Fixing the Holes In Your Sales Funnel

I have a friend in Portland, Oregon who is not only a great businessman but also an incredible advertising guru. In one of his recent blogs he wrote about fixing a company's sales funnel.

He said if your advertising is not producing the results you want, there are probably two issues to consider:

1. There's something wrong with the advertising

or

2. The advertising is fine but there is something wrong at your business. Prospects are entering the sales funnel but you are letting them slip away before they become customers.

My friend goes on to tell a story about how he and his wife needed a fence installed in their backyard. His wife called three companies.

Company #1: salesman came out, took some measurements and promised to call with an estimate. My friend never heard from him again.

Company #2: The receptionist at this fencing company took my friend's wife name and number. Nobody ever called back.

Company #3: Salesman came to the house. Took measurements. Went through all the options available to my friend and his wife. Company #3 got the job. Walked away with a deposit. He got the rest of the money when the job was complete.

Companies #1 and #2 may say their advertising is not working or they may say the economy is slow or they might cite both reasons why their top line revenue numbers are not coming in where they projected.

My friend wrote that either one of the companies could have had his business if they had practiced a very simple sales principle -- follow up.

The question then becomes how many other jobs have they lost because they are lax in this one area.

How many jobs are YOU losing? It could be that you need to use some putty to fix the holes in your sales funnel.

If your funnel is working well and you just need more people entering in, then send me a note at thecopee@gmail.com. I've got a number of success stories where I've helped companies double their top line revenues. Perhaps I could help you do the same.