Sales Funnel Planner

The purpose of a sales funnel 

Ask any marketing professional, and they’ll tell you it’s far more expensive to convert a new customer than to increase the value of an existing client. 

Here’s something else the most successful business owners know: The customer who has purchased recently is much more likely to purchase again—even if “recently” was only 10 minutes ago. That’s why upsells and downsells are so prevalent in every purchasing flow, from Amazon to Zappos. 

And that’s exactly what your sales funnel is designed to do:

• To increase the value of your average customer by strategically offering additional or related products
• To make the right offer at the right time (creating a “no-brainer” sale your clients can’t resist)
• To make the most of every tool and strategy at your disposal

You very likely already have a sales funnel in place. In fact, if you’re selling anything online, I can guarantee you do have a funnel—but unless you’ve designed it with some specific goals in place, it’s probably not doing its best work for you. 

The best sales funnels lead naturally from one product to the next, just as your free funnels lead from low-commitment to increasingly higher-commitment offers. The main difference is that free funnels end when a sale is made. In a sales funnel, the goal is to create more sales from a single client, thereby increasing the average value of every single sale. 

Step 1: Product Inventory & Categorisation

Your sales funnel will not work well if you offer random product after product. Think about what happens when you visit Amazon to buy a coffee maker. As you browse, Amazon shows you items that are “frequently bought together” and those that “Customers who bought this item also bought.” 

Helpful for you? Yes. Helpful to Amazon’s bottom line? Definitely. But it would be neither if Amazon is showing you electric razors, cell phone cases, and diaper bags while you’re shopping for coffee makers. 

The key to increasing the average sale value is carefully choosing which products and services make sense when presenting them. 

That means you must know your available inventory/product/packages and offers before building practical and logical sales funnels. Think of it as designing a storefront. Without knowing exactly what products you’re selling, building the window displays will be nearly impossible. 

The same is true for your sales funnels. Setting up a funnel will be tricky unless you know what you’re selling. 

An excellent sales funnel considers all levels of products (all price points) and all the steps your ideal client might take in their journey. For example, a business coach might have products ranging from £97 to £9,997 or more. They may range from beginner-level courses to platinum-level private coaching or focus exclusively on beginner, intermediate, or advanced strategies. 

In fact, many successful online businesses actually make use of several small funnels that all feed into one giant, overarching funnel. We’ll talk more about this strategy in Step 7, but for now, you’ll want to begin picturing in your mind how your products lead from one to another. Think of it this way: When you go to college, you cannot simply jump right into a calculus class without first studying algebra. 

The same is true if you have multiple levels of products or programs in your funnel. For a business coach, that might mean you have a beginning course about email marketing and an advanced course about list building. The second will not be very helpful until a client fully understands the first. 

You probably already have a good idea of which courses or products fit together naturally. You may have even created them in that order based on feedback you received from previous offers. 

If your business evolved more organically, you may have a mix of unrelated products. If that’s the case, then an excellent place to start is to categorise your business according to simply:

• The level your clients are currently at (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
• The types of training you offer

Exercise: Inventory and Categorise

My products appeal most to customers at these levels:

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced

My training categories include:

• ________________________________________________
• ________________________________________________
• ________________________________________________
• ________________________________________________

Product Name	Price	Level	Category

Step 2: Fill in the Holes 

Now that you have a high-level overview of your products and who they might appeal to, it’s time to fill in the blanks—and unless you’ve been systematically building a funnel for a very long time, there will be holes. 

Simply put, a hole is this: A lack of a product or program to fill your client’s needs at a specific place in your funnel. 

For example, if you’re coaching clients on how to use social media to build a brand following, and you have courses about Facebook groups, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, then the apparent holes in your funnel are LinkedIn and YouTube, and possibly others. Looking at your products from another direction, if you have existing products in the beginner space but nothing for intermediate or advanced clients, that may also be a hole to fill. 

One crucial way to identify holes in your offers is to listen to what your market tells you. If your clients frequently ask for help in a specific area, that’s a great candidate for a new program. Likewise, if you’re referring clients to other coaches or training, there is a need that deserves exploring. 

Just because you have a hole doesn’t mean you must create an entirely new program. Doing so might have you stuck on this step for weeks or even months! 

