me to help them to achieve it. This was their need and desire and I was able to successfully fulfill it.
Your core offer is more expensive than your front end offer. It's something that can sell from $50-$200, depending on your market. Again, this is your comprehensive training program that gets people the result they're after. The front end offer covers one aspect of it (how to write a book), but the core offer covers step-by-step how to publish the book, market it and make money from it.
If your audience enjoys your free stuff and front end offer, then they are likely to purchase your core offer as well. The key is ensuring your audience is happy and receives value from you.
The best way to accomplish this is to OVER DELIVER on whatever it is that you create. In all of my products, I give away more than what is advertised. I provided bonuses and additional videos and content that isn't even mentioned in my marketing materials. More importantly, your product has to produce RESULTS and receive happy testimonials as well.
4. Advanced Training Upsell
Once people buy your product and have success from it, they'll inevitably want MORE from you. This is a sign that you're doing a good job!
There's a certain percentage of people that will immerse themselves in your product and want to know more advanced, higher level techniques. These are the techniques or advice that is too much for the newbie to handle, but once someone has been through your program and has proficiency with it, they want to expand their education and achieve a level of mastery.
This is known as your Advanced Training upsell. In my case, I've created my Full Disclosure membership for K Money Mastery. This is a special members area that covers things beyond Kindle publishing, such as how to create a paperback version of your book, how to build an e-mail list from your book, using Facebook marketing, how to further optimize your book, more marketing/selling strategies, etc…
Your advanced training is not required, but will take people to the next level. Some people just want the basic stuff and that's it. Others want more and want to be very successful.
This is known as the backend and where you'll make your profit. Usually you don't profit much from the front end or core offer, as whatever you make from that is usually taken from your marketing expenses and for affiliates that might promote your products. This is why an up sell is necessary and important to utilize in any online business.
Your Advanced Training you could typically sell for much more, anywhere from $200-$500. Again, this is depending on your market. You could even offer a monthly reoccurring fee, which can make things much more affordable for people that can't afford to spend a lot up front.
This is what I've done with my Full Disclosure membership. It currently has over 71 videos in it and I add more every month. It includes interviews with Kindle publishing Guru's, Advanced video lessons, Kindle Q A videos, Live Book Reviews where I review members books and give feedback, and a Facebook group community of over 500 members. Again, you always need to over-deliver and make it valuable enough for people to stay on board with what you have to offer. Once people get results, they won't want to leave because what you are providing them is so valuable. This is how you create Raving Fans .
5. Cross Promotions Affiliate Marketing
Once you start having customers that go through your sales funnel, there may be an opportunity for Cross Promotions or Affiliate Marketing.
Cross promotions or affiliate marketing consists of finding resources that are COMPLIMENTARY to your niche or market and offering them to your customers. Again, this involves finding a need/problem and providing a solution for it.
An example is I've found some really great softwares that I've used that have allowed me to complete some of the Kindle publishing process much easier and faster. I personally don't have much experience creating softwares and I've found it valuable enough that I personally use and benefit from, so why not share it with my customers? Perhaps they could benefit from it too?
This is called Affiliate Marketing and often you can get a commission by referring people to other peoples products.
Another example is that a friend of mine has an excellent course on how to create and sell your own children's books on Kindle. I don't have much experience with this, so there's an opportunity for me to promote his program to my audience for those that are interested in that.
The key to successful cross promotions and affiliate marketing is developing trust and a relationship with your audience. You must never endorse a product that you haven't personally used or benefited from. You must always put their needs above your own. And you must always provide value to them the best that you can and nurture your relationship with them.
6. Coaching Consulting
Finally, the last part of your sales funnel should be coaching and consulting.
Once people go through your training, there will always be a certain percentage of people that will want more and to work with you 1-on-1. They don't just want a program to go through, but they want someone to guide them through the program. They feel they can get there much faster by talking to someone 1-on-1 and having them answer their questions, which is true.
As Frank Kern put it, if you're buying a TV, there's some people that…
a) Just want to read the manual for setting up their TV.
b) Want you to come over and read the manual to them.
c) Just want you to set up the damn TV for them and they don't want to do anything.
Coaching and consulting also provides accountability and ensures that people will take action with the program. People that hire coaches are much more likely to get results, as often times some people can buy a program and NOT go through it at all! If you don't open up the program or go through it, then what are your chances of success? Zero.
A coach is the fast-track. It increases your likelihood of success.
However, coaching and consulting is LAST on the pyramid because it's limited. Coaches can only work with so many people because their time is limited and they are in high demand. It's also much more expensive than a product or course, as you're requesting the persons time.
For coaching and consulting, you can charge a premium for your time. It can be whatever you feel you're worth or what people are willing to pay. It also depends on your niche and market. Some people will pay $50/hour for a personal trainer, others will pay $150 hour for a higher level one. The same goes for a life coach or business coach. Some business coaches I've known charge $1000/hour and up.
In my case, I have two coaching programs. One is a Group Coaching program, which is much more inexpensively than working with me 1-on-1. This allows me to leverage my time and work with a small group towards making money online and achieving their goals. This makes it more affordable, as many can't afford my 1-on-1 coaching rates.
I also offer 1-on-1 coaching. but because my time is limited I can only take on so many people. My rates are also much more expensive and continue to grow the more in demand I become. My hours become more valuable depending on how much money I'm making also, but it's available for those that are willing and eager to work with me.
Finally, one more thing can be included in this area, which is Done-For-You Services.
As mentioned, there's people that want you to do the work for them. I realized there's people that are simply too lazy or don't want to create their own Kindle book, which is why I've created a service that provides a Kindle book, cover and description for you in a profitable niche. I release these every few months to my customers for those that prefer to just buy a package from me, instead of doing the work.
This is also a great way to solve peoples problems with a solution that adds value.
