Goodbye Sales Funnel - Hello Hybrid Funnel

Summary

The transcript emphasizes the importance of minimizing customer acquisition costs in B2B to maximize margins and growth. It introduces sales funnels as a strategy to increase efficiency and reduce costs, explaining their role in guiding prospects from discovery to closing. The speaker shares practical tips for creating effective funnels, highlighting the need for smoothness, qualification, and speed. They also stress the significance of trust in B2B sales, using a personal example of a cold email campaign to illustrate how addressing pain points and building credibility can lead to successful sales.

Takeaways

• 🎯 Reducing customer acquisition cost (CAC) is crucial for maximizing margins and reinvesting in business growth.
• 🚀 A well-optimized sales funnel can significantly increase return on investment (ROI) and efficiency.
• 🍽️ Using sales funnels is akin to a chef using a funnel to fill bottles with sauce, minimizing waste and maximizing output.
• 📈 Lowering CAC allows for more customers to be acquired faster, thus increasing overall revenue.
• 🔄 Sales funnels are a series of steps that prospects go through from discovery to closing.
• 🔗 A strong call to action (CTA) on platforms like LinkedIn can drive traffic to a conversion-optimized website.
• 🚫 Avoid weak CTAs that don't engage or qualify prospects, such as 'shoot me a message'.
• 📊 Three keys to a good sales funnel: smoothness, qualification of leads, and speed.
• 📈 For high-priced products, a sales funnel often involves generating demand, a conversion page, and a closing call.
• 🚀 For lower-priced products, the goal is to close leads on autopilot without the need for sales calls.
• 💡 Trust is the foundation of B2B sales; funnels aim to build trust that leads to transactions.

Q & A

What is the main challenge in B2B customer acquisition?

The main challenge in B2B customer acquisition is keeping the customer acquisition cost as low as possible to maximize margins and reinvest in business growth.

How does reducing the customer acquisition cost benefit a business?

Reducing the customer acquisition cost increases the margin per customer, allowing the business to acquire more customers faster and reinvest in further growth.

What is the significance of a sales funnel in business?

A sales funnel increases efficiency and return on investment by directing efforts precisely towards conversion, minimizing waste, and maximizing revenue with similar effort.

What are the three keys to creating an effective sales funnel?

The three keys are: 1) making the funnel smooth and fast, 2) allowing for prospect qualification to save time, and 3) ensuring the funnel is as quick as possible to increase sales velocity.

How does the price point of a product or service affect the sales funnel strategy?

For higher-priced products or services, a closing call is often necessary, while lower-priced offerings can aim for closing leads on autopilot without sales calls.

What is the ultimate goal of a sales funnel?

The ultimate goal of a sales funnel is to build trust with the prospect, convincing them of the value a product or service will bring in terms of making more money or saving time.

How can social proof be utilized in a sales funnel?

Social proof can be used in a sales funnel by mentioning well-known individuals or industry successes to establish credibility and intrigue.

What is the importance of a clear call to action in a sales funnel?

A clear call to action is crucial as it directs the prospect to the next step, ensuring they understand what is expected of them and increasing the likelihood of conversion.

How can a business measure the effectiveness of its sales funnel?

A business can measure the effectiveness of its sales funnel by tracking the conversion rate from each step to the next and analyzing the overall customer acquisition cost and margin.

What is the role of follow-ups in a sales funnel?

Follow-ups play a critical role in maximizing reply rates and keeping the prospect engaged in the sales process, leading to potential conversions.

How can businesses acquire more customers with the same effort?

By optimizing their sales funnel to be more efficient and effective, businesses can acquire more customers with the same effort by reducing customer acquisition costs and increasing margins.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Efficient B2B Client Acquisition

This paragraph discusses the challenges of customer acquisition in B2B and emphasizes the importance of keeping the customer acquisition cost (CAC) low to maximize margins and business growth. It introduces the concept of sales funnels and their role in increasing return on investment (ROI) by directing effort efficiently towards customer conversion. The example given illustrates how reducing CAC from $400 to $100 can significantly increase the potential for customer acquisition. The paragraph also outlines the three keys to creating an effective sales funnel: ensuring it is smooth, qualifies people promptly, and is as fast as possible to maintain high sales velocity and business growth.

05:01

🚀 Building Trust Through Sales Funnels

The second paragraph delves into the specifics of building trust in B2B sales, which is crucial for converting prospects into customers. It uses a real-life example of a sales funnel designed to address the issue of no-shows in scheduled meetings. The paragraph outlines the strategy of generating demand through cold emails, highlighting the importance of addressing a relevant pain point and using social proof to establish credibility. The detailed process of crafting an effective email, including the use of intriguing subject lines, social proof, and clear call-to-action, is discussed. The paragraph concludes with the results of the strategy, which led to qualified meetings and increased sales, and offers a free resource for further learning.

Keywords

💡B2B

B2B stands for Business-to-Business, which refers to transactions or relations between companies, as opposed to Business-to-Consumer. In the context of the video, B2B is central to the discussion of client acquisition and sales strategies, emphasizing the importance of trust and efficient sales funnels in growing a business.

