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Evergreen Sales Funnels with Sharice Enis
We hear a lot of information about how different offers and revenue streams are the key to scaling our businesses. And often, what can happen is that we create the offer, we launch it, and then we hear crickets. Where’s the scaling? I have been guilty of this more than once – and now I’ve finally learned that there’s a key component of scaling, and that’s an evergreen sales funnel.
Which is why I’m so excited to be joined for this week’s episode by my friend Sharice.
Sharice Enis (IN-es) is a sales funnel strategist and designer for coaches and experts. Sharice specializes in creating evergreen sales funnels that help her clients generate passive income and scale their businesses without burning out. Sharice has helped hundreds of clients streamline their marketing into automated systems that sell on autopilot. Through her done for you marketing services she’s giving entrepreneurs the hands on support they need to scale their businesses. If you’re interested in learning more about how evergreen sales funnels can help you create more time freedom and scale your business, you can connect with Sharice at http://Shariceandco.com .
In this episode, Sharice shares what an evergreen sales funnel is, when to use one, what the purpose is, and how to know if your sales funnel is working. By the end of this episode you’ll definitely have a lot to think about.
Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Really quickly, before we dive into this episode – I just HAVE to share something I’m really excited about with you. My book, Chasing Simple Marketing, is launching this July. I wrote this book for the business owner that stumbled into entrepreneurship because they were following their passion. But without that Masters of Business Administration (MBA) or background in business, they find marketing overwhelming and frustrating. Throughout these pages, I’m going to take you on a simplicity-focused journey to improve your content marketing and you’ll walk away with an actionable plan to simplify your marketing, so that you can fit your marketing into your business, without it taking over your business. To learn more about how to grab your copy, and even potentially get on the launch team head over to amandawarfield.com/book/ See you there!
- This week’s episode is brought to you by the Chasing Simple Content Planner and you can grab your own at amandawarfield.com/planner/
- Summit – Sales Funnel Secrets: The Exact Strategy of Successful Course Creators
- 15 Minute Assessments
- This week’s action step: Start digging into your analytics. Particularly your top performing content.
- This week’s book recommendation: Finish by Jon Acuff
- Find me on Instagram and tell me you completed this week’s action step: @mrsamandawarfield
Sharice Enis (IN-es) is a sales funnel strategist and designer for coaches and experts. Sharice specializes in creating evergreen sales funnels that help her clients generate passive income and scale their businesses without burning out. Sharice has helped hundreds of clients streamline their marketing into automated systems that sell on autopilot. Through her done for you marketing services she’s giving entrepreneurs the hands on support they need to scale their businesses. If you’re interested in learning more about how evergreen sales funnels can help you create more time freedom and scale your business, you can connect with Sharice at http://Shariceandco.com .
Social Links:
IG: @shariceandco
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Amanda Warfield: We hear a lot of information about how different offers and revenue streams are the key to scaling our businesses. And often what can happen is that we create the offer, we launch it, and then we hear crickets. Where is the scaling? I have been guilty of this more than once, and now I finally learned that there’s a key component of scaling, and that’s an evergreen sales funnel.
Which is why I’m so excited to be joined for this week’s episode by my friend Sharice. Sharice Innes is a sales funnel strategist and designer for coaches and experts. Sharice specializes in creating evergreen sales funnels that help her clients generate passive income and scale their businesses without burning out.
She has helped hundreds of clients streamline their marketing into automated systems that sell on autopilot. Through her done for you marketing services, she’s giving entrepreneurs the hands on support they need to scale their businesses. If you’re interested in learning more about how evergreen sales funnels can help you create more time, freedom, and scale your business.
You can connect with her at shereesandco. com. And in this episode, Sheree shares what a sales funnel is, when to use one, what the purpose is and how to know if your sales funnel is working. By the end of this episode, you’ll definitely have a lot to think about. You’re listening to episode 182 of the chasing simple podcast.
And I’m your host, Amanda Warfield. This episode was brought to you by the Chasing Simple Content Planner, and you can grab your 2024 version at amandawarfield. com / planner.
How do I find time to create content without overwhelming myself? Where should I even be showing up in my marketing? How do I come up with fresh content ideas? Where should I be focusing my marketing efforts? What is lead generation anyways, and how do I do it? Are launches still a thing? And most importantly, How do I put it all together to market my business strategically?
Can I really grow my business without spending all of my time marketing? These are some of the questions that float around in your head when you think of marketing. Welcome friend, this is Chasing Simple, where practical marketing strategy meets simplicity. I’m your host, Amanda Warfield, simplicity focused content marketing and launch strategist, speaker, educator, and author of Chasing Simple Marketing.
I traded in my classroom lesson plans for helping creative entrepreneurs sustainably fit marketing into their business without it taking over their business, so that they have time to grow their business, take time off, and live the life they dreamed about when they first decided to go out on their own.
When I’m working, you can find me working with one on one clients, such as The Contract Shop and Rebecca Rice Photography on their marketing strategy and copywriting, or helping my students simplify their marketing and launches. And, when I’m not, you can find me spending time outside with my husband, Russell, reading in our hammock, watching Gamecock Sports, traveling, or forcing our cats to snuggle me.
If you feel overwhelmed by marketing, you aren’t alone. Many entrepreneurs find marketing frustrating, overwhelming, and simply an obligation. They know they need it, but they don’t enjoy how easily it can suck up their time when what they really want to be doing… Is the thing that they started their business to do, which is why I’m here to help make marketing simple and less time consuming so that you can spend less time on your marketing and more time growing your business and doing what you love each week.
