You may have heard about the marketing funnel before. There are lots of variations, and I want to cover it in a way that helps us examine our mix of products, services, and prices.
The funnel can be pictured like a big “V.” At the top, wide-open part, there are a lot of prospects interested in your services and products. At the bottom, narrow part, there are a few select customers who buy the most from you.
Near the top, you will have all of your lowest-cost offerings, perhaps those under $1,000. In the middle, your medium-priced products and services will be positioned, and at the narrow bottom, you will have your most expensive offerings.
The funnel is a fairly simple concept; however, we can glean quite a bit if we ask ourselves these questions:
Where is your funnel empty?
If you have any places in your funnel that don’t have products or services, then you have opportunities. For example, if you don’t have any high-end services, then you’re likely missing out on some easy high-dollar sales. At least a few of your best clients will want the top offering you have, so your action item is to develop a high-end product.
If you don’t have any products in the middle, then you might be having trouble getting clients to make the leap between your low-end offerings and your high-end ones. Your action item is to create some medium-priced products or services.
If you don’t have any products at the top, then you want to develop some so people can sample you at a lower cost (and therefore, lower risk).
Do you have some free offerings at the top?
The biggest challenge in getting new clients these days is building their trust. You can more easily do that if you allow prospects to sample you for free. This could be in the form of a free report, free consultation, free newsletter, or more. The goal here is to remove the risk from a prospect seeing what you are like to work with. Your action item here is to develop something you can provide for free.
Do you only offer hourly services and find yourself scratching your head about this whole funnel thing?
If the only way you price is hourly, then you really only have one thing to put in the funnel, and that’s your hourly rate. You have the biggest opportunity of all: to develop some packages and products to fill all the holes in your funnel and to provide you with a competitive edge.
Take a look at your own marketing funnel to see where the opportunities lie for you.
Want to learn more about marketing opportunities from Sandi Smith Leyva? She will be presenting a free webinar with Insightful Accountant on May 1. Click here to learn more about it and how to register.
Sandi Leyva
Author Bio: Sandi Leyva, CPA, CMA, MBA, and founder of Accountant’s Accelerator, has helped thousands of tax and accounting professionals earn more, work less, and serve their clients better through her innovative marketing, training, and coaching services. Author of 30 books and hundreds of CPE courses, Sandi has won 12 awards for her thought leadership. Visit her at accountantsaccelerator.com and acceleratorwebsites.com.