Instead, intelligent coaches look at their existing content for ideas:

• Can you bundle two or more small programs together to make one fantastic offer? 
• Can you update a retired product with new information? 
• Can you repurpose previously created content, such as audio or video training, workbooks, or even blog posts? 

Keep in mind that not all holes need to be filled. You know your ideal client, and if she’s beyond the beginner stage, then there’s no point in wasting your time and talents creating training for an audience you do not serve. 

Exercise: Plan to Fill the Holes

Create a list of your existing products, their price points and who they serve. By laying out precisely what you have on offer now, you will quickly see where opportunities exist—or even where you might combine two or more beginner programs into a more advanced offer. 

It can be helpful, too, to organize this list in several ways. Sort by price to find the holes in your low- or high-end offers. Sort by category to find what’s lacking in different areas. Or sort by audience to see where you can reach a broader market. 

Existing Products	Price	Market/Audience	Category

Step 3: All Roads Lead To Rome 

Ask yourself this question: What problem do I solve for my clients? 

Now, you might solve lots of problems, from how to build a website to how to run a Facebook ad, but you also have one overarching purpose for your business. This is the basis for your highest-level coaching program, and it’s the question you should consider as you build out your funnel. 

Because here’s the thing: the ultimate goal for every funnel you build is to sell that program. 

For example, if your top-level coaching program is a 12-month, high-touch VIP group for bloggers transitioning into product creation, then your funnel might look like this:

Step 1: A £97 workshop teaching how to develop a product in a weekend using content they already have.

Step 2: A £497 multi-module training program designed to turn multiple products into a membership/continuity program

Step 3: A 16-week group coaching program to help members focus their branding and message to attract their ideal clients. 

At each step along the way, you should be able to say, “This program relates directly to the primary problem I help my clients solve.” 

If, on the other hand, your funnel is filled with products that teach how to run a webinar or how to manage your bookkeeping, then you may have a disconnect, as those trainings do not lead naturally to the ultimate goal. 

Exercise: Make the Connection

What’s missing in your overall funnel?

Product Type	Price Point (low/med/high)	Level	Category

Step 4: Upsells and Downsells 

Whew! So now that we’ve dug deep into your product and package offers and we can clearly see how each one leads to the next and, ultimately, to your top-level coaching program, it’s time to work out the logistics of actually making the sale. 

We’re assuming here that you already have a plan in place for marketing and selling your existing products. If you need help with creating a course, signature system or identifying your product offering, feel free to get in touch, and we can have a conversation about whats possible for you.

With the sales process foundation firmly in place, it’s time to make the most out of every lead, and one powerful technique is the strategic use of upsells and downsells. 

First, a little terminology clarification:

• Upsell: An offer presented immediately following a sale. Typically, an upsell is offered after the buy button is clicked but before a credit card is charged, which makes the decision easier for the buyer (no need to enter credit card info twice). An upsell will almost always be more expensive than the original purchase and is generally a natural add-on (although not a necessity). For example, a £97 DIY training course might have a £297 group coaching upsell. 
• Downsell: An offer is presented when the upsell is refused. Like an upsell, the down-sell is offered after the buy button is clicked but before the checkout is completed. Unlike an upsell, though, the down-sell is generally a lower-value product. In the example above, if the £297 group coaching upsell is refused, the down-sell might be a bundle of video replays of the previous group calls for £47. The content is still highly related to the original product, but again, it is not a necessity. 

These upsells and downsells are all offered at the point of purchase. In later steps we’ll talk more about other ways to offer upsells and downsells, but for now we’re focusing on the actual funnel pages. 

It is possible to make more upsell and downsell offers. In fact, you can nest several offers together, and you will see this technique in action if you purchase online products frequently. Even your hosting account and domain registrar are putting this strategy to use—sometimes to the point of annoyance!

And that’s an important point to keep in mind: Too many upsells and downsells will quickly irritate your buyers, so it’s a good idea to start with a single upsell and single downsell until you’ve tested the strategy. You can always add more steps to your funnel later. 

How your upsells and downsells are presented will largely depend on your shopping cart and/or payment processor. SalesMasterHub can easily automate the process, while other platforms will require some work on your end to set up. Look for options for “OTO” (one-time offers) or funnels in your provider’s FAQ section for complete instructions. 