💡Sales Prospecting

Sales prospecting is the process of researching and identifying potential customers for a product or service. In the video, it is presented as one of the methods to generate leads in B2B, alongside advertising, and is crucial for reducing customer acquisition costs.

💡Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the expense associated with convincing a new customer to buy a product or service. It is a key metric in business, indicating how much it costs to attract each new customer. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of keeping CAC low to maximize profit margins and reinvest in business growth.

💡Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is a series of steps that a potential customer goes through from the initial awareness of a product or service to the final purchase. It is designed to guide potential customers towards a sale. In the video, the sales funnel is highlighted as a tool to increase efficiency and return on investment by directing efforts towards conversion with minimal waste.

💡Margin

Margin refers to the difference between the cost of acquiring a customer and the revenue generated from that customer. It is a critical financial metric that indicates profitability. In the video, the speaker discusses how optimizing the sales funnel can increase margins, which in turn allows for more investment in customer acquisition.

💡Conversion Page

A conversion page is a landing page designed to convert website visitors into leads or customers. It typically has a clear call to action and is optimized to encourage visitors to take a specific desired action. In the video, the speaker mentions the importance of having a conversion page that drives potential customers towards setting up a meeting, which is a step in the sales funnel.

💡Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Customer Lifetime Value, or CLV, is a prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer. It is a key metric in determining how much can be spent on acquiring a new customer. The video does not explicitly mention CLV, but the concept is implied in the discussion of customer acquisition costs and the importance of long-term profitability.

💡Lead Qualification

Lead qualification is the process of assessing whether a potential customer is a good fit for the products or services a company offers. In the video, lead qualification is emphasized as a crucial step in the sales funnel to ensure that time and resources are not wasted on prospects who are unlikely to convert.

💡Sales Velocity

Sales velocity refers to the speed at which a company is able to convert leads into customers. It is an important metric for measuring the efficiency of the sales process. The video highlights the significance of sales velocity in determining the potential for fast business growth and the ability to quickly ascertain whether a prospect will move forward with a purchase.

💡Trust

Trust is the confidence that a customer places in a business to deliver a product or service that meets their needs or expectations. In the video, trust is presented as the foundation of B2B sales, with the sales funnel's ultimate goal being to establish and build this trust to facilitate transactions.

💡Cold Email

A cold email is an unsolicited email sent to a recipient who has not previously agreed to receive communications from the sender. It is a common method used in sales prospecting to initiate contact with potential customers. In the video, cold emailing is discussed as a strategy to generate demand and is part of the sales funnel's initial steps.

Highlights

Finding clients in B2B is achievable through sales prospecting or advertising, but the key is to minimize customer acquisition cost (CAC) to maximize margins and reinvest in business growth.

Lowering CAC can significantly increase the number of customers acquired, as it raises the profit margin from each customer.

Sales funnels are crucial for efficiency, as they can amplify returns on investment with the same initial effort.

A good sales funnel directs effort efficiently, much like a chef using a funnel to fill bottles with sauce, minimizing waste.

Sales funnels consist of a series of steps that prospects go through from discovery to closing.

An effective sales funnel should be smooth, fast, and should qualify leads to save time for both the seller and the prospect.

For high-priced products or services, a sales funnel often involves generating demand, a conversion page, a meeting, and closing deals.

For lower-priced products or services, the goal is to close leads on autopilot without sales calls.

Building trust is the core of sales; funnels aim to establish trust that the product or service will deliver value.

The example of a cold email campaign targeting the 'no-show' rate for meetings is provided to illustrate an effective sales funnel.

Social proof is used effectively in the cold email campaign by mentioning a well-known figure in the industry.

The importance of a clear and direct call to action in the sales funnel is emphasized.

Follow-ups are crucial to maximize reply rates in the sales process.

A free Notion dock with various funnel templates and strategies for generating revenue is offered.

The transcript provides practical advice on building and growing a B2B business without unnecessary complexity.

The speaker shares personal experiences and strategies that have led to significant revenue generation.

The transcript emphasizes the importance of sales velocity in determining business growth.

