When people start talking about “sales funnels” and moving people through their “offers” my eyes start to glaze over and I start hearing my favorite songs in my head. My foot starts tapping and my mind is elsewhere and then the person says… “Understand?” and I have no frickin’ clue what they just said.
That’s my reaction to “sales funnel”
As long as I’ve been in this business of course I’ve realized just how important a “sales funnel” is, but I still can’t barely say the words out loud. 
So… here’s what I’ve come up with instead.
The Blogging Bus Tour
Much less intimidating, and hopefully easier to understand.
Let’s say your Killer Bus Tour starts at point A ~ California. The destination where you really want people to end their blogging bus trip is at point B ~ New York City.
So you open your big blogging bus doors and invite people to get on.
[This would be going out and talking with people on Twitter, leaving comments on other blogs, participating in forums leaving your signature for people to click.]
Shut the door, start driving. First stop: Your blog. Open the doors and let people out to look around!
Here you’ve got great content for people to read. They get to know you.
You offer them the ticket for the next leg of the bus ride ~ your opt in box.
Some people will opt in and get back on the bus. Some won’t. That’s ok. This tour won’t be right for everyone.
The people who are back on the bus are getting excited. They’re getting to know you.They’re getting to like you because as you’re driving the bus you are having a great chat ~ telling them more about the stuff you write about, more about yourself.
[This is your autoresponder series they just opted in for at the last stop].
Next stop on the blogging bus tour is offering your riders the opportunity to buy your first product.
You’ve been giving this killer bus trip away for free thus far, and now it’s time to ask for some gas money.
So you offer this cute coffee mug with a great logo to let them remember this killer blogging bus tour. Some people think it’s super cute and want it! They say sure, here’s my 7 bucks ~ hook me up with a mug.
At this point you say, “Hey if you like this mug, you might really like this super cool t shirt too”! Some will buy the t shirt, some won’t. It’s ok, at least you offered.
[This is your first low priced product and a little higher priced upsell or one time offer]
A lot of people got back on the bus. Some didn’t, and that’s ok. You continue chatting and getting to know one another.
[Because they're still on your list they're still getting emails from you!]
Now your heading toward the Mississippi River ~ it’s quite scenic and there’s some toll roads, so you’re going to again offer a way for your riders to help pay the way.
[You offer another product ~ maybe a little higher in price than your first]
You notice the people who bought the coffee mug are pretty open to this newest piece of memorabilia and the people who bought both the coffee mug and the t shirt are standing in line and can’t wait to get it!
[These people are becoming your "true fans" they're the people who love your stuff so much they can't wait to buy what you're offering ~ these people ROCK]
You also notice some people didn’t get back on the bus.
Now we’ve crossed the Mississippi and we’re heading up the Eastern Seaboard and one of your passengers says “GEE… I’d really like to know how to start my own blog bus tour. I love the way you’re doing it, can you show me what you know.”
You probably think to yourself, Sure I could, but dang, it’s really nothing. I can’t believe people really want to know how to do this, and jeez, why would they want to pay for it? It’s really simple. I’ll just charge them a couple bucks and that will be good.
*Stop right there*
You have a skill. You have knowledge. When you first started this blog bus tour business you often forgot to change the oil in the bus ~ and change the tires on the bus. Because of this your bus broke down a lot. People got mad they had to wait in the heat of the Arizona desert for a tow truck. Your first trips sucked, in fact. But you persevered. You learned things, and you worked really hard to create a KILLER blog bus tour.
Those are all things that someone would have to learn through trial and error unless someone like you could teach them. So… don’t undervalue yourself, your knowledge and your skills, even if they seem like simple ordinary things ~ just think about how you were when you started, and all you’ve had to learn to get where you are today. That has value.
*Back to the Bus*
You say, sure I’ve got this one week course I’m teaching between this trip and the next. You could join a few other people who have expressed interest in learning how to run a blog bus tour.
[this one week training is expensive, but it's worth it]
OR you say…
If you’d rather work with me one on one and create a really custom blog bus tour especially for you, we could do that too!
[this one on one training is more expensive than the week long group training because it requires your one on one time and attention, and is more difficult to scale. It's also worth more because they get your undivided attention.]
Honk Honk ~ there’s the bus terminal. We’ve arrived in NYC.
You look back and realize there aren’t many people left on the bus. It was packed when you started out in Cali, but now there’s only a few people left.
That’s OK. If you look around you’ll notice the people who are left are the people who not only bought your coffee mug, but they bought the t-shirt to go with it, as well as the hat, and other things you offered them along hte way. Now they want to hang out with you for a week to learn what you do in person.
The more people you start with on the bus, the better chance you have of having more people on the bus at the end of the ride.
So… to make not only your blog bus tour, but your entire blog bus enterprise a success you have to get as many people on the bus as you possibly can ~ that way there are more people available to buy your coffee mugs, and your t-shirts, your hats, and in the end you can fill up your blog bus tour training program.
What does this mean to you as a blogger?
1. Always move people to your blog or your squeeze page. Always encourage them to sign up for your email list ~ get them a ticket to the bus.
2. Offer people small priced items they will find helpful. Once someone has made a purchase from you it is much easier for them to make a second.
3. Offer another companion product to the first one ~ right after they’ve bought it. When you’ve already got your wallet out it’s pretty easy to add something to the cart.
4. Continue to offer great value along the way.
5. Continue to build the relationship with your reader/subscriber along the way.
6. Begin to offer higher priced valuable and useful products to your readers.
7. Offer yourself as your high end product ~ in more than one way ~ group vs. individual
There you have it. My alternative explanation to the Marketing funnel.
I would love to hear your thoughts and questions ~ let’s continue this conversation in the comments section!
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