This is sheer genius, and it's free!

You got it. Let me simplify things so that you can begin accessing this kind of thinking right now.

THE FUNNEL:

The way most marketers do things (including me, pretty much, until now) is this:

Lead Magnet (free report, ebook, etc.) > Autoresponder series that ends ends with offer for core product that you want to sell.

And that's pretty much that. Maybe you toss in a one time offer or upsell at time of purchase.

Deiss's way of thinking (which I expect is influenced by Dan Kennedy and some other folks) is this:

Lead Magnet > Indoctrination Series (a few posts about who you are and why you're so happy to serve them) > Tripwire Offer (offer for very inexpensive product that qualifies them as a customer) > Engagement series that leads to your core product offer > Upsells (with multiple options so that if the first upsell isn;t to their liking, the second might be)

The up the ascension ladder to group coaching, high end events, etc.

His key tweak to the process is the Tripwire, which makes tons of sense.


THE MACHINE

This was my "aha!" moment.

I always looked at sales funnels as being for new leads, thus putting more emphasis on generating traffic and new leads. That's still important, but the key thinking about the "machine" is that you constantly cycle your existing leads through the funnel process, keeping them engaged and active. This is different from how most marketers treat their list, which is "I'll send my current list offers every so often". This model argues that you continually treat them as new, and work to engage them in each new offer, not simply present it to them cold.

That in itself isn't revolutionary, but it's the clarity and simplicity of how Deiss taught it and frames your entire sales process was really eye opening.


As I said, this isn't 100% new thinking, it's just pulled together in a way that makes much more sense than any of this ever has before. Hope it helps you!

I don't use Aweber but I use the CRM inside of Premium Web Cart.

The way their CRM is structured is one big list with various people being assigned to different funnels and sales paths nested inside the funnels. The prospects can also be assigned to staff or associated coaching or appointment type sequences.

I can think of three ways I'd do it that have various levels of automation. One of which has some manual input.

I personally use a manual step in my sequences because the products I sell have a wide variety of variables apart from the digital product side which doesn't need any manual input.

For one client for whom I manage their lead gen we add a manual step because the three main products they sell are $6.5K, $14K and $22.5K so adding a manual component ensures accuracy and better follow up even though we've run it automatically in the past I found the addition of a manual step which added personal sales call or personal email increased conversions and also allowed for additional tagging during that process.

They still were in a automated sequence but after receiving the first mailing they couldn't be advanced until a staff member had checked the record, tags, assignments etc.

Much like you describe how you can assign a tag or label to a customer as they enter the list but I haven't found a way to totally do what you are thinking without adding a couple of steps.

One is an automated process utilising Action Links.


If you had say three different products that different people had opted in to receive (you'd tag each via the form) they could all be taken to the first sales path - auto responder sequence where the first email would be to ask for feedback or a rating on the product or download.

The rating link could be an action link specific to the product and by clicking that link the customer is assigned to a different sales path.

Another similar type approach is in segmenting before they enter the list with a two step opt-in where when they select the lead magnet of choice it pops the opt-in form that just drops them into the specific segmented list.

Other methods we use inside the CRM are assigning tags to individuals and this involves a manual step.


The other is to mass assign a group of people to a funnel or sales path.


The easiest is dissection before opt-in via conditional forms or the two step situation I described.

I'd say the most reliable method is manually but then we are only dealing with 12-15 leads per day who have undertaken a self-assessment test to check eligibility for specific types of surgery and we don't really want to segment them fully until they've had a consultation with a patient relationship officer who then assesses the finer details and organises a further consultation with a psychologist and a surgeon before they end up in an individual surgical procedure based funnel..