You’ve heard all the influencers and marketing gurus talk about funnels and you’ve heard me talk non-stop about sales flows…
But do you actually know what the difference between the two is?
Or that they are two completely separate strategies?
Well, I get this a lot, so today I want to explain the top five differences between sales funnels and sales flows.
First, let’s define Sales Funnels.
According to a definition that I pulled out of a ClickFunnels blog article, sales funnels are marketing campaigns with multiple steps.
Sounds pretty basic, right?
Unfortunately, you don’t really get the whole sales funnel picture from that definition. If there’s one thing that you have to understand about sales funnels, it’s that they are very structured and have a lot of rules to follow.
There are lots of templates out there for you to use, but according to a sales funnel strategy, they’re only supposed to be used in certain ways. There are rules you must follow.
How is that different from sales flows?
First of all, sales flows don’t have any rules. You’re allowed to structure it however the hell you want because not only is it based on your unique business, but it’s all about following your intuition and what you feel is right.
You’re allowed to build it intuitively and however you feel best. We don’t care about all of these stupid rules that sales funnels make you follow because the “gurus” say that you’re not going to be successful if you don’t do. This just isn’t true.
I’ve been doing this for over 5 years now, I’ve worked with so many different people, and I’ve never had a template that worked. That’s why I’m all about doing something different, about following your heart. It just works better.
And that’s the basis of sales flows. It’s doing what you feel is right versus what someone is telling you you have to do. It’s honoring your unique business and trusting in yourself.
The second difference between sales flows and sales funnels is that sales funnels are generally completely separate marketing campaigns.
Remember our definition? Marketing campaigns with multiple steps? This means that your sales funnels are completely disconnected from each other. They’re only concerned with that one campaign and then they move on.
When we use a sales flow strategy, everything is linked together super seamlessly and every step leads to another step. We’ve linked them seamlessly together which leads to a much smoother, more cohesive customer experience.
You can absolutely incorporate launches into it, but your launches are going to lead them into your flow and into where you want people to go next. Sales flows are about creating a personal experience and leading people step-by-step through their journey.
Another difference between sales flows and sales funnels is that sales funnels are super focused on making the sale for that one campaign, as soon as they possibly can. And if you don’t buy, they don’t care about you and move on to the next campaign.
Sales flows on the other hand focus on providing a lot of value because we understand that everyone comes in at a different point. Not everyone is ready to buy right away, but they can still be a great member of your audience.
They still want to get value and you can still help them through their transformation of becoming someone who buys from you. It’s about cultivating a relationship and building up your know, like, and trust factor that actually gets people to buy from you.
If you focus on creating a relationship with your audience and giving value, they’re going to buy eventually. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes it’s a bit shorter, it all depends on where they’re at in their journey when they come to you, but the point is you can’t lump everyone together and just assume that they’re all going to buy right away.
It doesn’t work like that and sales funnels try to pretend that it does.
Which brings me to my next difference between sales funnels and sales flows. Sales flows care if the strategy feels good to you and your audience.
When I was starting out learning sales funnels, I never really felt like what I was doing was right or aligned with anything I stood for. They always felt like I was a used car salesman treating every single person exactly the same. I wasn’t putting any of my own energy into it and the results showed that.
Sometimes a sales funnel strategy does feel good and does align, but if it doesn’t then you should not be using it. We always want to focus on making sure that everything feeling good to you and that it’s aligned and your customers love to go through it.
If you ever feel inherently wrong about any strategy someone tells you that you have to do, including me, leave it. It means that it’s not for you and your job is to find something that does.
And the final difference between sales funnels and sales flows is that sales funnels aren’t worried about the people who fall out.
What do I mean by people that fall out? I mean those people who don’t purchase or take the action you wanted them to.
With sales funnels, we’re only focused on one campaign at a time, so we don’t care what happens after that campaign is finished, but sales flows deeply care about and want to nurture those people.
When we have every single step of our sales flow mapped out we can still be there for those people who aren’t ready to purchase just yet. It turns into a choose your own adventure thing and meets everyone exactly where they are. Because let’s say they don’t come in and purchase right away.
Sales funnels move on to the next campaign, but sales flows keep nurturing. And what happens then? Well, six months down the line because you’ve been continually giving them value and they’ve been able to see that you’re someone that they can trust, then they’re going to purchase. And that purchase is one that they’re going to feel good about which leads to the next and is what creates raving fans.
THIS is why focusing on a sales flow strategy instead of separate sales funnels is what is going to catapult you towards reaching all of your biggest goals.
If you’re ready to explore this further and start building your own sales flow, click here to join us in the Magical Marketing Academy! It’s weekly group coaching plus HOURS AND HOURS of sales flow training, program tutorials, case studies, and of course lots of magic. And you can get started right now for only $11.
Click here to learn more and join the Magical Marketing Academy.
Speak soon,
