HOW TO EXECUTE THE MARKETING MADE SIMPLE SALES FUNNEL
A Step-by-Step Guide
Now that you have all the individual tools for creating a sales funnel, you’re going to want to create an execution strategy that ensures you will follow through and bring the sales funnel to life.
EXECUTION IS PARAMOUNT
Many people who read this book will feel like they’ve found hope. And I believe you have. But none of the feeling of hope amounts to anything without execution.
My friend Doug recently told his wife he intended to help out more around the house. His wife looked at him slyly and explained that intentions do not cook the rice. Doug got the point. Stop talking and do the work.
Remember at the beginning of this book when I mentioned JJ’s dissertation? He proved that our messaging framework will help any business grow, but only to the degree that they actually execute the plan.
Having a strategy to execute your sales funnel will help insure it actually happens.
SCHEDULE SIX MEETINGS NOW SO YOU WILL BE SURE FINISH LATER
In order to execute your sales funnel, you’ll need to schedule six meetings. The people who need to attend these meetings will be web designers, copywriters, managers whose approvals will be needed, and any support staff who help these team members execute.
The reason you want to develop and execute your sales funnel through a series of strategically scheduled meetings is to create a system of objectives and scheduled accountability so that your team will produce a well-executed plan. All team members will understand their roles and tasks and be given deadlines to reach those benchmarks.
If you are creating a sales funnel on your own, stick with the meeting schedule anyway. Feel free to invite outside contractors. Outside contractors attending these meetings will help to ensure they understand expectations and will save you creative hours in the long run. If you are working with a StoryBrand Guide, your guide can work to schedule these meetings on your behalf and make sure you are in the room and contributing as the project moves forward.
Here are the six meetings you will want to schedule in advance:
1. Goal Meeting
2. BrandScript Script and One-Liner Meeting
3. Wireframe Website Meeting
4. Lead Generator and Email Sequence Meeting
5. Content Refinement Meeting
6. Results Analysis and Refinement Meeting
Meeting #1: Goal Meeting
The main objective of the first meeting is to decide which sales funnel to create first.
This may seem like an easy question to answer, but it will be more complicated than you previously thought. What are the objectives of the company? Is the company in a transition? Are we aiming purely for revenue growth or are we trying to grow a specific division?
When I conduct one-day marketing strategy sessions I start by trying to find out if the objective of the sales funnel we are creating is simply to increase revenue, or not. If the objective is to increase revenue and grow the company, my job is easy.
If the company leaders want to grow the company by increasing revenue, my second question is “What is the most profitable division or product that the company currently has on the market?”
The reason I ask this is because many leaders are so close to their products and services they can’t see the obvious direction the company needs to go.
To understand how a business works, I normally think of it using the analogy of an old sailing ship. You know, one of those giant ships with twenty or more sails, all stacked on top of each other, billowing and propelling the ship forward.
By asking what the most profitable division or product is, I’m asking which sails are powering the ship forward. I also want to know what the least profitable (or successful) product or service is, and then I ask a series of questions to determine how much bandwidth is being spent on something that isn’t working.
What Product Are We Going to Sell?
My theory on growing a company is to decrease the size of the sails that are not billowing and increase the size of the sails that are.
This differs from the way most business leaders approach their products and services. In order to grow their companies, most people ignore what’s working and try to make something else start working too. But unless you have market dominance with the product that’s working, the greatest opportunity is to pour gasoline on the fire that’s already burning!
Regardless, the purpose of the goal meeting is to figure out exactly what we are going to sell.
After deciding what we are going to sell, we should set goals and expectations. We usually set goals by establishing three specific numbers. The first number is the actual goal, the second is a significantly lower number that represents a failure. By failure, I mean that if we sell only this few products, we need to analyze the product itself and then the sales campaign to see if the problem was with the product or if it was how we tried to sell it. The third goal is the fun one, and that’s the stretch goal. If we hit the stretch goal, we know we’re on to something.
Once you know what product you’re going to sell and what your goals are, you can move on to clarifying your message around the product itself.
Meeting #2:
BrandScript Script and One-Liner Meeting
After you decide which sales funnels you want to create first, get started writing some of the content you’ll use in the sales funnel itself.
In the first content meeting you are going to create your BrandScript script and a one-liner. If you are not familiar with BrandScript, use the free tool at MyBrandScript.com. Using this simple tool will help you come up with language you can use to populate your entire sales funnel. It will save you hours—if not days—off your workload and ensure the language you are using will engage customers.
The BrandScript and one-liner meeting should take between three and four hours.
After creating your BrandScript, transfer your answers to the BrandScript script. Another blank BrandScript script is printed below.