If your provider does not offer automated upsells and downsells, you can easily create your funnel flow simply by linking pages together logically. 

Exercise: Plan Your Upsells and Downsells

Product	Upsell	Downsell

Step 5: Making Good Use of Your Real Estate 

Your funnel doesn’t stop working just because a sale has been made. In fact, this is where you should actually focus even more of your efforts! Remember what we said at the beginning of this planner: Clients who recently purchased are likely to purchase again—especially if they’re presented with the right offer in the right place. And in this case, the right place is on the access page for the product they’ve just purchased. 

Unlike your blog or your sales pages, your product access pages get the full attention of everyone who visits them. Not only that, but they typically visit more than once (especially in recurring memberships or for multi-module courses), and they are actively looking for assistance with their problem. 

This makes your access pages prime real estate for cross-sells, special offers, coupons and other incentives. Of course, you’ve already shown them your upsell and your down-sell, but that doesn’t mean you have nothing left to offer. 

Unlike an upsell (more of a good thing) or a down-sell (a little less of the upsell), a cross-sell is a related product that fills a specific need your customer is facing. 

For example, a client who has just purchased your training about turning blog posts into a book will likely need information on how to market her book soon. Your book marketing training is the perfect cross-sell for her, and the ideal place to present it is on the access page for the product she’s already purchased. That way, she’ll see it every time she logs in, and it will be ready and waiting for her right when she needs it. 

Coupons and special offers are another great option for your access pages because they make your existing clients feel as if they have access to exclusive deals (they do) and lets face it, we’re all human, and we all like to feel special. 

Even better—and depending on your delivery platform—is making offers based on what your customers have already purchased. So rather than showing all members the same £20 coupon for the same training (that they may already have) you can customize the offer only to include products they don’t already own. 

This kind of cross-selling is typically only available in high-end carts and memberships such as Infusionsoft, Access Ally, Clickfunnels and the like, but it’s a powerful technique that can work to increase the value of every customer dramatically—and your value to them as well. 

Exercise: Create Your Cross-Sells & Special Offers

Main Product	Related Product	Special Offer Coupon or Bonus

Step 6: Planning Your Email Sequence 

Smart, successful coaches know that the emails don’t end when the purchase is made. Instead, they use follow-up emails to ensure customers use (and love) the purchased training. 

We’ve all known people who buy course after course and never bother downloading or studying the materials. Maybe you’re guilty of doing the same. 

As a course creator, you could look at that and say, “Well, not my problem if they don’t take the time to use what they paid for.” And that’s just what many people do say. The problem with that attitude is this: Your buyers will never discover just how awesome your training is, and they will never graduate to the next level of courses you offer if they don’t make use of the ones they’ve already purchased. 

And that’s where your follow-up email sequence comes in. It’s the perfect vehicle to encourage consumption of any course, with: 

• Reminders to log in as new content is released (“Welcome to Module 3! In this lesson, you’ll learn…”)
• Additional tips related to the content (“On page 45 I shared how to use images in your Facebook ads to encourage clicks, but here’s another method that works really well…”)
• Case studies from previous students (“In module 2 you studied Pinterest marketing, and I thought you’d like to hear how Clarice used these same techniques to grow her mailing list by more than 3,000 subscribers…”)
• Encouragement to share their results or join a conversation in your private Facebook group (“In the group, Susan is looking for help to zero in on her message. Click here to share your thoughts…”)
• Unannounced bonuses to help your customers do even more with their training (“Hey we’ve had lots of questions about how to create infographics for your blog, so I thought I’d make you a video showing exactly how I do it…”)

The point of all of this is to keep your buyers involved and to encourage them to open every email you send, and that’s because your email follow-up sequence is an ideal place for additional, related offers—not only yours but those of your colleagues and JV partners as well. 

There are likely plenty of related products and services you could be promoting as an affiliate throughout your sales funnel, and we’ll dig into that a little deeper in the next steps. 