Transcripts

no matter what you might think finding

clients in B2B is not hard if you spend

a lot of time doing sales prospecting or

if you decide to spend a lot of money on

ads you will be able to generate leads

what's really difficult is to make all

your uni Economics work essentially your

customer acquisition cost needs to be as

low as possible so you can maximize your

margins and invest more to grow your

business for example let's say that you

spend $400 to acquire one customer that

will pay you $500 it means that your

margin is $10000 and with that $100 you

won't be able to acquire another

customer since your customer acquisition

cost is $400 but now let's say that you

manage to reduce your customer

acquisition cost to $100 it means that

your margin is now $400 so technically

you could acquire a lot more customers

faster now so how exactly do you

decrease your customer acquisition cost

well that's where sales funnels come

into play a good sales funnel can 10x

your return an investment with the exact

same initial effort to illustrate it

just think of a chef using a funnel to

fill small bottles with sauce without

the funnel pouring the sauce directly

from a large pot would be inefficient

with much of its spilling and going to

waste similar to Broad unfocused efforts

but by using the funnel the same amount

of source is directed precisely into

bottles answering minimal waste and

maximum efficiency and the reason we

look at the funnel before acquiring

customers is because we don't want to

waste our effort with a good sales

funnel you will generate more Revenue

with a similar effort and with a good

sales funnel your customer acquisition

cost will be lower which mean that your

margin will be higher and when you have

higher margins it mean that you can

spend more money on customer acquisition

and therefore generate more Revenue if

you're new to sales funnels it's

essentially a series of steps your

prospect will go through from the

discovery phase to the closing phase

let's take a simple example from a

launch we did recently so here's a

LinkedIn post from with a clear call to

action from that CTA people will visit

our website which is optimized for

conversion then we will measure how many

new accounts are created through the

duplication of any template and from

there we will know the amount of paid

customers obviously that works if you

manage to create a really strong self

service and producted gross motion like

we did at lemlist because without a real

funnel that is optimized it would look

pretty much like this as you can see on

this LinkedIn post there is no real

value it's very like s hethy and

self-centered the call to action is

simply shoot me a message but there's

zero engagement so you probably had only

a few people watching that post but in

the end I highly doubt that there's

going to be any deal close from that

single post and that's because the whole

funnel is extremely weak there are three

keys to creating a good sales funnel

number one you want the funnel to be

smooth I've seen people adding calendar

links in their funnel where you can only

book 3 weeks from now that's not smooth

nor fast second you want your funnel to

allow you to qualify people time is your

most precious asset don't waste yours

and don't waste your prospect's time if

they're not a fit that should be clear

in the funnel for example if you have

something saying our pricing starts at

$10,000 per month is it a budget you're

comfortable with you know that every

single person who is not in that Target

of price will not continue and number

three you want your funnel to be as fast

as possible it's either a yes or a no

but you should know as quickly as

possible sales velocity is extremely

important as it will determine whether

or not you can grow fast so now you're

probably wondering if all sales funnels

are the same well your funnel will

depend on the price of what you're

selling most often if the price point is

above $11,000 you will have to go

through a closing call unless you have a

really strong brand and it will usually

look like something like this at first

you need to generate demand and that

usually comes with cold emails or sales

prospecting a post on LinkedIn or a

newsletter then you'll have a conversion

page page where the goal is to push

towards the meeting and from the meeting

this is where you'll need to close deals

something that most people forget is

that each step of the funnel is supposed

to sell the next step on your conversion

page you should always sell the C not

the final product or service if your

funnel is to sell a product or service

that is less than $400 your funel should

be a bit different where this time your

goal is going to be to close leads on

autopilot without having to do sales

calls exactly as I show in the first

example overall if you want to build

efficient B2B funnels you need to

remember that sales is about one thing

trust Let Me Explain If I tell you that

if you give me $10 today I'll give you a

$100 back in a week would you do it I

guess the answer is yes because if

you've been watching my videos and have

followed me for a while you already

trust me because you know that I'll be

able to deliver on my promise but if

it's a random person in the street would

you say yes now probably not because you

don't trust them and even though I know

that everyone loves to over complicate

business B2B is all about trust trusting

someone to deliver a product or service

that will either help you make more

money or save time your entire sales

funnels goal is to build that trust so

before I give you another Secret gift I

want to go through one very specific

example of funold we use to generate

revenue for lmal the first step is to

generate demand through a Cod email

essentially here I want to focus on a

paino that is relevant to my get and the

biggest pain point we wanted to solve

with lmal was what we call the noow rate

that's when people book a meeting on

your cly and never show up so we took a

list of people using cenly and we

started cold emailing them as you can

see the subject line is very intriguing

and focusing on the pain points because

it says reduce noow rates question mark

then I add social proof in the first

line mentioning someone who's well known

in the industry for example here I'm

mentioning Beck who was the former head

of sales at chorus then I explain why we

did it which will add even more social

proof if they Google my name which

honestly they probably will because

whenever you're receiving a cold email

from someone you don't know the first

thing you say if they're saying

something intriguing is to check who

they are what they've done and whether

or not it's the case and finally my call

to action was straight to the point

would might make sense to chat about

that for 15 minutes next week I would

also add a few follow-ups to make sure

to maximize my reply rates and I'll give

you access to the full campaign so you

can duplicate it for free all of that

led to these kind of replies I would

then send a link to that page leading to

qualified meeting and more sales overall

as always I've prepared a free notion

dock that you can steal with tons of

different funnels templates including

how we made a $100,000 in one hour with

a webinar how we generate thousands of

signups every time we launch a new

feature and how our Sal team book calls

on autopilot every week I'll publish new

videos on how to build and grow a B2 be

business that generate millions of

dollars without any BS and giving you

practical templates that you can steal

see you on the other side peace love and

profit