Sales Made Simple: Map Out Your Feel-Good Sales & Marketing Flow
When you think of a sales funnels do you automatically think of sneaky sales tactics, cookie-cutter marketing methods or flashing “Buy Now” buttons?
What if I told you that a sales funnel is simply an intentional process of guiding your prospective customers and clients on a journey?
The journey of discovering you exist, understanding the value you have to offer, deciding whether or not your product or service can fulfill a want or need of theirs and then making it easy for them to take the next step of working with you or buying from you if they so choose.
Not so bad, right?
When it comes to sales funnels it’s actually much less about YOU and your business and much more about making things as easy and streamlined as possible for your potential customers and clients to make the right choice for THEM.
In this post we’re going to talk about:
What a customer journey is and why you need one.
An in-depth overview of “The Feel-Good Sales & Marketing Flow” along with EXACT tips and examples on how to implement each aspect.
A simple outline for putting it all together and mapping our your own feel-good sales & marketing flow.
The #1 mistake I see people make when creating content and how to avoid it.
Intentional = Effective.
One of the most efficient, effective and simple ways to do market your business is by mapping out a clear customer journey, which is essentially the process that someone goes through from first becoming aware that you and your business exist all the way through to deciding and taking action to work with you or buy from you.
I teach my clients how to easily map out their customer journeys using my signature method “The Feel-Good Sales and Marketing Flow”, which I’m going to break down for you in this post.
The Feel-Good Sales and Marketing Flow
The Feel-Good Sales & Marketing Flow is a simple framework for sharing and spreading the word about what you do to help you attract and convert dream customers and clients.
We achieve this by gently and strategically guiding people on a journey (the customer journey) of discovering you exist, to connecting with you and what you do, to understanding how your offer fulfills their wants/needs and then inviting them to take action to work with you or buy from you - all the while staying true to yourself and your values.
The intentions behind The Feel-Good Sales and Marketing Flow are to help you create content that:
Is purposeful, strategic and provides a return on your efforts.
Is ethical and aligned with your core values (no sleazy sales tactics here!)
Is authentic to what comes naturally to you so you can sustain it.
The Flow consists of 5 key areas which serve as the “purpose” behind the content that you create:
Discovery
Connection
Consideration
Action
Nurture
By creating content that consistently touches on these different areas you’ll strategically guide people from discovering you exist all the way through to taking action to work with you or buy from you.
Let’s dive deeper into each area along with some specific examples.
1. Discovery:
What it is:
Discovery is the phase when someone first becomes aware that you and your business exist and shows interest in what you do.
This could be as a result of discovering your Instagram profile, landing on your website, listening to you on a podcast or even receiving a word-of-mouth referral from a friend.
How to implement it:
Figure out where your dream customers and clients (aka: your target demographic) “hang out” and make it a point to show up and have a presence in those spaces (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.)
Examples:
Connect and engage with likeminded social media accounts (like, comment, reply to stories, repost).
Create a social media presence that clearly conveys who you are, what you do and how you help so that when people “land” on your social media they want to stick around (aka: follow you).
Apply and pitch yourself as a guest speaker to podcasts in your industry.
Fine-tune your SEO to increase your search results.
Implement a reward program to encourage and thank people who share referrals.
Seek out networking events that resonate with you.
Create a lead magnet to grow your email list and share it across various platforms.
2. Connection:
What it is:
Connection is when you begin to establish “the know, like and trust factor” with your audience and they start to feel more connected to you and what you do.
How to implement it:
Building “the know, like and trust factor” is often established by pulling back the curtain and allowing people to get to know the person behind the business - hence the saying “people do business with people they know, like and trust”.
This is where it’s important to get clear on your “why”, your core values and establish consistent content pillars so you can share easily and authentically.
Examples:
Share your story and why you do what you do.
Highlight your values, ethics and ethos.
Showcase aspects of your personality and what it’s like to be in your orbit.
Educate and share value that others can benefit from and experience “mini wins”.
Engage and entertain in ways that feel natural to you.
3. Consideration:
What it is:
Consideration is when someone is deciding whether or not to work with you or buy from you versus other options that may be available to them.
How to implement it:
Position yourself as the go-to in your industry by showcasing your expertise, skills and social proof demonstrating how others have benefitted from working with you or buying from you.
Examples:
Focus on the benefits of what you offer and not just the features.
Highlight your qualifications such as: personal experience, passion, practice, research, education.
Demonstrate your knowledge through education, modelling what you do, behind-the-scenes, etc.
Showcase what makes you and your work or process different.
Share social proof such as testimonials, case studies, user generated content, screenshots, before/afters (and always ensure that you obtain permission first).
4. Action:
What it is:
Action is when someone takes the step to work with you or buy from you.
How to implement it:
In order for someone to take action to work with you or buy from you it’s important to make the transaction process as simple, streamlined and obvious as possible.
Examples:
Implement a simple, streamlined and obvious checkout or booking process - the fewer steps the better.
Audit your own social media and website - is it obvious what you offer and how people can access it?
Have clear and distinct options.
Consistently let people know what you offer and how they can work with you or buy from you.
Incentivize people to take action if appropriate and aligned (new customer discount, etc.)
5. Nurture:
What it is:
Nurture is the process of showing appreciation, serving and retaining your existing clients.
How to implement it:
Once a customer or client has actually taken the step to buy from you or work with you it's important to not only deliver on your promise, but to provide an exceptional product and/or experience that shows how much you appreciate their business and encourages them to come back for more.
Also important to remember: it's often said that it costs 5-times more to acquire a new customer or client than to retain an existing one.
Examples:
Create a smooth and intentionally curated onboarding process, for example: include a Client Welcome Guide, use a CRM platform, schedule a kick-off meeting.
The same goes for off-boarding; schedule a wrap-up call, outline their next steps and thank them for their business.
Provide thoughtful product packaging, a hand-written thank you note and/or a small surprise-and-delight gift.
Outline clear communication guidelines and schedule regular check-ins with clients.
Design retention incentives, such as a % off their next order or service if they re-purchase or re-schedule.
Let’s put it all together.
When you’re looking at all of the different parts individually it can seem like A LOT, but let’s not overcomplicate it.
Here’s an example of a simple sales & marketing flow utilizing Instagram and an email list:
Discover: Actively connect with and support IG accounts that align with you and your business.
Connection: Share valuable and entertaining posts to attract new followers, actively engage with your IG community and share a link to your value-based freebie (aka: lead magnet/opt-in) to grow your email list.
Consideration: Educate, entertain and engage with your email list through a strategic 5-email welcome sequence.
Action: Present an offer along with an incentive or promotion to take action.
Nurture: Continue to consistently nurture and connect with your list through regular emails following the 80/20 rule: 80% value/entertainment and 20% sales.
Review your own sales & marketing flow.
Now that you have a solid breakdown of the Feel-Good Sales & Marketing Flow, I encourage you to go through your content channels (website, social media, emails, etc.) and determine whether or not you’re touching on each of those 5 points.
For example, I oftentimes see people create really great “top of funnel” content to attract new leads, but they neglect the “bottom of funnel” content that actually converts them into customers and clients but can’t figure out why they’re not making more sales.
Looking for an outside perspective or feeling called to revamp your sales & marketing flow? Here are some ways I can help:
The Feel-Good Sales + Marketing Flow Workshop (complete with video, handouts and worksheets!)
Irresistible Instagram 1-1 business mentorship package.
Kick-Start Your Email Marketing 1-1 business mentorship package.
Not sure which option is best for you? Book a Free Clarity Session and we can have a zero-pressure, no-strings-attached chat about where you’re at and what you may need.