Why you aren't getting clients and how to fix your funnel
This week, I wanted to jump on and talk about something that I've really been thinking about a lot as a website designer. And that is if you're not getting clients, where is the problem? Is the problem really with your website or is it somewhere else? So I want to go over how you can figure out if the problem is with your website design or if it's somewhere else along the way.
So basically, you are a service provider or a coach. You're not getting clients like you want to in your business. Why is that? What I like to do when I'm thinking about this is start backwards. So the problem we know: we're not getting clients, but where in the pipeline is that happening?
Are your sales calls converting?
[00:00:48] What I always look at first is am I getting sales calls? If I'm getting people signing up for sales calls, but they're not turning into clients, then I need to find somewhere in that range where the problem is. So it might be with the sales call, what you're saying, how it's going, all of that stuff. Maybe you're not answering enough objections.
[00:01:12] Or it could be with the follow up. So you've had a sales call. Somebody says yes, or they say, I'm going to think about it. And then your follow up. Really moving them to take action. So that could be where your problem is if you have sales calls, but you're not getting clients from them, you've really gotta look at the sales calls themselves. You gotta look at that follow up. You gotta look at the onboarding process.
[00:01:38] And this is where I love Dubsado, because you can use it to create a proposal that's one step. They get the proposal, they see what they're going to get, they sign the contract, they sign the invoice. It's all together and you're eliminating any friction because you are eliminating extra steps that somebody might have to take.
If you aren't getting sales calls
[00:01:59] The second place you need to look is if you are not getting sales calls, which you need to sell your program or your service, but you are getting people to apply to your program. So they're filling out the application, wherever that may be, but they're not actually getting on a call with you. Well, what is the problem there?
[00:02:19] The problem there is maybe in the follow up to get them to sign up for the call., Maybe it's how you respond to the application. Maybe you're just not replying quickly enough. So if somebody fills out an application, you need to send them an automatic email that says, "I got your application. I'm going to review it. I'll get back to you within 48 hours." And that way, you know that people have heard from you and they're going to be looking forward to that next email.
[00:02:50] The other issue here might be that the people applying are not actually a good fit for your service. And that's why you're not getting sales calls is because you're telling them, this isn't how I want to work, this isn't what I do, you need somebody else.
Messaging on your website
[00:03:04] If that's the case, we need to go back to the next step and look at messaging. That's also the case if you are not getting people applying to begin with. So if you do not have people applying to your program, you need to look at your website. You need to look at that application. Why aren't they taking action? When somebody comes to your website, you want it to be super clear as soon as they land on your homepage, what it is that you do, who you work with and the transformation that you give them. So you want to cover all of those things as they journey through your website.
[00:03:48] I always tell people, start with your homepage. That's going to be the biggest landing page on your site. They're going to see that I in the right? And if it's not clear from the very beginning, they're going to bounce off to somewhere else. If it is clear, then they're going to keep scrolling down your page and you want to dive deeper into that transformation. Let them really know that you understand who they are, you understand what they're struggling with, and you are ready to help them.
Designing your homepage for conversions
[00:04:18] On the homepage, you can then direct them to their next step. I choose call this the, choose your own adventure section. You've probably helped heard me talk about it before, but this is where they get to choose. Do I want to go to the blog and get the free content to start? Am I ready to sign up for their service, their big high ticket package? Or do I want to maybe sign up for a consulting session or buy a freebie or sign up for their newsletter list? Give them a way to self select where they are in the process of working with you.
Designing your sales page
[00:04:55] From there, most people are going to go either to sign up for one of those things, or they're going to go to your sales page. I really encourage you, even if you're selling a service, write it as a sales page. So make sure that you have all of those elements that people are going to need in order to make a decision on whether or not they want to work with you.
[00:05:20] Go through your page and start with the headline, call to action. And then talk more about who it is that you work with and the transformation you're going to bring. Walk through your entire process in a way that makes it very clear what your clients get out of working with you, not the deliverables themselves. Those are important, but what they're really looking for are the benefits. What is the benefit of working with you over someone?
[00:05:48] So as a website designer, I know that anybody who comes to my website is looking for a designer. They're going to get a website from anybody that they hire for that task. But my benefits are that you get it done in one day. It is a custom design, it's not a template that we're install. It's easy for you to edit when you're done, because you've got tutorial videos, it's designed in a way that you can go in and make edits without having to worry about things breaking. I also understand the journey that somebody takes through a website, so I have the strategy piece. I'm not just making something that looks pretty, we are making sure your website is actually going to convert into more clients or more sales.
[00:06:42] Once people look at your sales page and they have a good idea. They're probably going to check out your about page, they want to know a little bit more about you, especially if you're a coach or you're working one on one with somebody. So you want to make sure that page is very clear, not just about you and your journey, but why your journey relates to them.
Benefits vs. features
[00:07:01] I was just reviewing a website the other day for someone who offers lessons on ocean safety and surfing. And so her about section talks about how she has spent 10,000 hours in the water. She's been a lifeguard for 15 years, whatever that is. Those are really relevant details when it comes to learning ocean safety. You want to learn that from somebody who knows it inside and out and can give you the best, the most accurate information. So that's what should be on your home about.
