Just maybee..you are losing money by building out funnels

Yes, Good post Dr. It is about developing your relationship with your list and not going for the huge list that is non responsive!

I'm building my list but I'm doing using a funnel with SMS text messaging and it's looking great.

P.S. If I'm not mistaking you posted a business eBook that sold on Amazon also reviewed by (Perry Marshal) I can't remember the name of that eBook? Hope it makes sense. Doe anybody know the tittle?

OK, LOL I just meant that I thought- That weeks ago you had posted the name and tittle of that business eBook that is sold on Amazon. Sorry I don't mean to change your threads intend. Thank You! :-)

Oh Ewen...you thrive on controversy.

I must admit some of my best clients have come through no funnel although they recognised that I might of perhaps been doing something that they thought was what they wanted.

Recently I was fortunate enough to spend some quality time with one of the sales managers for Clickbank and during our conversation we talked about the direction CB was taking in relation to physical products.

One of the reasons that CB was pursuing physical products was to capture some of the revenue from clients who had built out their businesses particularly in the health and fitness niches and were looking for more revenue.

These businesses already had huge client bases and were supplying their clients with supplements amongst other physical products that CB couldn't capitalise on.

CB recognises that people build out funnels.

Now...the economics and logistics of building out a funnel for every business....well...

...what's a funnel?

My offline business services clients who require physical products either through an offline store location or an online ecommerce website.

For my offline business...do I have a funnel?

If you consider I have a loyalty system and referral system and will usually get patronised by the same client over a number of years....

....then yes that is a funnel.

Online I have training programs that are automated and have some follow-up systems to help prospects and clients ascend to greater engagement.

Usually the best online training clients want the whole enchilada right off the bat however.

It is somewhat harder to get a client to ascend later on down the track...

....but without the funnel type setup in place would I get the "best client" up front?

It is food for thought and I'm sure different businesses approach the funnel design in different ways.

For example....I have a youtube channel with over 7k subscribers in what I thought was a relatively small niche...

...they continuously engage and want more content...

...should I deny them access to a funnel?

Obviously we need some type of markering, but i think not focusing on your existing clients and past clients is a sure fire way go home with empty pockets.

Hi everybody,

Turns out I'm the guy that Dr. E is referring to in his original post. Everything he's said is factually correct, but he left out a lot of contexual information that would help people gain a better understanding of what I'm doing.

First of all, I've been in the marketing business for many years, decades even. Over the years some of the things I've observed, as they say, is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. For example, 15 years ago, email marketing, Facebook, SEO, social media were unheard of. Now these tools and things like Twitter and SMS are used to communicate our marketing messages to a highly targeted (sophisticated even) audience.

But I'm here to tell you, and I don't have the stats for this, what nearly everyone on the WF seems to either have forgotten, or never learned, is that people buy from people, not computer screens. Yes I know all about Amazon and yes it works for them; you ain't Amazon.

I mentioned I've been around awhile, and I've earned the right to be a 'senior' marketer, which simply means that I'm not ready to retire, I'm having too much fun. I figure as long as I have my smartphone, laptop, and an internet connection, my office is open for business where ever I am.

But here's where I started doing some serious thinking and strategizing back in January 2015 about my business future. I love marketing, I love helping retail business owners, lawyers, business professionals solve their marketing challenges and obstacles. But here's the problem I was having. I was on the treadmill, constantly pounding the pavement to develop and groom my next prospects for potential projects. I'd twist an arm, cut my price, do whatever it took to get an assignment to work on. And then after investing twice the hours I'd quoted to do a good job, the client wasn't quite satisfied; you know the drill. Then you had to invest countless hours chasing your money. Sigh. Frankly it was getting to be a serious drag.

And then it occurred to me...one of the things I've brought up repeatedly with my business consulting clients over the years, is that it requires 7 times more energy and resources (i.e. money) to recruit a new customer or a client, as it does to separate an existing client from still more of their money by offering even more of your products and services. Existing customers and clients are the easiest people to sell to, especially if you've done good work in the past. And better yet, contacting them isn't a 'cold call'.

So I scanned through my own client list and realized I had roughly 10-15 clients or internal business projects I was working on that were consistently sending me projects or assignments to work on. I called the CEO or business owner for each of those clients and set up a quiet lunch meeting to discuss plans, goals, business opportunities for 2015. And of course the discussion invariably came around to my experience in solving some of the marketing issues they were dealing with. Simultaneously I just shut down all of my outbound focused marketing work. Cold turkey.

So, 8 months into 2015 my personal sales results have gone through the roof. As I write this, I have 22 active marketing projects underway at the moment, the smallest one is $990. I told Ewen in a phone conversation recently that during the past month of August I INVOICED more than double what I did for ALL 12 months of 2014. This core group of clients trust me that the work product they'll get always exceeds their expectations, and they won't get gouged for it. What's really interesting is that I have one client (a law firm) that's given me a company credit card so I can charge invoices and travel related expenses as soon as my team and I complete projects. Cool huh?

And that's all well and good, but you want to know the best part? I'm not wasting 40% my day trying to impress some unknown low quality inexperienced business manager prospect that I'm the bees knees in marketing. I'm not spending my day justifying to a new prospect why I want to do this specific task, what the outcome is going to be, and 'How much is this gonna cost again?' And more importantly, I know that the clients I'm working with, will pay me within a day or two of getting my invoice. Guess how much time I've spent this year trying to get paid? Earlier this year, one of those 10-15 clients gave me a bit of trouble paying me on time as agreed, and I responded by inviting them to solve their marketing problems elsewhere.

I don't want to come across as arrogant, because I've really been exceptionally blessed this year. But over time I've drawn a pretty tight line between an inexperienced business owner who wants a free education at my expense, and a business client who recognizes the ultimate value of what I provide them. And obviously it's been successful, because they keep sending me more and more money.

Hope this clarifies Ewen's original post.

Talltom

Hi Savidge, and Ron,

Appreciate your insights to my post.There's a lot of wisdom there.

I wanted to directly respond to a point that Savidge was making here about my strategy of building personal relationships with people to capture more business. There's probably a dozen reasons I can quickly give you for the success of that strategy versus merely skimming the surface of the pond by capturing orders online.

You implied that it was a generational thing on my part that I gravitated toward that methodology, and you'd be entirely wrong.

I agree that working via the online social media route would make sense...if I were in fact targeting the 18-35 yo market you identified. But none of the people I'm working with fall into that demographic.

Secondly, I'll tell you point blank that the reason I've enjoyed the success I've had recently is because I have cultivated a working relationship with key clients that enables me to show them what marketing services they need to buy, versus them buying online whatever products and services they THINK they need to have.

talltom