I’ll bring you transparent conversations. actionable steps and judgment free community to encourage and equip you. So grab yourself a cup of coffee or whatever your drink of choice is and meet me here each week for love, support, practical tips, and advice on uncomplicating your marketing and business.
Let’s do this entrepreneurship thing together, shall we? Really quickly, before we dive into this episode, I just Have to share something that I’m really excited about with you. My book, chasing simple marketing is launching this July. I wrote this book for the business owner that stumbled into entrepreneurship because they were following their passion, but without that masters of business administration or that background in business, well, they find marketing.
Overwhelming and frustrating throughout these pages. I’m going to take you on a simplicity focused journey to improve your content marketing, and you’ll walk away with an actionable plan to simplify your marketing so that you can fit your marketing into your business without it taking over your business.
To learn more about how to grab your own copy and even potentially get on the launch team, head over to amandawarfield. com book. I’ll see you there, Sharice. I am so excited to have you here and have you back in the Chasing Simple ecosystem. For those that have not gone through the Chasing Simple Summit, you need to, and we’ll link that in the show notes, but Sharice was actually one of the speakers for that.
So if you are just meeting her for the first time, you’re in luck. There’s more of her in the Chasing Simple ecosystem. But for now, Sharice, tell us a little bit about who you are and what it is that you do.
Sharice Enis: Yeah. So I’m a sales funnel strategist and designer. And to be honest, the title piece has always, um, tripped me up.
But essentially I am your tech wizard. I come in and help you figure out your sales funnel strategy so that you can systemize and streamline all of your marketing so that it can run 24 seven for you so you can free up your time. Um, without having to sacrifice your income or without having to burn out.
And it just makes your business more scalable. So I own Teresa and co, which is a marketing studio. And we specialize in working with, uh, coaches and premium service providers to help them, to help them do that. It’s funny how figuring
Amanda Warfield: out what to call ourselves is always the hardest part of entrepreneurship because, you know, there’s this, oh, I’m multi passionate, and I’m a multi passionate entrepreneur so I don’t have one specific thing and it’s like no you just haven’t figured out what your thing is yet and it is hard.
It’s not easy to figure out how you bring all of your passions into it. One place. And
Sharice Enis: so that for
Amanda Warfield: the longest time, I have five years in, and I just now feel like I know what I’m calling myself, but also the, as soon as I figure out, I feel like something changes.
Sharice Enis: Yeah, it’s for me, it’s been a lot of like, well, how do I call, what do I call myself in a way that people understand?
Cause at first it was like email marketing automation or marketing automation. And that sounds like super foreign to most people, but now most people are starting to get familiar with the phrase, like. Sales funnel and says like, okay, now I can talk about like sales funnel strategists, but I also don’t want to leave out the part that at Shreessen Co we actually built, like do the building and implementation, which, um, you know, some people don’t do that.
A lot of people just do the strategy. And so I was like, okay, I just need to marry the two. I think people understand what this means. Um, but I’m like, regardless of what you call me, I’m going to help you systemize. Your marketing. I love it so much. So
Amanda Warfield: in their introduction, I mentioned that evergreen sales funnels, they’re key piece of the scaling puzzle, right?
But what even is an evergreen sales sales funnel? Can you tell us a little bit about what they are and what they do for a business for someone who hasn’t heard of it yet?
Sharice Enis: Yes, I am so glad we’re starting here because I feel like it’s one of those phrases you’re hearing a lot because it’s almost, and it’s almost becoming, I don’t want to say overused, but people use it in different ways.
And I almost feel like it has different meanings. And so, um, an evergreen sales funnel is a marketing and sales system that can run 24 7 and. I used to explain it as like being your customer journey, but really it’s actually the container for your customer journey. So it’s how someone goes through the, um, buyer’s process of awareness, interested decision, action, and so, um, an evergreen sales funnel, which makes it different than a regular sales funnel or.
Is that it’s running all the time, whereas sometimes a sales funnel may have an open and close. So it might be a campaign where there’s like, our cart is open on this date, and then it closes on that date, which you see a lot for, like, group coaching programs or courses or things where, you know, there might be a live component.
Um, but evergreen is great for. Passive income and like selling something that where people can always access it, you know, what makes it, um, so attractive to people is that it sort of allows you to create that more stability in your business. And it helps you to streamline and understand, okay, you’re marketing from like, this is what I’m doing to build awareness.
This is what I’m doing to nurture. Um, and this is what I’m doing, like, in my sales process to now take those leads and turn them into customers.
Amanda Warfield: I like how you said it’s a container for the customer journey, and that I’ve not heard anyone else say that. I think that’s incredible. And I also love that you touched on the fact that you have to bring your people from problem
Sharice Enis: unaware.
All the way through all these different
Amanda Warfield: steps to the student, the customer, the purchaser. But I’m wondering, what does it look like? So we kind of have an idea, right? Of what it is and what it does, but what does it look like in the day to day of a business? You know, what is the business like before? And then once you put it in place, maybe if you have like a client example, you can use or even in your own business of what was happening before for a certain event.
Product or offer. And then what was happening after?
Sharice Enis: Ooh, I love that question. Um, so when, so One way, I guess I’ll start with like the visual representation of a sales funnel and part of why it has its name is because it’s looking at it almost like an upside down triangle, like a funnel where you have like this top piece where it’s like, where all your traction strategies are happening.
So that’s like the posting on Instagram, the. You know, putting things out there to bring people in towards you and then your lead magnet is where they’re opting in. So now you’re getting further into the funnel, um, where they’re showed. Okay. Like, I have some interest now that I’ve seen your post and Instagram.