[00:07:36] You also want to include things like stats, where you're talking about in actual numbers, what are the results that your clients have gotten? So my clients have grown their email list to 4,000 plus subscribers, or they've increased their sales by 115% in the six months after we launched. Really sell with numbers, because people want to know that they're going to get an ROI on their investment with you.
The importance of your contact page
[00:08:05] Finally on your website, you're going to have your contact page. Now this is two different things. So on your sales page, you will have a way to apply to work with you. That might be signing up directly for a sales call. It might be filling out an application whichever way you want to do that to make sure people are qualified.
[00:08:26] On your contact page, you're going to have a form that is much simpler that allows people to get in touch with you for whatever it is they're interested in. I really just have a name, email subject message. And if possible, if you're using a CRM like Dubsado, let them choose what they're interested in, whether it's working with you or being a guest on your podcast, or if they have another type of question and that way you can send an automatic reply that gives them the next step.
[00:08:59] So on my contact page, if somebody says, I'm interested in working with you, the automatic reply that they get to their inbox has the application to work with me. So they're still going through that same process and I'm able to pre-qualify them before I offer a sales call.
[00:09:18] So that's what you need to look for on your website. If you are not getting applications to work with you, or you're not having people sign up for sales calls, but you have people coming to your website, the problem is in the design and the strategy of the site. Maybe it's confusing because you've got a million different options and people aren't sure what to. Maybe they don't know what it is that you focus on, or if you're a good fit. You need to make sure all those things are super clear.
Reviewing your marketing if you are't getting clients
[00:09:48] Now, what happens if you've got a website, you're not getting applications, but you're actually not getting any traffic. This is where you need to know your analytics. I'm not huge on making sure you have the most visitors to your website ever because you don't need a million people to come to your website in order to have a sustainable business. But you do have to have some people come to your website. So I like to use Google Analytics, you can set that up with pretty much any platform, even on Squarespace, Google Analytics is going to give you more information.
[00:10:24] So go into your Google analytics and look at the amount of traffic that you're getting. If you are not getting anybody landing on your website, that's the reason nobody's applying. They can't apply if they don't know about you. So you want to make sure that traffic is coming to your site. If you do have a lot of traffic, that's where you want to look at the design of your site, you want to make sure there are no broken links or anything, but if they're not coming to your site to begin with, then you need to go step back and look at the marketing.
[00:10:56] Look at your messaging that you're sharing in wherever it is that you are bringing people to start learning about your business, whether that's on Instagram, on YouTube, on a podcast, maybe you're a guest on podcasts or a speaker at summits. If that thing that you're doing for your marketing isn't resonating, people aren't going to go to your website and so on down the line. If they don't go to your website, they're not going to know how to work with you. They're not going to apply, they're not going to become clients. So you need to start from the problem and work your way back step by step to see where is the leak in this funnel.
The simple funnel that works for service providers
[00:11:38] So I talk about, I don't love 47 step funnels, but anything you've got that moves people from one stage of awareness to another and becoming a client, is a funnel. So this is just a really simple one because there are no extra opt-ins, or upsells and downsells. It's just they learn about you, they go to your website, they qualify themselves to work with you, they apply and then they become clients.
[00:12:03] If that journey isn't happening, where is the problem? And that's really what I like to take a look at with people. When I give them go through their questionnaire, I ask them, are you getting traffic to your website and how much? Where do you get your leads from? Is it referrals and so maybe they're not coming from Instagram or do you get most of your people from social media or a podcast? You've gotta figure out where the problem is in order to solve the problem. Because if you spend all your time working on your Instagram, but it's actually really popular and you're getting a lot of people to your website and they're falling off when they get there, your problem is not on Instagram, your problems on your website.
[00:12:43] Or it might be that your website looks great, you worked with a designer, it's strategically laid out. You've got all the messaging there, but you're not pointing people to it from your marketing side of things.
[00:12:56] So I really encourage you to just check all of that out, go through step by step, working backwards and see where you might be having issues if you're not getting the number of clients that you want. And remember, you don't have to have a ton of traffic to your website in order to get clients. One of my clients sells a high ticket course that is very intensive. She has a lot of one-on-one time with her students. She doesn't get more than 600 people to her website a month, but she fills that program every time she launches because the right people are coming. And because she's doing some marketing outside of her website to make sure that people know about her business and what she's doing. So some people are coming to her website through search, but those aren't generally the people that are going to sign up for a $4,000 course right away. She's doing the marketing outside of that, they go to her website to really learn how to work with her and get her genius through this course, and that's when they sign up.
[00:14:00] So you've got to figure out where the problem is. Don't just worry about getting more followers or getting more visitors to your website because that's not going to fix the problem. The problem is you've gotta get the right people there and you've got to direct them in the right path so that you can get more clients in your business and build it sustainably, whatever that looks like for you.
