Hypnotic Sales FunnelMoney-making machines that leave your competitors crying in the corner

Hi,

Good to see that you joined us to learn how to become a Master Entrepreneur. In this guide we'll teach you how to build great sales funnels in order to acquire new contacts. You'll learn how to smoothly seduce cold leads to make them ready for the sale.

We'll discuss the main process to build sales funnels and go through some of the most famous ways you can design them.

I personally love designing sales funnels and optimizing them. I hope you'll find a similar enthusiasm for this strategic game!

Good luck & have fun!

Pieter

Intro: Websites are for Losers

Core components

The process

Template I: Webinar funnel

Template II: Email course funnel

Template III: Product demo funnel

Template IV: Freemium funnel

Template V: Invitation / VIP funnel

Ultimate Sales Funnel

What 's in the course

Websites are for losersAn introduction to Sales FunnelsGetting your customers email and leading them to the sale is the job of a sales

funnel. Just creating a website where people can buy your product or service is often

not enough anymore. You need to properly introduce yourself, win their trust and

gently take them into the sale of your product.

A key mindset trick that I'd like to give you is that selling is just like dating. You can't

just walk up to someone and ask if they want to marry you. Just like you can't sell

your product directly to people that happen to land on your web page. They need to

see that you (the business) is committed and that you're trustworthy. Only then you'll

be able to make the sale. The real fight between you and your competitors is to gain

higher trust. This a vital element especially when you're selling high-end products.

To build an effective sales funnel you'll need to have some core components in place,

a process to rely on and templates to make the funnel work. The core components

will be explained on the next page.

What's this?Here you find a breakdown of the core components that a typical sales

funnel is composed of. As you can see, it 's more than just a website.

The core components

Acquisition ChannelsFirst you're going to need traffic. Without traffic it?s pointless to have a

funnel, because no conversions can happen. Your sales funnel will get

customers from the channel to a paying user, both the beginning and end of

this journey are important! Each acquisition channel will influence what your

sales funnel will look like.

- Not all channels are created equal. For instance: Facebook ads might require a different funnel than content marketing or SEO traffic.

- No silver bullets, each business is unique

- Traffic intent, you have to understand the intention of your costumer. If this conflicts with what your costumer is thinking, they will leave.

- User journey, if you know the intention, create a welcoming journey for every new user.

Educational Content

Phone calls, product demos, etc.

Emails

Websites & webpages

This is a way of advertising where you can easily win your costumers trust. If

you can show them your value by teaching them something, you can also

sell them something.

By calling your (potential) costumers, you can not only sell your product

directly but also get immediate feedback. Another great way to get useful

information about your product and the way customers experience it are

product demos.

Emails are of course a great way to communicate, it 's personal and you get

close to the people you're in contact with. Use valuable drip campaigns to

engage users and you'll have conversions for sure. Of course email courses

are also a great way to deliver value to your (potential) customers!

Your website is likely to be the first moment the users will see more of your

product, its features and your brand. Use a design that reflects what your

product is about and introduce them in an appropriate way!

The processNow that we?ve got the core components together, it?s about time we assemble this

into a system that can drive scalable & repeatable growth.

In order to create great sales funnels it?s best to follow a proven process. Below is the

process that we ALWAYS follow, because we know that even a novice can produce it.

?With the right process & blueprints, even beginners can produce expert results?

In the rest of this chapter I?ll show you the exact process we ? and many other

high-growth companies ? use to build high-performance sales funnels. The process

is safeguards merciless execution and prevents costly mistakes. The 5 steps are:

1. Identify goals

2. Outline (flow chart)

3. Structure (Evernote)

4. Copywriting

5. Design

The 5 Steps in your Sales Funnel Process

Each component feeds into the next one, and generally you?ll want to complete step 1

before you move to step 2, etc. No jumping back-and-forth between steps. Let?s run

through the high-level overview:

1. Identify goalsA sales funnel has a clear goal: take leads from point A (e.g. Facebook ads) to point B

(signup). The first step is to see where your funnel fits into the bigger picture: what

conversion rate do you need? What are their expectations? What 's the product they

sign up for?

3. Structure

2. Outline (Flow chart)With the goals in mind, create an outline of the entire sales funnel. It 's best to sketch a

flow chart that shows each step (ads, webpages, emails, content pieces, product

demos, etc.). Now try to fit each component into the bigger picture. When will the

lead understand which core value?

With the outline in hand, go one step deeper. Add another layer of detail: what 's the

structure of the landingpage / email / ebook / etc.? Always work from abstract to more

and more detail. Try to put yourself in the perspective of the lead and walk through

you whole funnel step by step.