Now I’m going to opt in for that lead magnet. And that’s where you start to nurture them. And then the reason why it gets smaller and smaller as you go down the funnel is because at the top, you start off with a lot of people and then you start to weed out. Okay. The people who aren’t interested or find some other solution, right?
So it gets all the way down until you’re left with your really warm leads that turn into customers. And so in a day to day, or like real life example of what it looks like before you have this, and we all go through this, I’m not having one at all. Um, is doing very manual processes, especially when it comes to sales.
So it could look like, um, having to like manually follow up with someone, um, doing a lot of outbound sales calls or cold calling or cold damning. And then, um, Which even that can be automated now. So maybe I shouldn’t say that necessarily, but it looks like sort of that manual lift of like, okay, I have to go reach out to someone now.
I’m going to send them my calendar that I’m going to send them a reminder, especially if you’re not automating those pieces. Cause I take for granted that I automate. Those things. And I think I’ve been automating them for a long time, but a lot of people aren’t quite sure, especially if you’re not tech savvy or comfortable with tech, aren’t quite sure how to use those built in automated reminders for their calendar.
And then it looks like, okay, I have the sales call. Now I got to go draft up the contracts and the contracts and the invoice. And then if they’re on a payment plan, then you got to follow up with them on the payment plan instead of sort of automating it. Um, so that’s sort of like a basic sales funnel. Uh, and sales funnels can be super complicated and have these like Ascension models or they can be really simple.
It could be as simple as someone comes to your page. They download the service guide and now they’re receiving like an email, um, automated sequence or series. Or it can be as complicated as, like, there’s a lead magnet and a trip wire and an upsell and a and an add on. Um, and I, and a lot of us at this point probably have experienced something like that, where there’s a low ticket offer for, like, 7 and you, and you.
You go to pay for it and then it’s like, but wait, you could add this for only 17 and then you check out and it’s like, but then there’s this one time offer. That’s an example of what they call self liquidating offer funnel. And those are pretty common because they are a great way to grow your email list while still getting paid to.
To grow your email list. Um, so it helps like offset your advertising costs, which makes those really attractive. But I mean, sales funnels are really all around us, whether or not we realize that. I think the bad ones, the ones I can give sales funnels a bad rap. Um, we notice those more when we feel like we’re being manipulated or tricked or sold to or feel really sleazy or like unethical tactics, but, you know, kind of like I was referring to earlier, a sales funnel doesn’t have to be, it doesn’t have to be complicated, but really it is that container for your customer journey.
So thinking through step by step what someone needs to go through to then become a customer. And it can be as you can get as detailed and get as grow as far as okay. Top of funnel. What am I doing to build awareness to, you know, you can even just think of like a very simple, basic funnel of like.
Delivering a service guide to that people who landed on your work with me page, have something to take with them and you have their contact information, even if they’re not ready to book a call with you, you know? And I think that’s, you know, I, to me, I think that’s actually an underutilized opportunity because not everyone’s ready to book a call.
And I
Amanda Warfield: think for, so for all of my listeners that have heard me talk about the two different parts of every marketing strategy, you’ve got your growth. Section and you’ve got your nurture section, the growth part of the nurture strategy or marketing strategy, excuse me, the growth part of the marketing strategy is everything you do to get people into your funnel and then your funnel is that nurturing strategy.
It is a type of nurturing strategy. And so that’s how this comes into play with all that we’ve been talking about on the podcast for so long about the different parts of a marketing strategy and how they play into your business. Your sales funnel or any kind of funnel in general, like you said, it all comes down to nurturing your people so that maybe one day they do become a sale, a client, a student, a purchaser, whatever you want to call them in your business.
I’m curious to know, so you talked about how it kind of works and what it looks like for service providers. What does it look like when you’re looking to scale your offers with your business? What does the sales funnel, an evergreen sales funnel look like for that if you’re trying to scale products
Sharice Enis: or offers?
So I think the really great thing about sales funnels or evergreen sales funnels is that they are inherently scalable because you just need to put traffic through them. And when you’ve automated the process and systemize it, you’re able to, um, serve more people and. Increase your reach. And so oftentimes scaling can look like actually just increasing the traffic to the funnel with ads, you know, and it can also look like, um, just doing more.
I think of the visibility and attraction and, you know, creating that growth content that you that you mentioned, which I think that’s actually really great. Point. I’m so glad that you brought up, like, how does the content fit into the sales funnel? Because you have that content that’s going to, uh, you, it could be a blog post.
That’s like going to generate traffic for people who are at that awareness phase. And then you might have a blog post. That’s more about people who are further down who are weighing like, what are my different options? Right. And so you start thinking about your content and these ways of, like, is it nurturing?
Is it. How’s it helping to lead to the sale? I, I just feel like the sales funnel helps bring it all together, brings the content together with your sales strategy together so that they’re all sort of working in harmony. And so when you’re thinking about scaling or just in general, like, I, I think personally, a lot of times it’s, there are more things that you need to do on the backend and asking yourself, is my business.
Able to accommodate scale. Most of the time, if someone is doing like a lot of 1 to 1 work and they want to start offering a course, they may have gotten by doing the 1 to 1 work without a sales funnel because you don’t necessarily have to have some, you know, big complicated sales funnel or even evergreen sales funnel.