Exercise: Plan Your Follow-Up Sequence

Day	Email Purpose	Notes
1	Product delivery/access details
3	Unannounced bonus
6	Check in with a tip
10	Case study + cross sell offer
14	Community building/encouragement
17	Related product offer
21	Reminder to download
24	Affiliate Offer

Step 7: Behavior-Based Sequences 

If you’re still sending the same emails to everyone on your list—regardless of how they react to your offers—then you’re definitely leaving money on the table. Time to rethink your email strategies to:

• Present the exact right offer at the right time
• Stop annoying buyers with sales messages they don’t need or want
• Avoid wasting money sending unnecessary emails
• Add more of a personal touch by meeting your subscribers right where they are in the process

Behaviour-based follow-up sequences come in several forms, each with a unique purpose and call to action. For example, you might create:

• An objections and FAQ sequence for those visiting your sales page but not buying. (Combine this with Facebook retargeting ads for a powerful sales machine that will run on autopilot.)
• An abandoned cart sequence for those who click the buy button but fail to complete the sale. 
• An upsell sequence for those who buy but decline the upsell.

All of these sequences can be triggered using a script inserted into your sales, checkout and thank you pages and then connected to your email autoresponder service. From there it’s a simple matter to move subscribers from one campaign or sequence to another, based only on their actions. 

Behaviour-based email follow-ups are also ideal for promoting affiliate offers. For example, if your subscriber has clicked through to your sales page but didn’t buy, it could be because your course isn’t quite what she need right now. Chances are there are similar courses that may be a better fit for her, and she’d appreciate you sharing the options with her. 

Worried that promoting a competitor might take a bite out of your bottom line? Don’t be. If a subscriber isn’t buying your product, but does buy from your competitor, there’s a good chance she’s just not a fit for you. It’s not personal, and it says nothing about the value you offer your clients, it’s simply a matter of whose personality and style resonates with a buyer. 

Exercise: Plan Your Behavior-Based Follow-Ups

Abandoned Cart Follow-Ups

Day	Email Purpose	Notes
1	Remind them of the cart link
2	Answer potential objections
4	FAQs
6	Case study

Upsell Sequence

Day	Email Purpose	Notes
1	Get more from your purchase (tips)
2	FAQs
4	Case Study
6	Lite offer (similar, but lower cost product)

No Sale Sequence

Day	Email Purpose	Notes
1	Remind them of the sales page link/deadline
2	Answer potential objections
4	FAQs
6	Final reminder/price going up/cart closing

Step 8: More Prime Promotional Space 

The fact is there are lots and lots of places you can make offers to beef up your sales funnel and keep the cash flowing. We’ve already covered several in the previous steps, but I want to encourage you to think strategically at every step along the way, from product planning to marketing to delivery and beyond. 

Simply asking yourself, “What do my clients need to complete this step?” will kickstart the process. For example, if your multi-module training has a section about using infographics to generate traffic to a blog post, then you’re doing your customers a disservice if you don’t also offer resources for:

• Vector graphics
• Graphic designers
• Data compilation
• Software and apps to create infographics
• Advanced courses to learn more

And you’d be doing yourself and your business a disservice if you don’t use an affiliate link where appropriate. 

Many coaches and product creators make the mistake of thinking that because they charge for a product, they should avoid including anything even slightly promotional inside. In reality, that could not be further from the truth, and here’s why:

By including promotional (including paid affiliate links) inside your products, you are helping to defer the cost for your customers. 

Think about it. Not only are you providing your customers with the information they need—and that they depend on you to provide—but you’re also helping to reduce the cost of the training itself, knowing that you’ll make up the difference in affiliate sales. 

Of course, it goes without saying that your promotions should be limited to only those products and services that genuinely add value to your training, and which are the best choice for your customers. Your integrity is far more valuable than any affiliate sale, so never promote a program you would not, as Nicole Dean says, “recommend to your sister (who you love).”

So, with those guidelines in place, always ask yourself, “What else will make my customers’ lives easier and add value to this training?” Then share it with them. 

Exercise: Plan Your Related Products Offer

Main Product	Affiliate Product	Your Link

Exercise: Create a Resource Guide

A resource guide is a short (one or two page) printable resource your clients and customers can use as a reference when shopping for tools and training. Resource guides are commonly used as opt-in incentives, but they also make a fantastic bonus addition to a paid product, and will help your buyers make better use of the information you’re providing. 

Resource or Tool	Purpose/Blurb	Your Link