Information marketers, especially those at the beginning of their career, often see each sale and each product as an isolated event. A customer comes, purchases, and leaves. Done deal. Right? WRONG!

Think about Starbucks, or Audi, or even Barnes and Noble. They are masters at turning a one-time customer into a lifetime customer. Here’s the secret of how they do it:

They have a sales funnel in place.

They know that it’s much cheaper (some say, 6-7 times as inexpensive) to sell to an existing customer rather than to obtain a new customer. They know that the potential lifetime value of a customer is humongous, but to realize that value, they must have a funnel. And you need one, too. Here’s how it might look, vastly simplified for the purposes of this discussion:

• Customer opts-in to your mailing list and receives a free report….
• When they download their free report, they receive a one-time-offer to purchase an entry-level product at a big discount, say $27 instead of the regular $49.
• They purchase the $27 product and a week later, they receive an offer to take part in a live teleconference about the product, showcasing success stories and providing tips on using the $27 product. Cost? Free.
• At the teleconference, attendees are invited to become part of a short-term group coaching program, at a flat charge of $49.
• At the end of the short-term coaching program, they are invited to join into an ongoing membership site on the topic for a monthly charge of $27.
• On an annual basis, all your members are invited to attend a live event for $299, where they can meet you in person and hobnob with their forum buddies.

See how it works? Instead of selling a $49 product once, you’ve sold them over $100 worth of products and services, with the potential to sell them hundreds more. You can do this, too!

All you need to do is draw out your current funnel, identify the gaps, and fill them in, one at a time. If you have the $49 product, work on a free product to introduce them to your funnel. If you have the big-ticket live event but don’t have the other pieces, start working backwards.

It all works together, and you can start wherever you are. The key is to start, and start now. Otherwise, you’re leaving money on the table.

If you need me to show you how I can put together a high producing sales funnel using the Infusionsoft campaign builder, let’s talk.