The purpose of the BrandScript script is to make sure you understand exactly what kind of story you are inviting people into. Once you define the story, you must stick with the script. Keep bringing up the same internal, external, and philosophical problems. Keep telling people what their lives will look like after their problem is solved. Continue to position yourself as the guide. Under no circumstance should you wander from the basic script—otherwise the story you are inviting people into will become confusing.
Here’s another BrandScript script you can use in the second meeting. You can also download new paper wireframes at www.MarketingMadeSimple.com for free.
At_________________[your company name] we know you are the kind of people who want to be_________________[aspirational identity]. In order to be that way, you need___________________[what your character wants]. The problem is_________________[external problem], which makes you feel_________________[internal problem]. We believe________________________[philosophical problem/statement]. We understand_________________[empathy]. That’s why we_________________[authority]. Here’s how it works____________________________[plan: step one, step two, step three]. So_________________[call to action], so you can stop_________________[failure] and start_________________[success].
Once you have completed the script, read it out loud to make sure it makes sense and sounds natural.
Sometimes what looks good in writing doesn’t sound good when spoken out loud. Use this opportunity to change some of the wording around so it sounds great.
This BrandScript script can now act as a filter for the rest of your content creation.
Meeting 2 Part 2: Create Your One-liner
Your one-liner is simply a truncated version of your BrandScript script. Use your BrandScript script as a filter to create your one-liner and the process will be fairly easy.
What problem are you going to focus on? What will be the result the customer will experience?
Take your time and make sure it sounds good and easy to repeat.
Ask these four questions to make sure your one-liner passes the StoryBrand test:
1. Does it sound normal when you say it out loud?
2. Is there anything that can be changed to make the one-liner sound more conversational?
3. Is it easy for your staff and customers to memorize?
4. Are all the parts simple but give enough info that nobody would need to ask the question “What does that mean?”
Your one-liner can be used in almost every piece of collateral you create for the campaign. It can even be used as the email signature in all of your nurture and sales emails. You can use it on your website or landing page, on brochures, on in-store signage, and more.
Not only this but your one-liner will serve as the controlling idea behind your entire campaign. If anything you write doesn’t feel like it meshes with the one-liner, change it. Your customers will get confused if the story you are inviting them into is not consistent.
The final thing to do before leaving this second meeting is to decide who will be responsible for each task and what the deadlines are for each item.
Here is a sample agenda for Meeting #2:
1. Meeting opening:
a. Introduce all those in the room to highlight that the reason they are there is because they bring something important to the table.
b. Talk about the purpose for the day: to get everyone on the same page with a clear message about what the company does.
c. Introduce the concept of BrandScript script and one-liner.
2. BrandScript script activity
a. Introduction and purpose
b. Group brainstorming
c. Decision
3. One-liner activity
a. Introduction and purpose
b. Group brainstorming
c. Decision
4. Assign tasks and deadlines
5. Remind people about the next meeting for website wireframe.
Meeting #3: Wireframe Website
At the beginning of the third meeting the room will feel different. Your team will be energized and focused and excited about the possibility this campaign will be a radical success. The group will also feel organized and on track, which will add to the excitement.
The objective of the third meeting is to wireframe the website or landing page.
The great thing about wireframing the website or landing page is it’s also an exercise in memorializing your entire pitch.
The website will include nearly every talking point and will organize those talking points so they are clear and make sense to potential customers. Just as importantly, though, the pitch will start making sense to the members of your team. Don’t be surprised if, during this exercise, people stand back and say, “Man, I’d buy this. This product looks really good!”
I can’t tell you how many marketing strategy sessions I’ve done in which I had no interest in the product but by the time we finished wireframing the website found myself wanting to buy the very thing I was helping somebody else sell!
Wireframe the Website or Landing Page
Try not to have any agenda during this meeting other than to wireframe the website or landing page. Once you’re done, call the meeting to an end. The reason you want to stay focused is your website will likely be the most important tool you create when it comes to closing sales. The emails will be important, of course, but every one of those emails will direct people back to this website. So don’t get distracted.
The design team will ultimately help with colors, images, and the overall feel of the site, but your job in this meeting is to get the language and basic layout completed.
I usually wireframe the website on a whiteboard, asking everybody in the room to record our final decisions on their own paper wireframe. Why have everybody memorialize our decisions individually rather than just have one team member write it down? Because by having everybody write down the words we’ve decided to use, you’re getting the entire team, quite literally, on the same page. In their own handwriting.
Once I explain how we’re going to go about the process, I start with the header, then move on to the stakes, value proposition, and so on.
As I mentioned in the chapter about wireframing websites, you don’t have to follow the exact order I’ve created in this book. But the order I’ve put sections of the website in is great all the same. Feel free to improvise, but beware of getting too creative in your interpretation of what we’ve instructed. The word creative is often just confusion in disguise.
