Goodbye Funnel Confusion

Val:

Alright. Thanks for being here at Vowel Full Volume, and I'm Val. And remember I said, yeah, last week, I was gonna come up with some other words that might be cringey or big. And I've got another word that always used to set me off. It just was huge because I had no idea what it was, and it was cringey because I didn't know what it was. And now it's it's hilarious to me that I made it such a big deal. And I know so many other people, business owners are make it a huge deal as well. And, and it's really because don't know what the hell a funnel is.

Val:

I just, I didn't know what a funnel was for the longest time. So to me, it was just this word that was out there going, I know I need 1. Oh, I don't wanna create something. No. Stop telling me I need a funnel. Once I figured out what a funnel was, my brain went, oh, lord. You are an idiot. Because I just couldn't come up with the concept.

Val:

I didn't care that people were writing down these diagrams of the funnel and this, this, this, and this. It didn't click in my head until one time, and I know I'm gonna I'm gonna admit this. Let's see. It was probably only 4 years ago, and I was working on my life coaching site, and I had been doing spaghetti at the wall. So I've been creating so many workshops. No rhyme or reason. I was creating workshops to put into bundles, events, grow my list. I had this goal of growing my list to this certain number, and it it didn't matter.

Val:

I was just getting to that number. Right? That's that's another episode. Let's but let's never ever ever do that because it's worthless, and all you're doing is paying for people on your list that don't want to be there because they found you and didn't care what you had. They just wanted their free shit. Anyways, I, one day, finally sat down, and I was looking, and I'm like, okay. I have been creating a lot of stuff that in that last year. I don't even know what I've created anymore because it's constantly onto the oh, there's a new a new bundle coming up. I'm I better create this because it'd be perfect for that event.

Val:

And I wrote down all of my all of the things that I've been creating over the last year, and, you know, I think there was a lead magnet or 2 in there. I can't I can't be that specific about it. I don't quite remember that. But I, you know, I know I had a a bunch of workshops. And I wrote them all out, and then I was looking at them, and I was just like, oh. Oh, there's kind of an order and a flow to this. Like, I'm looking at it going, well, if they do my boundaries, after boundaries, I want them to do this. And then I want them to do that.

Val:

And I'm like, oh, and something clicked in my head and went, oh, oh, that's what a funnel is. It's really, really that easy. All a funnel is is a natural flow. A flow. I I know that because of the word funnel, a lot of the times we're thinking, oh god. We need that high ticket at the bottom. Right? It has to be a high ticket. Don't think of it as that way.

Val:

You know what? Think of it maybe as just a flow, and you're keeping them in this flow of a pipe versus the funnel. You did not need to end in a huge ticket 1 on 1 coaching VIP day. You don't have to end that. And, actually, you don't even have to end your funnels ever. We're constantly adding to them. Right? But if you are not going towards that high ticket item, just think of it as a pipe instead that your products are flowing through, and it naturally leads into the next product. Right? So if you're having issues with this whole funnel idea, Write down your products if there's just a few of them, and and if you prefer pen and paper. It it is much better if you go create a spreadsheet somewhere and you are putting them in the spreadsheet because that way you can also track or put them in, you know, Asana, Trello, Notion, whatever you use for your organization organizational system, put it in there.

Val:

And that way you can keep track of, okay, I put this in this event. I put this in this event. And every time you put something into an event, then you can tweak that autoresponder series afterwards just a little bit. So if they're getting product 1, you know, you're you're you're putting product 1 out there or you have a lead magnet, that's the beginning of your flow. That's the beginning of your funnel, is how are you getting them to you? And that product right there is is the answer. Now here's where a lot of people are get really confused. And it's in the upsell, bump sells, the next action you want them to take. Oftentimes, it's not congruent.

Val:

God, I'm using the coaching words today. It's not congruent with the product that they just got. So, of course, they're not buying it. They bought product 1, and you are trying to sell them or upsell them to product x. They're not correlating whatsoever. The natural flow needs to be, okay. They have product 1. They are using it.

Val:

What else do they need to expand on that? That'd be product 2. What else do they need to expand on product 2? That's gonna be product 3. And you're taking them through this nice natural flow because they got that that kick from that first action that they took with you. So now they're like, oh, hell, yeah. I got results with that. I need another one. I got results with that one. I need more information, and that's how you create.

Val:

Raving fans is you're you're leading them into the more information on, you know, something that's gonna have an end end end zone of, you know, whatever whatever you want them to get to, but you're you're giving them the products that lead naturally in. So, you know, I know that I have a lot of PLR people in my in in my my business world, and it goes with that as well. So for example, if you put in coloring pages into an event or you have a freebie, your lead magnet is coloring pages. If you do coloring pages for kids, and then the next thing you're trying to sell your those people that signed up for that is a blog article pack on on business, you know, let's look let's go stream on business, they're gonna be like, what? Not congruent. Right? It's not congruent. Kids stuff, coloring pages, they were hell yes to. Then he just threw this at them, and, like, they're like, what? Okay. Bye bye.

Val:

I I don't even know who you are anymore. So have products that will be congruent, that do have a flow. So you've got kids coloring pages that you put in there that they they they got access to. The next one might be some kind of of summer driving pack of games that they can do while they're driving down the road kind of thing. You know? That funnel, I would naturally lead all through kids' products, every kid product you have. And remember, you can put affiliate links in there as well. You can naturally be leading, but keep it all. These people all want kids stuff.

Val:

Don't be throwing them at all sorts of crap. Keep them in what they originally signed up for, and you'll make more sales that way because you know they already wanted that. So it makes sense that they're gonna want this and then this and then this and then that. Or at least it's a better option, better have better rates of conversion that way because you're selling them something that they already know you for, and you're giving them more of what they wanted originally. So funnel is a word that could be cringey, it could be big, you could have built it up in your head. I know, I know when you don't have hardly any products or you don't even have products yet, funnel is huge. It's a huge word. It's like, but I don't have anything, and that is okay.

Val:

All you need to start your funnel is your lead magnet and one product, And your lead magnet is going to be something that's actionable, super quick, gets them a result. Absolutely gets them a result. Then next product, for it to be a hell yeah, the next product needs to be something that goes a little deeper on that result that they just got. Like, how can you take them a little bit deeper? What else can you give them that's going to be just expanding on that and getting get them even more of a result? And then that's how your funnel really starts building because now all of a sudden you've got those 2 products and you're like, okay, now what do they need to do? Oh, now what do they need to do? And that's the beauty of a flow if you think of it as a flow instead of a funnel. You know? Again, you don't have to have it end where it's going into high ticket. You do not, but you want to take them on the journey through your products. You want them to flow through the similar products. You want to keep them interested because they got with you, because they got these certain products.

Val:

Right? So feed them more of what they what they already what you know they already want. Alright. Send me your cringey or big words that make your brain shut down. I would love to talk more about them and, come up with other words for you because you don't have to think of it as a funnel. If funnel makes you cringe, funnel gives you the heebie jeebies, then just think of it as a flow. Okay? It's a pipe, and it's a flow, and it's just gonna naturally lead them through your business. Alright? I will chat at you next week. Thanks for being here again.

Val:

Adios.