And I think a lot of people are able to get by when they’re doing the 1 on 1 work with just. You know, doing a lot of things manually, but when you are looking to scale, you’ve got to start to automate and, um, systemize and streamline everything. And so, um, your sales funnel doesn’t necessarily change. Um, it really depends on like, if you do have any pieces where things are happening manually, you might have to figure out a different efficiency, or maybe that requires hiring someone to do that specific part.
If it’s something that needs that human touch, but. I think that’s the benefit to building in a sales funnel from the beginning or before you actually think you really need one is that you have something that you can scale immediately. It’s like, okay, I want to create this, you know, I want to switch my offer from it being a 1 to 1 to group program or a course.
Now, I just, you know, you’ve already gone through the process. You know what those steps are. You have sort of the foundation and now you’re just applying it to another. Okay. So
Amanda Warfield: if we are, we don’t have a sales funnel yet and we are at that beginner, where do we start with creating one? And then how do we shift it to
Sharice Enis: help grow it over time?
Yeah, absolutely. I think the best place to start is. And actually it depends. I, someone asked me this question recently and I, in answering it, I realized it kind of depends on where you’re starting from. So if you’re really like just beginning, you know, really defining that target audience and that ideal client in that audience that you’re trying to grow, and you’re probably going to be starting out looking more at the strategical stuff, making sure you’re refining your message, figuring out what that lead magnet is.
But for someone who’s. Maybe a little bit more advanced in business, but hasn’t created an evergreen sales funnel or created a sales funnel. If you don’t already have an email list. Okay. It’s like, all right, let me create a lead magnet. Let me take some, you know, top performing topic that I have and turn that into something that people can opt in for, um, and start building an email list.
So like that sort of an actionable step, but the step that I think. Not as fun, not as sexy sounding is really having to sit down and strategize and think about what are the steps. And I really recommend working your way backwards from your offer. So like, this is the offer. What do they need to be ready for that offer?
What do they need to, to know to opt in and sort of step by step sort of breadcrumb what, what the journey looks like for them. Um, and so it may go through many iterations, but really writing it out, having it mapped out. Written out step by step is incredibly important for giving yourself clarity. Also being able to outsource any of the pieces and get help because I’m going to be completely honest.
I am rebuilding a lot of the backend systems of my own business and rebuilding my own sales funnel. And it’s hard when you’re doing it for yourself, when you’re like in the nitty gritty of it in the weeds of it. And so it’s really useful to be able to get outside perspective, but in order to get outside perspective and, um, utilize support, you’ve got to know what you’re, you’ve got to know what your strategy is.
You got to know what your end goal is and, um, have some idea of like how you’re trying to get people there.
Amanda Warfield: That’s, that’s so important. And it’s not talked about enough. And it’s something that. I feel like I’m just preaching over and over and over again is you’ve got to know what your goals are. You’ve got to know what your goals are.
But so often we’re just taught you need this in your business. You need to have a course, you need to have this. And so we create these things without really having a goal in mind, other than I want to make money with it. I want to grow my business with it. And then we get to these, these. strategic parts of trying to figure out our messaging and how we’re going to get people into our funnel and how the funnel is going to take them from beginning to end to student.
And we have no idea how to do any of that because we didn’t have a strategy or a goal in mind when we created it. And so then you’ve got to go all the way back and start over with finding out what that goal is and what it is that you’re trying to accomplish with having this piece in our business.
Yeah, and
Sharice Enis: that’s why, um, I mean, I think you bring up such an excellent point because I see this often, um, or have seen this, like, throughout my time of working with, with people and what happens, I think, because of all the marketing messages we consume, it’s like our goals start to sound a lot like the marketing messages that are out there, and so it’s a lot of like, I’m chasing, all of a sudden we’re chasing six figures, seven figures, and these, these goals that are Maybe they don’t necessarily align with us.
Maybe that’s not exactly what we wanted. And, you know, maybe we want it more time freedom. And I think that’s the intention. A lot of us start our business with is to have more freedom in our day to day to replace our income from the job that we had or to be able to make income sort of independent of having an employer.
And then somewhere along the line, especially too, because we’re passionate, right? We’re passionate about what we do, and we’re trying to build something that plays to our strengths and our interests. But then somewhere along the line, I think there’s all these marketing messages of like, this is the way to do it.
This is the blueprint. This is the formula, or you have to reach 6 figures or 7 figures. And we get kind of sidetracked as to like, what really is the goal and what are we actually trying to accomplish? And I think, unfortunately, as the other piece of that is like, it’s really hard to see what the, what the big picture is with the high level.
Like what, how do all the pieces fit together? And what I love, I think about, you know, shifting your thinking to like thinking about your marketing as the sales funnel is that it really. Brings all the pieces together of like, okay, traffic because you need people, your offer and your sales system and getting it and thinking about it really as a system because that’s where the time freedom lies.
That is inefficiencies in an automation. And so that’s where, you know, for me, I think the, the time freedom piece and being able to make money lies and being able to sort of systemize all of that. Um, it’s not in like, oh, you need to build a course, which I think is what’s often presented is like, oh, in order to scale, you need a course, but no one’s asking or saying you need to think about.
Can my business accommodate that scale? If I all of a sudden have a group program or a membership, you know, can I accommodate those new operations that come with it and the marketing of it? Because I’ll tell you membership sites or even customer or even, um, courses have a deceptive amount of customer service involved on top of that upfront work of like building the thing.
Initially, there’s so much
Amanda Warfield: work. And I think. We’re kind of getting off on a tangent here, but I think it’s an important tangent where I’ve had a conversation over and over and over again, recently with people who have been questioning, well, why don’t you want to hire people? Why don’t you want it? Cause I’m at this place in my business where.
