776: This Funnel Doesn't Exist

Why do people buy your thing?

Commonly, we point to our ’sales funnels’ – our ads, and landing pages and check outs.

But is that really why they did it?

There's a myth in business that we can map the "sales cycle step by step." Usually, this is visualised as a funnel. We pour a load of traffic in at the top, and the proportion that come out at the bottom is your Conversion Rate. The stages in between – which we track via analytics - are the points where prospects are 'leaking’ out.

So we go to work fixing those leaks.

And sometimes, it works... especially if there is an actual problem with that step of the process.

But outside that, in my experience, not a lot changes.

Which it turns out, isn't that surprising, because the forces that cause someone to buy are often complex, random and ineffable.

In my case, I've just made a sale ... and there's no way you could design a funnel for it.

Episode home:

https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/776:-This-Funnel-Doesnt-Exist