There are thousands, perhaps millions of entrepreneurs online who frankly have no idea about sales funnels and the whole approach to what they are doing with their businesses, from a business point of view.

I used to be one of them for six years! Clients came through word of mouth referrals and I never even had to stop and think about the kind of business I was running. It was all about getting the work done and then sending my invoices and often chasing the payments. And paying taxes. Nothing else.

No marketing.

No prospecting.

No pitching or sales presentations.

No relationship building with potential new clients.

No networking (this was my least favourite activity of all).

I frankly never even thought about having a value ladder or sale funnel in my business until I started facing one inevitable, and horrifying reality – all my business was in the hand of one or two clients, which means losing one of them would put my whole financial security at risk.

I wish before I was able to register as self- employed, they would require sitting through some sort of "what it is to run a business" course, so I had some idea how to even start thinking about my new business.

So because I did not see how I can get more local clients, plus my dream of running an online and location free operations, I decided to turn to Social Media, Facebook in particular to find more clients.

On one hand, things were promising. Access to billions of people all over the globe. No client meetings that involve commute or waiting around in their offices – everything is done online from the comfort of my home office. I decide who, I decide when I decide how much… Like Vivian in Pretty Woman.

What happened then was nothing short of the complete rebirth of my business, from scratch. U-turns. Testing everything. Crashing and burning. Testing again. And again. And again, until I started seeing exactly how to leverage Facebook to build my Personal Brand and attract clients into my business, well , ALMOST on autopilot.

(I am only saying this as running your business on autopilot is a myth created to manipulate lazy, delusional individuals who believe in fairy tales and lotto wins. Everything requires hard work. Systems make it smoother and a little easier. But no autopilot, ever. Just saying.)

The reality is – online competition is so much harder because everyone is competing for one precious commodity – our attention. Grabbing that attention and then creating relationships OVER TIME, with a solid path laid out to convert strangers into followers, into community members into buyers.

This requires an investment that is more demanding than a lump sum of money; this requires an investment of time and effort.

And a lot of patience too.

Everything you do needs to have a purpose and serve a goal. And when you look at your social media activity and all the effort you are putting in, but you do not actually look at it from your business perspective, you are simply wasting your time.

This does not mean you need to give up, but I want you to understand that if you decide to be more active on Social Media to attract clients into your business, you need to address it adequately.

Starting from your Sales Funnel.

How do you convert a random connection into becoming your client? What are the steps necessary for them to take or stages to go through while getting to know you, to like what you are about and trust that you are the one that can help them?

The answer is so obvious, it is staring us in the face, but 99% of us completely miss it, so they continue wasting their time.

So let me start with the basics.

A funnel implies that a lot comes in, but much less comes out.

A sales funnel is a filter, a pre-qualifier to determine what, or I should say, WHO, from the pool of what is going into – your random connections) will fit the profile of the perfect match to your service, product or even a particular offer. And will come out at the narrow end straight into your arms. I mean on to the thank you page after they bought your product or a virtual handshake after their first credit card payment is down.

(I am a big fan of paying upfront. Chasing clients is NOT my idea of freedom in my business and my life).

On Facebook, the only feature or the only platform that has the most potential to connect to the most amount of other users is our Personal Profile.

This is what we use to interact with other users, on other Pages, in other Groups.

This is ( and not our Business Page) is the first point of contact when someone decides to "check you out" based on a valuable comment you left somewhere, or perhaps a tag on another person's post mentioning you.

This is the start of your Sales Funnel. This is where everyone comes in touch with you and here is where the first filtering takes place, based on several factors:

First Impression

Available Information on WHO you are and WHAT you do

Your latest content

Clear path to the next stage of contact (for example your Page or, what I recommend for anyone growing a Personal Brand), your Facebook Group

At this stage, they have an option to bounce off and never think of you again.

Or send you a friend request or if you are already maxed up your 5K connections limit, follow you and check out what you strategically lead them to.

Those who are connecting to you will be filtered into two main groups. The first one will be a bigger one – their agenda is to try and sell you something (i.e., they are connecting to potential leads. They may not reach out to you with their offer, but by connecting to you, they hope you will see the content they publish and perhaps get further down their own funnel.)

The second one is those who resonate with your content. Here we have a further division. People who resonate with you as a person but do not need what you do. And those who do.

The next stage will depend on the content that you are producing. While on your personal profile you should not post anything that leads directly to a sale, it is the best place to talk about your business indirectly, what you are working on and very strategically invite those who do want to find out more into your Facebook group.

So essentially you are not promoting your business, you are supporting your community. And since communities are interest-based, the content you produce inside the community can be much more straightforward and can lead to a sale.

This still requires careful structure and nurturing your leads from cold to hot. Naturally not every group member will become your client, but here you can learn a lot about your audience.

Who they are.

What they love.

What they aspire to be, to achieve.

What they are struggling with (and hence joined your group).

What they think they need to achieve their goals.

What other brands they follow.

What other things they are into, apart from the obvious connection to you.

These insights are extremely powerful. Without them, anything you do is still a massive waste of time. Without understanding very deeply who is the perfect match for every one of your products or services, you end up talking to no one.

Targeting is the key to successful selling online. And we need to know EXACTLY who we target as if they are our best friend. They habits, pet hates, dreams and what they like to have for breakfast. Not joking!

Your job at this stage is to get to know your audience through conversations, connections, engaging them into activities with you, giving them value through sharing your expertise.

With this powerful knowledge, you can create content that will speak to those perfect people, creating an irresistible pull and attracting them into your value ladder of products.

This is not a fast, but an extremely powerful way of creating relationships with your customers who literally cannot wait to throw their money at you. You and what you do becomes THAT valuable to them.

When you implement this sales funnel into your Facebook activities, not only over time you will see more and more people getting out at the sale end and loving what you help them with. You will notice that it starts taking less time and effort on your behalf and bring consistently profitable results.

This is what I call autopilot.

The system.

The funnel.

The path they go through.

All you will have to do is play your part. Create content packed with value. Engage and connect. Have conversations.

Have offers ready for each time the perfect lead emerges.

Over time, you will be able to outsource some of the time-consuming tasks and even client work and focus on being a thought-leader and a change-maker through your content, through your Brand.

Through YOU.

Focusing on your mission and your bigger vision, while your team creates the feeling of "running your business on autopilot".

But it will not happen, unless now, you start putting your Facebook profile to good use, making sure it is serving you as a proper sales funnel that attracts clients and helps you grow your brand and your business!

Juliette Stapleton - The Queen of Visibility

Known as The Queen Of Visibility, Juliette Stapleton is an internationally known Visibility Strategist, Writer, Trainer & a Coach with thousands of students and clients from more that 30+ countries. Juliette is recognized for her distinctive authentic approach to growing online visibility with Facebook because she uses organic strategies and dives deep into the psychology behind the nature of connecting on Social Media and making buying decisions rooted in the need to Know, Like & Trust one before buying into their services and products. Building this connection authentically is at the heart of Juliette's trainings. With her online and coaching programs, in -house company training and consultancy she shows them how to reach out and empower people worldwide while building the businesses and lives they truly love WITH EASE. Find out more at: https://juliettestapleton.com