The Five Proven Steps To Make Every Sale

Funnels are dead.

Well…not quite dead…not exactly dead…just limited.

But pipelines…those things are dead.

Okay, okay. They’re also kinda sorta alive…just limited as well.

(Be leery of anyone you see or hear screaming about “SEO IS DEAD!” or “SOCIAL MEDIA IS DEAD!” or whatever. You know they have something to sell ya. But I digress.)

The reality is, in much the same way addition and subtraction and multiplication are foundational components of how the universe is analyzed, they are baby steps within the world of higher-order mathematics.

Funnels are great tools in your marketing

The concept allows you to visualize capturing leads from far and wide, then sorting, sifting, and separating until a “good” lead squirts out the bottom.

They might look like this:

Pipelines are great tools in your marketing

The concept allows you to visualize working leads from “infant” to “adult” or “I might be in the market” to “I’m so glad I found you, and I can’t wait to get started using what you offer.”

It might look like this:

Funnels and Pipelines Are Just Limited

Just like there’s much more to math than just addition and subtraction, there’s a whole heck of a lot more to growing your company than just funnels and pipelines.

Your people must realize they are all in sales.

Everything anyone does in your company attracts or repels your prospects and their associates.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• How you answer the phone

• How quickly you return a call

• How you leave voicemails

• How you engage prospects in real-time, i.e., on the phone, over video calls, in person, as well as via email and even SMS to include your grammar, punctuation, and language

• What your website looks like both on desktops and mobile

• How quickly your website loads

• How you communicate, i.e., your tonality, rate of speech, volume, grammar, punctuation, and language, i.e., is it erudite (Ha, just using that word makes me feel like a snob) and uptight, colloquial, cordial, foul, or friendly?

• How you look personally, i.e., the clothes you wear, how you smell, the jewelry you do or do not wear, your office backdrop in videos, etc.

• How do you present yourself, i.e., your office, your car, your marketing material, demo equipment, etc.?

• How your product is packaged and shipped

• How your people coordinate and deliver your services

This is why I say…

To Make Any Sale, You Must Make Every Sale

Every touchpoint, every moment of every interaction with your prospects and customers is a sale.

Yes, you are still selling your customers even after they “sign on the line which is dotted.” (Name the iconic but sales-harming movie.)

Heck, you are selling your customers, ESPECIALLY after they sign.

It’s like being married.

The relationship/courtship is not over when you and your fiance say “I do” in front of God, family, and friends.

That’s when it really starts.

Ditto for your customers.

You should over-deliver once your prospects become customers.

This reassures them that they made the right decision.

They lean into your recommendations and training.

They optimistically and enthusiastically use your products and services.

They look for and expect good things to happen as they begin working with you and are more gracious and forgiving when glitches happen.

This gets them singing your praises.

When that happens, they buy again while telling their friends and family about you.

This reduces your acquisition costs and shortens your sales cycles, which means you are now growing.

To illustrate this, I created The A.B.C.D.E. Sales & Marketing System with the headline, The Five Proven Steps To Make Every Sale.

You can see the continuously reinforcing power of this model that can and does incorporate funnels and pipelines but multiplies them.

Pay attention to how you attract/repel your best prospects.

Develop and deploy a multi-media, multi-step approach to bond with those prospects until you convert them into happy customers.

That is when you deliver a WOW experience. Delight them, and you will endear yourself to them.

Customers who are thrilled with you will attract more business to you.

Simple. Not easy.

But nothing worth doing is ever easy.

Need some help?

I know a guy.

Market like you mean it.

Now go sell something.