Is Your Business Ready for a Funnel? 7 Signs It’s Time to Take the Next Step

There is SO MUCH hype in the online business space about funnels. They are made out to be these amazing money-printing machines that you need to invest a huge amount of money to have an “expert” set up.

While you can make a funnel as complicated as you want with all kinds of different offers and customer journeys, at it’s core a funnel is just a set of steps that you want your ideal clients/customers to take on the way to working with you. It doesn’t have to be complicated.

And before we go any further, I want to point out that when I’m explaining anything about marketing or funnels, I am well aware that there are alllll kinds of sketchy people out there trying to force, shame or manipulate people into buying their products and services with funnels.

That is ABSOLUTELY NOT what I’m about.

Consent in marketing is essential and, unfortunately, not common practice. I refuse to participate in dysregulating (and frankly, gross) marketing tactics. So know that when I’m talking about funnels, I am doing it through the lens of ethical marketing - a type of marketing where we don’t use emotional manipulation and pressure to trick people into buying something they may not really want.

If you’re curious about my philosophy on business and marketing, I recommend reading this post on ethical marketing and this one on doing business your way.

Now back to funnels…

I don’t believe that you need to reach a certain point in your business before you add a funnel. In fact, I think anyone who is offering any kind of program or service online should have a simple lead-generating funnel in place. At this point you’re gathering emails and then letting people get to know you with a welcome sequence that showcases who you are and what you have to offer.

This is often not a hard pitch for a particular offer, but rather a way to allow people to become familiar with you and your work and showing them how to take the next step if that is in alignment with their needs and goals.

A lead-generating funnel is not any less important than a more-targeted launch funnel or webinar funnel that is aiming to sell a specific offer, within a limited enrollment period. The two types of funnels just have different goals.

So when you’re just getting started, prioritize setting up a lead-generating funnel and start to build your list of people who are interested in what you talk about and hopefully they will become your future clients or customers.

Once you’ve been in business for awhile and have a signature process that can be translated into a group program or course, then it’s time to consider adding on a launch or evergreen funnel.

You can do this whenever you’re ready, but it helps to have an idea if it’s the right time before you put in the work (or hire someone to handle the setup).

Below are some criteria to help you determine if your offer is ready for a funnel. If you can say yes to all (or most) then you’re probably ready to take the next step.

Keep in mind these are just guidelines so you can absolutely ignore them and add a funnel to your business whenever you want to. You're the boss!

1. I have a website (doesn't have to be perfect, just needs to exist!)

2. I use an email software with built-in automation — like Kit, ActiveCampaign or Flodesk (or are happy to sign up for one)

3. I have an online offer I've sold to at least 10-20 people

4. My offer is NOT a struggle to sell (funnels aren't magic — if your offer is hard to sell currently, even the best funnel will not fix that)

5. My offer is able to be delivered in group or evergreen format (or I can easily update it so it can!)

6. I have AT LEAST 200 people on my email list or social media channels (or have a healthy budget available for ads to grow my list).

7. I'm ready to leverage my time in different ways to supplement my one-on-one work with clients.

Ok so now that you have some guidelines you can apply these to any offer you’re considering creating a funnel for.

And remember that funnels DO NOT have to be complicated. Yes, you can add on upsells, downsells, one-time offers, and all kinds of other bells and whistles. But I recommend keeping things simple to start. You can always build on later.

Think about your funnel in terms of the steps you want people to take then it doesn’t seem quite so complicated. You can use a tool like Whimsical to map out the steps and then get to work setting each one up.

Happy Funnel Building!