Remember the sections of the landing page from Chapter 5? You will use those to wireframe your page in this meeting:
• The Header
• The Stakes
• The Value Proposition
• The Guide
• The Plan
• The Explanatory Paragraph
• The Video (optional)
• Price Choices (optional)
• Junk Drawer
Feel free to use the chapter on wireframing a website in this book as a guide.
Also, have your BrandScript script and one-liner available to make sure you are using consistent language all the way through your landing page.
Ultimately, the third meeting should be a lot of fun. You should come in with some positive energy and leave with even more.
Here is a sample agenda to make this meeting simple, clear, and easy:
1. Meeting opening:
a. Introduce all those in the room if necessary and explain why they are there and what they bring to the table.
b. Talk about the purpose for the meeting: to create a website wireframe complete with all the sections of the website homepage.
c. Introduce the sections of the website you will be covering today.
2. Review BrandScript script and one-liner and explain the website needs to stay on theme as much as possible.
3. Website copy creation
a. The Header
i. Does it answer the questions:
What are you offering?
How does it make our customers’ lives better? Where can I buy it?
How can they buy it?
ii. Do the pictures you intend to use support the sales pitch or confuse customers about what you are selling?
b. The Stakes
i. What is life going to look like if the customer does not buy your product or service?
ii. What negative experiences are you keeping your customers from having to deal with?
c. The Value Proposition
i. What positive results will a customer receive if they buy your product?
ii. What does your customer’s life look like if they buy your product or service?
d. The Guide
i. Empathy: what empathetic statement can you make that expresses your care, concern, or understanding about your customer’s problem?
ii. Authority: how can you reassure your customers you are competent to solve their problem?
iii. Testimonials
iv. Other: logos, statistics
e. The Plan
i. Three or four steps: What is the path a customer needs to take before or after buying your product?
ii. What are the benefits of each of those steps?
f. The Explanatory Paragraph
i. Simply use your one-liner followed by your BrandScript script to make this section simple, clear, and easy.
g. The Video (optional)
i. Decide on video
ii. Decide on title
h. Price Choices (optional)
i. How will you visually display the price or prices of this product.
i. Junk Drawer
4. Assign tasks and deadlines.
5. Schedule or remind the team about the next meeting in which you will discuss email sequences.
Meeting #4:
Lead Generator and Email Sequence
For meeting four, you may not need the entire team. The task assigned in this meeting will mostly go to copywriters. Although photographers, designers, and whoever is handling your email marketing platform will also need to be kept in the loop.
The purpose of the fourth meeting is to decided what language will go into your lead generator and emails for your nurture and sales sequences.
The reason you want to address these pieces of collateral together is because some of the language you use will overlap.
By the end of this meeting, you want to have the title of your first lead generator, the basic content outline for the lead generator, a list of possible nurture emails, and a list of topics and types of sales emails you’ll then ask copywriters to create.
Keep a list of all the lead generator and nurture email ideas you come up with in the meeting because any lead generator ideas you reject can be repurposed as nurture emails.
The first goal of the meeting is to decide on a lead generator. Don’t let this conversation drag on and on. The key here is to agree that you’ve got a good one, quickly outline the content, assign the writing to a copywriter, and move on.
The second task is to either create a sales email sequence, a nurture email sequence, or both.
I recommend outlining the sales sequence first, but only if you can follow the sales sequence with at least six or seven nurturing emails. This insures that your potential customers don’t just feel sold to and then dropped.
If you only have time or bandwidth to create eight or ten emails, start by creating a good nurturing sequence then come back later and create a sales sequence you insert between the lead generator and nurturing sequence.
The perfect campaign would include a great lead generator, followed by a sales sequence, followed by a very long nurturing sequence. You may not get all of that laid out in this meeting, but you can make some serious progress.
The only mistake you can make in this meeting is to close it out without making firm decisions the team can act on. This time should result in an actual lead generator that collects email addresses followed by emails that build trust with customers and begin to close sales.
If you have time, you can dive into writing some of the emails together, but be sure to turn whatever copy you come up with to the copywriter who will be responsible for putting the entire campaign together.
A graphic designer should also be in this meeting so you can discuss the images you will use in the lead generator along with the images you will use (if any) in the emails themselves.
Sample Agenda:
1. Meeting opening:
a. Introduce all those in the room if necessary and explain what their role will be as it relates to the campaign.
b. Talk about the purpose for the day: to decide on a lead generator, create content for the lead generator, and outline the various email campaigns you have decided to create.
c. Introduce the concept of the lead generator, nurture emails, and sales emails.
