The funnel concept is a great way to visualize your business when you sell your knowledge over the internet. Understanding it shows you the strategy to make money on the internet.
Have you ever seen a funnel before? If so, you know that it has a large opening at the top and a small opening at the bottom. You can fit a lot of items into the top of the funnel. However, only a small amount of items can fit into the bottom of the funnel. This is because the bottom is tighter and has a limited amount of space available.
When you are running a real online business your product portfolio should look the exact same way. At the top of your portfolio should be free offers that people can obtain with no strings attached. A perfect example is a free article you write on a blog. As you continue on through your portfolio, you should require more but offer better value. You might offer a free report in exchange for an email address. You then offer a $10 report, a $50 book, a $100 training program and so on.
By having a number of products at different price points, you give your customers high quality information that they can use. What this does is build trust in you and makes them more willing to spend even more money with you. As they progress through your marketing funnel, it becomes more difficult because the price point creates more friction and hesitance. A higher price point requires a deeper level of commitment.
As a result, it is important that you take the time to build confidence in you in the mind of your customers. You need to demonstrate to them through your marketing process when you sell your knowledge that you care about them and not just their money. The key to these online business opportunities is to build trust in the mind of your customers. This will help them to understand your message and they eventually become promoters of your message, which is how you find affiliates.
This is exactly how the funnel works in your internet marketing business. As you begin your real online business, your main focus is to find something to sell. If you can do that, you know you can make money. That being said, the business owners who recognize this process will make more money and will have more customers doing higher value transactions with them because of this. As the needs of their customer, they are able to meet those needs.
By focusing your efforts on providing value, you will build up the level of trust that your customers are willing to invest in you. Your product portfolio funnel should illustrate this by including escalating values of products with escalating price points. Now you should not expect to have this coming out of the gate. However, you do want to have this as something that you can shoot for and build towards, because it is absolutely essential if you want to build a big business when you sell your knowledge.
_____________________
Copyright Stephen Beck, 2009
You have permission to reprint this article, as long as you don’t make any changes and include the bio below.
Stephen Beck teaches families how to start an ebook business. Go get his 3 free videos at http://www.8weekstoprofits.com so your family can begin today.
Related Articles
2 users responded in this post
Sounds like you wrote that entry just for me. That’s what I’m really trying to focus on now – creating the entry level products that allow me to build trust with new customers that don’t know me. Customers that attend live events are easy to sell, it’s those that are “testing the waters” that I need to focus on. I’m really looking forward to working with you on the new program. There is alot to absorb, and I just need to take it one small peice at a time. Thanks for a great presentation this weekend Steve. You did an OUTSTANDING JOB! Talk soon – Todd
Thanks again for your kind words. I look forward to working together in the future and especially seeing what webinars you offer this summer!
Leave A Reply