Sharice Enis: I could
Amanda Warfield: hire people to help. Like I have an established business at this point, right? Like I, I have clients, I’ve got offers, like my offers are set. I, you know, I’m set. And I’m at this place where most people look at that and go, okay, well now you need to hire people so that you can grow even farther and you can scale even more.
And I’m like, no, no, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t want to do that. And I get this question of, but why, why would you not want to make more money? Why would you not want to see higher revenue and do all like they can help you grow and scale? And it’s like, but I don’t, I didn’t start my business to manage other people.
I started my business to help with marketing, you know, and I started to help other people simplify what they have going on in their lives. I don’t, I want to keep doing what’s in my zone of genius. I don’t want to hand off all of the things that I love. And then scale just for the sake of scaling.
Sharice Enis: Yeah, I’m so glad that you shared that because The, you know, prominent message out there is to scale, scale, scale more, more, more, you know, I remember when it was like six figure, this six figure that, and now it’s like, you’re starting to see seven figures and it’s like, even, and I’m like, hold on.
Yes. The goalposts just keeps on moving and it can feel really frustrating when you’re like, but I just want to like, sort of work independently. Maybe you want to have a team. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you want to, you know, like you don’t have to do these, these things. And I think the online marketing, not the online marketing world, but the online business world, particularly the, you know, people selling to businesses or the message that’s out there is very much of a.
I found this solution, like, here’s this solution. You have to do it this way to get this result instead of like, there really are a hundred different ways to do this, to build a life that you love and build a business that you love, that looks like what you had envisioned for yourself. And so, yeah, it’s hard to kind of like, you know, take a step back and say, um, you know, okay, this is, this is what I want.
And I, and that’s the other thing that, you know, the other reason why I feel, I think. More, I don’t know if the word is passionate, but just I feel like evergreen sales funnels are not, it’s not a trend. It’s not something that’s going to go away. It’s really rooted in core marketing principles, not fluffy frameworks that someone made up or anything like that.
It’s, it’s And it doesn’t have to be, you know, whether or not you intentionally have created 1 or strategize 1, like you have 1. so you might as well get intentional about it. Right. And fix it. So that, like, it, it works the way that you want it to work. So it can be as hands free as you want it to be. Or if you want it to be manual, it can be.
It doesn’t have to be. Automate it. But that key that I think a lot of people are after, um, with the time freedom piece really lies on creating that efficiency in their marketing. And the best way to do that is with an evergreen sales funnel. So I feel like, you know, if you want to run your business solo, evergreen sales funnel works for you.
If you’re trying to scale to have a team, evergreen sales funnel is a great place to start. And you’ll probably have one as you scale, because that’s the only way you’re going to be able to reach and serve and get more people through your, your pipeline. To my point earlier, I’m certainly
Amanda Warfield: not saying there’s anything wrong with scaling and having a team for anyone listening that’s like, but I want to do that.
That’s great. If that’s what you want to do, I’m 100 percent for it. But I think what we’re talking about here is. What is it that you actually want from your business and not what are other people telling you that you need to have? Cause you’re right. It is that like, well, I did this and it worked really well.
So if you do this exact thing too, you’re going to have a super explosive growth business and it’s going to be crazy and you’re going to make all kinds of money and that’s just not, that’s not how business works. You can’t always be in growth mode and you can’t always see an increase in revenue.
They’re going to be down times and that’s normal. And they’re. Everything that’s out there messaging wise is just growth, growth, growth, growth, growth. It’s like, well, yeah, yes, but also. Look at any, look at Disney. They’re not always growing like they have to, you know? Um, okay. So good tangent. I love that.
I’m glad that we touched on that. If we are ready to start creating our first funnel or revamping a
Sharice Enis: funnel that we already have, what are some
Amanda Warfield: key pieces that we shouldn’t miss within our funnels?
Sharice Enis: Yeah, that is a really great question. So if you’re revamping or looking at a funnel that’s just not performing the way that you expected it to perform, you got to think about your analytics and like your metrics.
And most people, the only metric is like how many followers or subscribers they have or how much money in the bank they’re getting from it. And so while those are important metrics in order to really pinpoint where. Things might be going awry or variables that you might want to play with. You’ve got to sort of track, um, how the different aspects of the sales funnel.
So, like, how many people are landing on the page? And then what is that conversion rate once they’re getting on the page? And then once they’re on the email list, like, what is the conversion rate on your email where the where you’re making the sale or the pitch? Um, so, for for those who already have a sales funnel or have something in place where they’re already creating content to sort of get people down that that.
Pat that pipeline. It’s really more of a reflection, um, and analysis and assessment of what they already have going on to see where they might be missing out for people who are just getting started with a salesman or don’t have one. Uh, like I said earlier. It’s about strategizing. And so sort of working through, and again, you can also like someone who may already have a sales funnel work through what are the steps that people are taking right now?
Like, how are they finding you? Um, what does your sales process look like? And like, what content are you creating? That’s like bringing and gravitating people towards use that you can start to think about. The, you know, your content as that entry point and create that lead magnet so that, um, which a lead mag is really a free resource that you’re providing that they give their email address and first name, uh, for so that they can, so that they can gain access to it and you put them on your email list, which your email list is something that you own.
You own that list. That’s a list of your leads of your contacts. Um, unlike on social media where you don’t own those followers. And if your account is deactivated, those followers are gone. But the great thing about an email list is you can change providers. You get to download that email list and you bring them over to the next provider.