2. Review BrandScript script and one-liner as an effort to stay consistent in your content.
3. Lead generator
a. Brainstorm a list of ideas for lead generators.
b. Decide on the first one to create.
c. Create an outline for content.
d. Save unused lead generator ideas for potential nurturing email content.
4. Nurture emails
a. Brainstorm possible types
i. Weekly Announcements
ii. Weekly Tips
iii. Weekly Notifications
b. Make a decision and create subject lines and brief talking points for each. Your copywriter will love the head start this brainstorm delivers.
5. Sales emails (outline the contents of each type as you go)
a. Title of Deliver the Asset Email
b. Title of Problem + Solution Email
c. Title of Testimonial Email
d. Title of Overcome Objection Email
e. Title of Paradigm Shift Email
f. Title of Sales Email
6. Assign tasks and deadlines.
7. Discuss when the next meeting will take place. In the next meeting you will refine the content.
Meeting #5:
Content Refinement Meeting
During meeting five, the campaign finally comes together.
I recommend printing out a physical, designed copy of everything involved, from the one-liner to every email.
Use Post-it notes and tape to put physical pieces of paper on the wall so you can see the entire campaign visually.
Why physical paper? Because these campaigns live inside computer screens and from here on out you will never be able to see them at a glance.
Have a member of your team prepare the wall so you don’t waste a lot of time figuring it out. Once everything is on the wall, hand out printed copies of just the emails so you can read through them together.
Think of this meeting as similar to the table reading of a movie or sitcom. Before shooting a movie, actors and directors often get together and read the script while sitting around a table.
The process of a table read reveals the highlights and flaws of the script. If you follow our instructions, you’ll be shocked at how good your campaign is and how much you’ve accidentally left out.
At our last table reading, we realized we hardly talked about our customers’ problems at all. What an enormous mistake!
We were able to fix that mistake by writing language that defined our customers’ problems and then inserted that language into every single email.
This process is so important that sometimes I will take different colored Hi-Liters and highlight text to make sure we’re encompassing all the elements of a good story. I may use green Hi-Liters to highlight all the benefits our customer will get and red Hi-Liters to highlight all of the problems or consequences our customers are struggling with.
Looking at your campaign visually, using color-coded sections, allows you to see if your campaign flows and is even in its execution.
During the last part of this meeting, you’ll want to schedule when everything will be launched.
What day will the new website launch? How often will you send out the emails? Which email campaign will you run first?
Here is a sample agenda for meeting five:
1. Meeting opening:
a. Talk about the purpose for the day: to go over all the collateral created in order to get ready for the launch and to set the calendar.
2. Review and edit one-liner.
3. Review and edit website.
4. Review and edit the lead generator.
5. Review and edit the nurture emails.
6. Review and edit the sales emails.
7. Decide when you are going to launch the campaign.
8. Assign tasks and deadlines.
9. Set date about one month after the campaign launches to review the campaign and make changes and improvements.
Meeting #6:
Results Analysis and Refinement Meeting
It is important to make sure the collateral you created is working. I know that sounds simple, but it is so easy to launch a campaign and just let it ride whether it works or not. Don’t make this mistake. Even the greatest of results can and should be improved upon.
What parts of the campaign are working and what parts are not? What can and should be changed? Who will make those changes?
Questions to ask?
1. Does one email seem to be working more than the others?
2. Can we duplicate what is working in other emails by adding P.S.’s or similar language?
3. What are customers responding to in terms of our message?
4. What are customers not responding to in terms of our message?
5. Are our calls to action strong enough?
6. What is the most confusing aspect of our campaign and how can we fix it?
If you have data, review the data. What emails are being opened? What percentage of people who come to the landing page are making a purchase? What’s the open rate for each email? (I love to replace the least-performing email with something completely new.)
The objective of this meeting is to refine, refine, refine.
Here is a sample agenda for the sixth meeting:
1. Explain the objective of this meeting is to refine a specific campaign.
2. Pass out the emails for the campaign.
3. Review the data. What’s working and what isn’t?
4. Revise, edit, or replace anything that is not working.
5. Discuss what is working and see if you can use some of the language in other places on the website or in the emails.
6. Assign the revisions to those who will be responsible to execute.
If you execute these six meetings, you should see very positive results. Most, if not all of the clients our guides have worked with have been blown away by how much these simple but clear campaigns have grown their businesses.
While creating a sales funnel takes creativity and hard work, it should not be hard. In fact, it should be fun.
Years ago I took up the hobby of fly fishing. I mostly fish to hang out with my buddies and the truth is I’m not very good, but I still love getting out on the rivers.
Every time I fish, I can’t help thinking about marketing. As a fisherman, you’re always asking yourself where the fish are eating and what they are eating.
If you approach each of the six execution meetings wondering the same thing, you’re going to do just fine.