4. CopywritingIf you did step 3 right you now know exactly what needs to go into that email. The

structure specifies exactly what you need to say. Now you just need to say it in a

compelling and clear way. That 's copywriting.

5. DesignFinally you apply the design. Design always follows copywriting (never the other way

around). This is the last step that is most detailed & least abstract. Finally you're done

and you can implement & execute your sales funnel.

You now know all the components, and how to string them together. That 's all the

theory you need to build great sales funnels. In the rest of this ebook I'll focus on

practice. First we'll discuss the core components and then I will show you 5 proven

sales funnel templates that you should start using:

1. Webinar funnel

2. Email course funnel

3. Product demo funnel

4. Freemium funnel

5. Invitation / VIP funnel

What it does

The webinar funnel remains to be one of the most profitable funnels

available. It?s a massively leveraged tool to create trust with your audience,

share great educational material and build up to a sale.

Webinar funnel1

Formula

A simple webinar funnel uses the following components:

1. Signup page to capture sign-ups for the webinar. The page sells the benefits of joining the webinar, and collects the email addresses.

2. Em ail sequence to start education, and make sure people know exactly how to join the webinar, and what they'll get out of it.

3. Webinar is the centerpiece of the funnel. A webinar (or series of webinars) provides value by educating the audience, then leads up to a sale. Webinars can be live or recorded.

4. Follow-up & recordings make sure people follow through on the call to action you offered them, and keep providing value.

5. Sales page is the closing piece of the funnel, where you collect details and users buy the paid product.

This funnel is great for products that need education & high trust. Typical

cases of companies that can benefit from this funnel:

- Educat ional product s because people need to trust you to bring more educational value in the paid products you're offering.

- Mid-Size SaaS can offer value by educating leads on certain strategies (e.g. 'how to do education-based selling', 'how to do customer support', etc. ) then sell a SaaS product that 's optimized for using that strategy.

- Services & consult ancy

Mindtricks

- Always record your webinars, even if they are live. You can often use parts to answer FAQ on your website for instance.

- It 's worth investing in the right tools: a good microphone and reliable webinar software are required. Don't skim on those (minor) expenses.

- A great way to learn is to join other webinar funnels and analyze what the experts are doing.

Rules

Examples

- Internet marketers pioneered this funnel and remain the undisputed masters. Experts to study are: Neil Patel, Eben Pagan or Ramit Sethi.

- Email marketing tool ConvertKit provides a great example of a mid-size SaaS that uses webinars with great success.

What it does

An email course funnel is another great way of winning trust from your

costumers by providing free educational content. Additionally, email courses

work great because you engage & provide value to your audience repeatedly

over a longer period of time.

Email course funnel 2

FormulaA simple funnel uses the following components:

1. Signup page where you outline what 's in the course.2. ?Mot ivat ional speech? em ail to encourage people to commit to the

course and execute the 'homework' you give them so they get results.3. Educat ional em ails are the meat of the funnel. Each email teaches a

core lesson. Lessons should be clear, simple & actionable. Use 3-12 lessons in the course.

4. Up-sell sequence to gradually introduce people to the paid offering and build up to a purchase.

5. Bonus m at er ials to over deliver and keep the conversation alive.

Mindtricks- Include a small footnote in your emails that links to your paid products.

This is subtle, but can work wonders. - Use email marketing after they finish the course to keep the list alive. If

they use some of the skills they learned later, they will still remember and buy your (full) product.

- Keep the emails enjoyable and full of content, but not to much!- Try to tell one story throughout the whole course.

Examples- Design for Hackers is an email course on design fundamentals.- Summer of Marketing is an email course by Noah Kagan on marketing

essentials for startups. - Growthcasts. Chances are that you're reading this because you

followed our very own email course as a starter!

What it does

Enables your costumer to see & try your product before they have to buy it.

This is a great funnel for SaaS & enterprise products, and combines well with

the Lead Gen Engine.

Product Demofunnel3

Formula

OPTION A: PULL

1. Websit e or landing page that explains the product and offers a CTA to either "get an invitation to the demo" or download some valuable lead magnet.

2. Download whit e-paper or other lead magnet that gets people to give you their email address.

3. Em ail sequence t o schedule dem o. You lead gen reps reach out and try to schedule a product demo.

4. Dem o. A sales rep (or you, the founder) jumps on the call to demo the product, and sell the software.

5. Follow-up & closing are essential to complete the sale.

- Leansites - Doesn't exist yet, but will be a great product demo- KISSmetrics - a premium analytics tool, with a very experienced sales

team- Ent erpr ise product s - any company that uses 'get in touch' as a pricing

option basically uses this funnel to convert users.