Like it is yours. It is an asset. Um, so that’s where I would begin is taking your content, create that lead magnet and create that first account. Um, welcome sequence so that you are, you know, nurturing them once they become subscribers and, um, building that like no, no, and trust rapport with them so that you can then get them to take the next step.
And I should say, get them to, but encourage them to and give them the information they need to be able to take the next step because that’s really what it is. It’s not about convincing or manipulating people. It’s really about building the report saying, Hey, this is what I do. If. That sounds like something you need, then, you know, we maybe we’re a good fit.
Um, so that would be my, my recommendation is, um, you know, for someone who’s more advanced, take an assessment of what you have going on someone who’s just getting started, you know, take a look at what you’ve got and. Build in that step by step journey. So starting with that, mapping that that out and setting up an email list.
Okay, definitely want to come
Amanda Warfield: back to the customer journey thing, but you touched on this for just a quick second. But how do we know if a funnel is working? And I think this is something where people give up too easily. So how do you know what do you look for? And then, How do you know what to tweak to improve it instead of giving up on it entirely?
Sharice Enis: Yeah. So another potential tangible, hopefully not. Um, I think that there’s like this expectation to have like this crazy fast success and that everything’s going to like convert it like a hundred percent and it doesn’t. So the conversion rates, you might be surprised that some of them are low. So from an email list, You know, sending out sales emails during like a launch or like a campaign that can be like two to five percent conversion,
Amanda Warfield: which can we pause and put actual numbers to that for people that aren’t Matthew.
So like, you’re going to make me do math. Well, we can do really simple math. If there are 100 people on the list, that means two to five people are going to buy. And if you have ever gone through the process of building 100 people on your email list, you know that takes time. And it’s not a, let me put my freebie out and 100 people are going to sign up.
It’s a very slow build. So yes, an important tangent for sure of the numbers are low and it is a high volume. Type of thing to see if it’s
Sharice Enis: working. Yeah. So, and that’s oftentimes people give up and think it’s not working because they’re, but they’re not getting enough traffic, like. They’re just not getting things in front of enough people.
They’re like, I got in front of 15 people, like 15 people is not enough. We need more people. And then also it really depends on your audience. Some people build audiences first and then sort of work their way backwards to monetize them. Like my husband started, he sort of relaunched his coffee roasting business and he has this warm audience and following.
And so like we grew his email list to a hundred people, like super fast. He sells out with every, like, coffee drop and has, like, I don’t know, maybe it’s like a 30 or 40 percent like convert, like, his conversion rates are crazy because he has a small, but very warm audience. Right? So sometimes it’s not. So, yes.
It can be about the numbers, especially when you’re scaling. It’s like high volume. But if you have a already very warm audience, you can like blow those conversion rates out of the water. So it really depends on again, like where you’re where you’re starting from. And I also think that’s that kind of.
Trickles into like, I think that easy success is that sometimes people have success in their business and are like, look, I did this overnight, but it’s like, they didn’t factor in that. Maybe they had a warm audience already that maybe they transitioned and pivoted audience or business that they already like, established.
They went from like, fitness business to like, fitness. Business coach. And now all of a sudden, like, you know, I have shared this story on the
Amanda Warfield: podcast so many times, but I think it’s one that I cannot share enough. I can vividly remember driving home from teaching one day. I’m in the first like year of my business and am very frustrated.
By a lack of success, because I’m not seeing those conversions that I thought would happen, and I’m listening to a podcast episode, and I don’t even remember who it was that was on it, honestly, but I can just remember listening, and the interviewer said, Hey, tell us About how you got started doing this and she goes back and she goes, you know, it’s funny.
I had a blog for five years before I started selling and then I started selling and I made six figures in my first year and I had this epiphany of she had audience that she had built for five years. Five years before she ever tried to sell anything. Of course, she was able to scale really fast and easily.
I don’t have that audience. I’m starting from scratch. I mean, my first year of audience building, this is going to take a lot longer than I thought. Yeah.
Sharice Enis: And I think, and that’s where the content comes in, right? Cause you’re building your audience. And so, I mean, you know, if you already have an audience and then you can put a lead magnet in front of them, your conversion rates might look.
Different. They may have been craving also your niche and topic. It may look different. Exactly. Like if you, you know, some, some niches are, don’t have a lot of competition in them. Still. Um, I have a client who works specifically with. With therapists, speech therapists, and there’s not a lot specific to them.
And this is why people say to niche down. And this is what I talked about earlier getting clear. Like, if you’re really just getting started, really getting clear on what your target target audiences and I think within that means, you know, to be specific because, you know, being specific and you build that audience, um, build rapport with them, you’re building things specific to them that can actually help your conversion rates.
So, you know, to get, I think back to our topic of like, how do you know if your sales funnel is working or the things to, to tweak from one standpoint, there’s the actual tech. So, like, running through it and making sure that it’s actually working, because, you know, a broken page could be the thing that’s actually, or a form that’s not working or an email that’s not sending can actually be the thing that’s.
Breaking it, um, but it can be like your messaging and your targeting and like making sure that your message resonates and it’s specific to, you know, to the, to the people who you’re trying to attract and that you are speaking to, in my opinion, speaking to their desires, um, not only just speaking to the pain points, um, I think speaking to their desires and their visions is also really important and you’ll see a difference in sort of the, the, who you attract in that.
So messaging, and so, and as I had mentioned before, it’s, you know, to know that this is working is looking at those conversion rates and, you know, to do that, depending on your platform or what you’re using. I mean, Google analytics is a great tool to use. It’s a little, there’s a bit of a learning curve there.
