Marketing Funnels are one of the hottest topics in the world of business and marketing right now and for good reason. But what exactly is a marketing funnel, and more importantly, how can you harness the power of this incredible tool in your business to generate more leads and sales?

So What exactly Is A Marketing Funnel? Well, A marketing funnel sometimes called a sales funnel, conversion funnel, or just plain old funnel, is a system that allows you to track the customer journey from having no idea who you are right through to becoming a lifelong loyal customer, and every step in-between.

# The Elevation Marketing Process

My suggestion is to use something along the lines of The Elevation Marketing Process which goes: Traffic – Conversion – Ascension – Elevation

1. Traffic

Step 1 is to identify where your prospective customers (let’s call them leads) are coming from. Are they finding you through social media, a search engine, or a paid ad you’re running. Once you’ve identified your traffic sources you can start to compare and pit them against one another. And may the strongest traffic source win! As a side note, these leads who have never heard about you or your business before are called “cold”

2. Conversion

Once your lead has arrived at your website, store front, or landing page, the next step is to get them to make a micro-commitment and take some form of action. If you’re selling a low priced item (like a pack of gum) than that action could be a sale. If you’re selling a higher priced item (like a car) than that micro-commitment could be a smaller action (like going for a test drive). The point here is that you want to encourage them to take the next logical step in the relationship, whether it’s exchanging their contact information like their name, email, or phone number, or even agreeing to a follow up meeting. At this stage your lead is now “warm”

3. Ascension

Alright, at this point in the funnel you’re going to be working with fewer leads than you started with. But that’s ok! Because those that are still with you are a higher quality lead, and are more interested in what you have to offer. They’ve also taken some form of action or micro-commitment and are a lot more open to what you have to offer next. It’s at this stage that you want to begin the follow-up process and really bring the value. Continue to nurture your leads by providing more valuable and helpful information but at the same time, don’t be afraid to ask for the sale. If you’ve done a good job at guiding them along their journey up until this point the next logical step should be your core offer, product, or service. When your “warm” lead buys and exchanges their money for your product or service they become “hot”.

4. Elevation

It’s now time to really bring on the value and elevate your relationship with your customers. Following up with your recent buyers is one of the fastest ways to solidify your position as a business that truly cares. Buyers remorse is very real, and is alive and well across all markets and industries, so the first 24-48 hours after making a purchase is a critical time to calm any anxieties and affirm your new customers decision to do business with your company. It’s also unexpected. Which makes it an even nicer surprise, and part of the system to turn elevate your customers into brand evangelists who tell their friends, family, coworkers, and sometimes even strangers, about just how great your business is.