It may seem obvious, but often a company forgets the fact that the only way to make money is to make customers buy. And the best way to get customers to buy is to have an effective sales funnel.

A sales funnel is a set of steps in which you guide a prospect through a series of communications that result in them buying from you.

But what happens after that first sale is made? Existing customers are the people who are most likely to buy from you again.

How does a sales funnel work?

At the top of the funnel, you offer something for free in exchange for getting a lead’s contact information. This could be a report, checklist, video, or e-book. Then you start marketing, following up with emails and other communications to try and make a sale.

Throughout your sales funnel process, you should have multiple offers that complement each other. For example, before you buy a car, you take it for a free test drive. If you like the car and buy it, the seller won’t give you the keys and then disappears. You are offered extended car warranties, upgrades like upholstery, and wheel options.

After a couple of months, the seller will contact you to see if you’re happy with your new car and let you know about a discount or sale in progress. and the sales process goes on and on.

How many levels are there in the sales funnel process?

As you can see from the example above, there can be many different levels in a sales funnel. A one-tier funnel is where after a customer buys from you, you move on to the next prospect.

But this is a critical error.

It costs 6-7 times more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. It makes sense to market to someone who has already bought one of your products, rather than trying to convince new people to buy your services. An existing customer already knows you and your business. If they’ve received great value for money from you once, they’ll be more prepared to spend money with you again, rather than someone who’s never heard of you.

There is no “ideal number” of sales funnel levels. Every business, product and service is different. Just be sure to continually provide your prospects and customers with opportunities to improve their lives or solve their problems with future purchases from you.