Mindtricks

Examples

- Great for complex software products, such as Enterprise SaaS.- A simple change makes this into the ideal Consultancy Funnel: your

demo becomes a ?free consultancy? module.- Make sure the expected Lifetime Value per user is high enough that

you can afford the sales team needed to effectively execute this funnel.

OPTION B: PUSH

1. Cold out reach using the lead gen engine to get in front of cold prospects. See the Lead Gen Engine ebook & episodes for more details.

2. Websit e or landing page to give an overview of the product, and sell the product. There doesn't need to be a strong CTA, since prospects can just reply to your email.

3. Follow-ups t o schedule dem o. From this step onwards the flow is the same as Option A (pull) flow.

4. Dem o5. Follow-up & closing

What it does

Freemium allows users to experience the entire product before committing.

But above all freemium is a marketing strategy: it is an extreme version of the

product demo funnel.

Freemium funnel4

Formula

1. Free product is the 'free' part of Freemium. Users can sign up for free and start using the product, start building, and start getting value.

2. Addict ion & product lock-ins are the Key to freemium: make sure your users can no longer live without your product, and it 's hard to leave. Then move on to step 3...

3. Predict able pay wall is the point where users miss something (more data points / users / functionality) and they need to upgrade.

4. Upsell / upgrade is the point where free users become paying users.

- Evernote - Offers a consumer product with a generous free offering. It also provides premium features at a monthly subscription.

- MailChimp - The quintessential freemium example. Started paid-only and moved to freemium as an ?icing on the cake? to light their model on fire.

- Mixpanel - Offers a free trial that?s expanded if you embed the Mixpanel widget on your site. This the the main marketing approach for Mixpanel, and it works incredibly well.

- Heroine dealers - are the pioneers of the freemium model: you can always get started for free, get addicted and move to the 'premium plan'. Technically this is a 'free trial' rather than 'freemium', but it 's a powerful metaphor to understand the power of this funnel.

Rules

Examples

- It 's great for SaaS products, especially if they become unmissable quickly

- Freemium works well as a marketing strategy if there?s something intrinsically embeddable / sharable in the product: Mixpanel, MailChimp, etc.

- Consider whether you need freemium, or rather a free trial model. It depends on the addiction & lock-ins: you can (or can't) build. If your product builds strong lock-ins & dependencies over time it 's wise to use freemium. Otherwise use free trials.

- You need to know your unit economics. Many famous freemium services (e.g. MailChimp) started with a paid-only model and only moved to freemium much later. Only use freemium when you're sure it will work.

Mindtricks

What it doesThe VIP funnel exploits the social triggers of a waiting list: people need to get

an invite to be able to 'join the club'. Works great because it drives desire.

Invitat ion or VIP funnel5

Formula1. Landing page with the core concept and the CTA to ?Get your invitation?2. Viralit y m echanics (optional) ? encourage users to share and invite

friends. This can be used throughout the funnel.3. Invit at ion ? users receive an invitation to sign up. A special moment

indeed!4. Sales page ? to give all the additional info needed to convert leads into

paying customers.

- BidSketch uses this funnel to bring freelancers on board their SaaS tool- Edgar uses an invite-based funnel to capture email leads early, then

moves quickly to bring you to the purchase.- Mint.com (pre-launch) famously built an email list that was bigger

than all their competitors' combined when they launched their product.- Harrys (pre-launch) had massive success driving virality with this

funnel during pre-launch and catapulted their own success.

Rules

Examples

- This funnel is great for a pre-launch campaigns. - It 's low commitment & super easy to set up! This is a great funnel to get

started for low-fidelity MVPs. (more on that in the 'advanced lean startup' chapter)

- This funnel works exceptionally well for all sorts of businesses!

- Build virality mechanics in the tool to drive viral growth. Encourage people to share your product to get earlier access, unlock rewards or earn karma points with their friends.

- Build desire & demand before you send the invitation. Send people updates (e.g. via email) and get them all pumped up before you open the gates for them.

- A fully tweaked & optimised VIP funnel can turn the buying experience from something slow and leisurely into something urgent, addictive, competitive & exciting. That rush is exactly the rush that virality can be build upon.

Mindtricks

The sales architectWith new knowledge about sales funnels at your fingertips you've now set the first steps to become a sales architect: someone who can approach selling like a science rather than an art.

You're on a path to becoming a growth hacker and a better entrepreneur. You're quickly becoming that person who can drive sales no matter what.

If you're convinced that you always want to be able to systematically drive sales you might want to take a deep dive into Growthcasts' Copywr it ing Track . It 's the single most reliable path to copywriting mastery and unlocking your inner sales instincts.

Video episodes, ebooks, templates and other resources will take your growth marketing skills leaps ahead. You can find an overview of that track's content on the next page.

Cheers, and to happy onboarding,

Piet er Moorm anCEO @Growthcasts