But you have to also look at the traffic. So you have to keep in mind, like, did 15 people see this? Did 100 people see this? Did 1000 people see this? Did the right people see it? Um, so there really are actually a lot of variables that go into. Um, a sales funnel, which is which is why it’s great to start with organic and it’s great.
If you can start with, like, if you already have somewhat of an audience built that where you can, like, test your messaging with, um, but you really just want to test each variable and individually and don’t change them. Too much and you want to give something time you want to be like, you know, check in at at a 30 day mark, check in at a 60 day, 90 day mark and you can always like, check in, like, especially if you’re running ads, you want to check in sooner than that.
Um, but you just as long as you’re tracking those analytics and you can see, um. You’re not changing everything all at once. You know, getting feedback. I think a lot of people don’t ask for feedback often enough because that can be really helpful to hear what your audience is saying or thinking or, you know, was this helpful for them or ask, you know, even just asking them.
I think the best way to figure out what your lead magnet should be is to ask your audience what topics underutilized
Amanda Warfield: comment. Way to just get market research. Essentially we think of market research is this big, like I’ve got to hop on calls or I’ve got to send out a survey and you can literally just put up a question on Instagram and see what comes out of it because the people that are most engaged with you, even if you don’t get a ton of responses, you’re going to get the people that are most engaged with you and they’re going to be the ones that are going to download whatever you create next or go listen to whatever episode you put out or whatever that may look like.
Sharice Enis: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it’s a really an easy way, um, to get the, um, You know, to get that sort of feedback and I think interviews or, you know, being able to speak with people is is also really great. But also you can just observe in Facebook groups that you’re that they’re in and see what questions are they asking?
That’s a really great way to figure out. Okay. These are the topics they’re interested in. This is what they want more of. It’s better than trying to funnel hack someone else’s funnel. Um, you can always look at someone’s funnel and say, okay, I like that strategy. But the thing is, you don’t know what’s happening on the back end.
You don’t know if it’s actually working for them. You don’t know what kind of like crazy complicated mess there could be. So it’s better to, um, you know, you can be inspired by like, Oh, I like that strategy, but it’s better than trying to just funnel hack someone else’s funnel and be like, okay, I’m going to do that.
Same. Exact thing is to go and sort of do your own market research and, you know, create your own strategy and message so that it stands out. And so that’s unique to you.
Amanda Warfield: Yeah. And so that it builds that customer journey that you’ve mentioned a few times, which how in the world do we even go about starting to think about building a customer journey into a funnel?
Yeah.
Sharice Enis: So like I mentioned, the The sort of customer journey or like buyers process really goes into these phases of like the first one being awareness. So they need to be aware. They need to be either where that they have a problem. They need to be aware that you exist. And so that’s. So that’s the starting place for every customer.
So whether or not you have a sales funnel, they need to be aware that there’s an issue and then, or that, that they have a problem. And then there’s, let’s say they’re searching on Google and they find you, um, because maybe you don’t have maybe a strategic funnel. So maybe they just find you. By chance, because of SEO on Google or something, um, and then they, you know, what is the next step from there?
So you really want to think about, okay, if someone becomes aware of this problem, where are they looking for answers or solutions or help? Like, where are they hanging out? And so, like, the mention of the Facebook groups, how are they going to become aware of me and that I exist? So that’s like your attraction strategies, the things that you’re doing to be visible.
And then interest is, okay, how am I nurturing them and taking them further, which can be and is like your, your email sequence, but it also could be other content that speaks deeper to the thing that you do, like, that would speak to someone who’s like, okay, I’m interested in this, but I need more information.
And so, so that’s how you begin to sort of map that out. And when you don’t already have this in place, but if you’re listening, I’m assuming you’re already creating content, right? You can start with. Okay. They’re finding me through this content. I’m building awareness through this content. What do I, what do I think would be the next logical step?
You can also look at if you do have data, like, what is the, the next step that people have been taking or what seems to be the next. Best popular piece of content. I have that people are consuming or what’s getting the most engagement. And then the other piece of that is really thinking about what do you want your sales process or customer journey to look like?
What does it need to look like? What are you selling? Because selling a 10, 000 offer versus, you know, something that’s
Um, you know, we’re selling something that’s 97 like that doesn’t require a sales call, but, you know, selling something that’s 500 or something over 1, 000. You’re going to have that, that sales call something that’s 500. You may not be having a sales call, but they’re probably a lot more nurturing a lot more touch points.
And getting them to, you know, make that that, um, decision that purchase decision. So it really depends on the offer. It depends on, you know, what you want it to look like. And I say that in terms of, like, if you’re working with people, 1 on 1. Maybe you need to have an application where you are or inquiry form where you’re weeding out people who are not going to be a good fit for, and you’re not going to jump on a sales call with them, you know, or maybe you want to have a sales call with every single potential lead and talk to them.
And what does the follow up after that sales call look like? Because that’s the other piece. It doesn’t just sort of end at the sales call, and it kind of doesn’t really just end at the. Sales funnel, like to take it a step further, especially if you’re still doing that one on one, like managing your leads and following up with your leads and also following up with your customers is a great way to add more revenue to your business without having to attract more clients, working with people, you know, getting customer repeat business, um, is much more cost effective than having to always have this pipeline full of fresh people.
Thank you. And so that’s again where it’s like, okay, there are some variables where it really depends on what your specific situation is. But the basics really is, what are you doing? Like, starting with that awareness phase and then okay, what’s the, what’s going to be that next step of interest? Am I inviting them to a sales call?
