Liberating your sales funnel boils down in its simplest form to two words for me – people and planning. 

Whether you have a product or a service, at the bare bones profit is generated from people who do business with you.  It’s the people who pay you, refer you and /or continue to do business with you that are your livelihood.

So the question becomes about accessing the people who produce sales for your business.  The word “sales” can bring butterflies to the stomach of some business owners including myself.  What I have come to realize is that we have all practiced sales at some point in our lives and probably continue to do so daily without even realizing.  With a dazzling smile and stellar character my husband sold me that he was the one for me.  In business, I daily practice the art of finding a need and authentically articulating how my team can fill that need or refer the needy to who can help.  A sale is people skills at its most basic.

Upon realizing people are paramount to sales, now what?  Planning is the other key in my book.  While networking events, social media and marketing strategies are critical in generating leads what happens next?  Questions to consider:

• Is your business visible in numerous ways to generate leads?
• Can you authentically articulate the value of your business to others?
• How does my business interactively engage the leads that are created?
• What systems or methods does my business use to follow-up with prospective leads long term?
• Is there a compelling program or reason in place for others to refer business to you?
• Do you have a program in place to appreciate clients that are loyal to your business?

Please feel free to share your sales funnel liberation techniques here. 

Melissa Silva, Alchemy Virtual Business Solutions