Flipping Funnels

MakingBank: S3E28 with John Lee Dumas

What is a funnel? We’ve been talking about them consistently for a while now, but I think we take for granted how complicated a relatively simple idea can be.

At its most basic level, a funnel is the journey a consumer takes online through an advertising or search system, that ideally converts to an e-commerce sale.

You see a Facebook ad, you click on it, it takes you to a secondary landing page where you are often prompted to provide your email in exchange for special offers/free materials, then you continue to the site where you eventually purchase some sort of product—There are, of course, many other levels that can be added for optimization in terms of SEO, click-through rate, and conversion, but that is the gist.

When John talks about flipping funnels, and why he’s seen such steady increasing success from Entrepreneurs on Fire, it is because he’s taken that traditional straight across-straight down funnel and inverted the process. He asked, “How am I going to first funnel up by building the audience the right way, so then when I flip it the consumer will be willing to go to the next, second step.”

His theory is that when you build an audience of people who know and trust you—when you’ve added value to their lives, they are far more willing to go down that very obvious consumer funnel and purchase something. A small number of them will even become dedicated consumers and evangelists of your product.

You flip the funnel in 3 Steps: Influence, Avatar, Content. 

• Influence: Start with an idea that you not only are passionate about, but that you are the authority on.
  • Ask how you can combine both your passion and your skill set to add value to people’s lives.
  • Initiate something that’s unique and personal to you.
• Avatar: Identify your perfect client
  • If you have a question about the direction to take your business, this is the person you go to.
  • Reach out on an individual basis. It is time consuming, but the information you receive is paramount and will eventually become scalable.
  • Questions to keep in mind:
    • How did you hear about me?
    • What do you do?
    • What do you need?

• Content: Create content in direct relation to that Avatar and the information they provided.
  • This is where Facebook, Instagram, and podcasting can help you build, reach, and grow your audience.
  • Video content is your friend.
  • Whatever you do, do it consistently—engage, engage, engage!

When you follow this strategy, you’ve built your audience from personal one-on-one contact and you’ve delivered free, tailored, consistent content for a long time. Now people are willing to take the traditional funnel journey to an obvious purchasing platform, because you’ve listened and met their needs, they have a relationship with you, they’re a part of your community, and they believe in what you’re offering.

For more fantastic insight from John, engage in his funnel by heading to www.EOFire.com where you can check out loads of free courses (including one on funnels), take Webinars, learn about his incredible goal setting Freedom, Mastery, and Podcast Journals as well as listen to his daily podcast…and find out how much money he makes (it’s a lot).