Am I inviting them to take a quiz or is it a free consultation that they’re getting or free to Discovery call. And then, okay, what happens after that? So it’s just sort of like, you know, this continual and then what and then what happens and then what happens until you get to the end. So
Amanda Warfield: for someone who is feeling unsure about their customer journey, you offer 15 minute assessments, right?
Can you tell us a little bit about
Sharice Enis: those? Yeah, so a free 15 minute assessment, um, if you already have a funnel, this is great because we can take a look at what you already have in place and we’ll look at your Funnel strategy, we’ll look at the offer and we’ll look at your messaging to see what areas, if any, have opportunities for improvement.
Oftentimes, there are some areas, even if it’s like doing pretty well, there’s usually something that we can do in terms of like the messaging or maybe a little tweak to the strategy because messaging can really be as finicky as like saying something like get clients versus attract clients can Drastically change who you’re actually attracting, which sounds crazy, but it can.
So it’s like, you know, for someone who already has something, we’re looking to like fine tune and optimize it for someone who’s just getting started or like maybe has like, um. Like, uh, I don’t want to say like a simple funnel or a basic funnel or, um, maybe doesn’t have one. We can talk about the different strategies that could be that we could use and align that up to your offer and your specific goals and your goals, not only being the monetary goals, but like how you want your business to run and feel, because I think that’s the piece that.
To, to me, I just feel like we’re, we’re missing so much of that. So for, um, people who don’t have something in place, it’s really great opportunity to get some outside perspective on what you could possibly build in a way that’s going to support you and your customers. How can someone sign up for one of those?
Yeah, so you can go to shresenco. com and sign up for the free assessment. There’s a link on my site and you’ll be able to go straight to my calendar. Book a time and there’s a little form where you’ll get to tell me more about your business. And so I’ll do my homework before we sign up, uh, before we chat together and this way, so that you really are getting the most out of that 15 minutes.
It’s not like 15 minutes of me trying to figure out what’s going on with your business. I come prepared and. We chat about those things. I give you a follow up and it’s not a, you know, it’s not a discovery call like disguise or sales call or anything like that, it’s really just about giving you some feedback and helping you so that you can, you know, get to that, get to that next level.
Amanda Warfield: We will link to that in the show notes friends so that you guys could take advantage of that. Sharice, if you could give everyone just one action step to take today, what would it be? I would
Sharice Enis: say to start digging into your analytics actually so that you can make some data driven decisions. And I think that’s something that anyone can do wherever they are, um, in the process.
So start looking at your data.
Amanda Warfield: I love that so much. Is there any specific piece of data that you would recommend everyone starting to
Sharice Enis: track? I think the Best piece would be, I’d say, I guess it really depends on, like, what your platform is, but I would look at, like, what’s your top performing content? Like, what’s getting people engaged?
What’s getting people coming to you? Because I will say the biggest challenge when someone has a funnel is traffic. It’s the traffic piece. Um, and so, like I said, right, like, when you have those, like, People who have those anomalies sort of conversion rates that are outside of the benchmarks. It’s usually because they’ve spent a lot of time building up an audience and now they’re catering directly to that audience that they built.
And so they’re seeing like, these crazy conversion rates. And so if you can understand. And really get to know what pieces of content and like who that target audience is through your data. Um, not just by asking them, cause sometimes people will say things, but it’s, it’s not exactly true. Um, then you’ll set yourself up for creating a funnel based on data that will just increase the chances of it working well and performing really well.
I
Amanda Warfield: love that. And if you had a book recommendation, one book that everyone should go read, what would it be?
Sharice Enis: Ooh, and it doesn’t have to be
Amanda Warfield: a business book, right? No, it doesn’t. Any book, any, I mean, an audiobook counts
Sharice Enis: as well. Well, I feel like everyone’s reading Atomic Habits. I started reading that, so I’m actually not going to say that one.
I’m going to say John Acoff’s Finish. Um, I think it’s actually a really good compliment to Atomic Habits, and I listened to it as an audiobook, and I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed his, he read it. So I really enjoyed listening to him read it. And I think there’s a chapter, um, about goals and he talks about making goals fun.
And I think for me that was like my biggest takeaway from the book about turning my goals from like, I need this to like, I want this, I want to help. This many new business owners, or this many women do achieve X, you know, like changing it from like conversion numbers and KPIs to like something that feels human just feels so, it just feels so different.
I feel like that’s just
Amanda Warfield: perfectly full circle with all that we’ve talked about today, too, of just making your goals and your business totally your own and what you actually want versus what you’re being told to want. Yeah. Charisse, thank you so much for being here. I know that everyone has probably pages and pages of notes right now of things to consider and think about as they go into implementing and tweaking their own sales funnels.
Where can they find you to continue learning more about
Sharice Enis: funnels? Yeah. So I. Really am active on Instagram. Um, so that’s the best place. That’s the best social network to find me on. And I hope to launch a Facebook group. I don’t know if Facebook groups are in or out, but I just want to keep the conversation going and build more community.
So if. That sounds like something you’re interested in. Definitely go connect with me on
Amanda Warfield: Instagram. Perfect. Thank you again for being here today. I really appreciate it.
Sharice Enis: Yeah. Thank you for having me.
Thank you so much for joining me here today, friend.
Amanda Warfield: You can find this episode show notes as well as all the resources you need to simplify your marketing over at amandawarfield. com. If you liked what you heard here today, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode. And if you could take a moment to leave a rating and review, it would truly mean the world to me.
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