If you have worked or studied marketing you’ve probably heard the term ‘funnel‘ before, or perhaps ‘sales funnel‘.
When I first learned about this concept it was introduced to me with a simple example…
Would you like fries with that?
I remember this phrase so well from every time I went to McDonalds growing up… and yes of course I’d like some fries 🙂
The idea of bundling additional products or upgrading your order is something we all have experienced at some point.
However, since most people were not born into a world full of marketing and sales tactics, when we become business owners selling our own products and services we may need a little help when coming up with additional offers.
The Ascension Model
When I learned about the sales funnel concept I decided to study it to a deeper level.
I was a content creator, a blogger and podcaster, and I was already selling coaching and a course.
I decided to educate myself about how exactly funnel psychology worked, so I invested several thousand dollars in various courses on something called the Ascension Model.
The Ascension Model is is all about guiding your customers through a series of products and/or services, with each purchase a step up in experience/value and consequently price.
It’s ‘ascension’ because they ‘ascend’ through a funnel.
The concept at first seemed simple to me. I just needed to make more products and start bundling them together. I needed my own version of ‘would you like fries with that‘.
As I learned more, I started to understand some of the clever sales psychology built into the sales funnel model. For example:
- Some businesses start with a very low cost ‘entry level’ product or service, that can even be sold at a loss (called a loss-leader), designed to convert customers and give them an amazing product experience with you so they want more.
- The entry level product is the lowest priced product to reduce resistance to making a purchase. The first sale is the hardest sale to make, so perceived value needs to be high and price low.
- Once you have buyers, it’s easier to sell more, higher priced products to them. It’s easier to sell more to existing customers than get new customers.
- While not necessarily applicable to every type of business, higher priced products usually mean more deeper relationships with those customers. They pay more for more time or access to you (this is especially true for teaching/influencer businesses).
- At the end of the funnel are the highest priced products and services, bought by only a small group of your customers, but they make up the highest profit margin sales. These customers love what you do and are willing to pay a premium for your best offers.
- Each product in a funnel acts as a pre-sale for the next product. Whether it’s education, services, or physical products, there is often a next step for your customer to work towards, or a series of complimentary products to purchase. Products are also marketing for more products.
Diving deep into these ideas helped a lot when it came to creating my next products, because I could see how one connected to the other, and how I could have a competitive advantage by offering a low cost/high value entry level product, and then a higher priced product I’d sell to this group of customers.
How To Link Your Candid Products Together To Maximize Profits
You may not be a fan of the term ‘funnel’. It can be associated with sales tactics that you’re not comfortable using.
What matters is you realize the opportunity to sell multiple products to better serve different groups of customers and increase your income. You can do this your way, with your selling style.
You can offer a high value/low cost entry level product that lots of people in your audience can afford, and one or even two or three other products at higher prices for those who are hungry for more, or to meet specific needs.
Here are some examples…
A low cost group fan club leading into higher priced one-on-one fan conversations
Most of your followers are happy with your free content. Perhaps 200 of them can afford to spend $20/month to be part of your fan club. Then, from those 200, there are 5 who want a private conversation with you over WhatsApp or Telegram, Signal, Line or any chat app, and are willing to spend $1,000 a month for it.
One-on-one coaching/mentoring leading to higher priced coaching group mastermind
In order to sell people on a $5,000 group mastermind program, you need to build a lot of trust. One of the best ways to build trust is work one-on-one with a client as a coach, then guide them into the mastermind program as the next step.
Coaching may be $500 a month — and probably only one month of talking to you will be enough to convince them (and build the necessary trust that you are a good choice) to join the more comprehensive mastermind experience.
Low cost group subscription content leading in to high priced one-on-one coaching
Let’s use the example of a dating coach. You produce YouTube videos where you give dating advice and promote a low-cost subscription, where you drop more dating advice videos to your paying members. You may have hundreds of people paying $99/month for these members-only videos.
As a next step, you offer high-end one-on-one coaching at $8,000 a month, with room for up to 5 students – or even 10, which if you sell out, would be $80,000 a month in recurring income!
Low cost fan club leading to in-person fan meetups
For influencers who don’t teach anything, often your best source of reliable income will be a low cost, large group membership. You give the fans more of what they want — vlogs and behind the scenes content about you, your life or whatever it is you do.
Just as musicians today make most of their money from live events, as an influencer you too can charge for some kind of live meet-and-greet experience with you.
You can use Candid to sell the low cost membership and tickets to your meetups, with one group for content delivery and one for event coordination.
Using Candid Products To Sell Your Non-Candid Products And Services
You may already sell a course or membership site, or offer consulting or freelance services, or even have an agency or software product.
Candid can act as an amazing entry level product to build trust and then transition those Candid customers on to your next level non-Candid product.
One of the most common examples is to sell one-on-one access you as a consultant or coach as your entry offer. Keep the cost low to maximize conversions, build trust, answer questions and see if your next level product is a good fit.
You can use one-on-one conversations that lead into a course or membership site you have on another platform, to upsell to a done for you service you deliver yourself or with your agency, or to software.
The same formula could work with low cost group Candid products, or even high end masterminds, that then lead into courses or done for you services or software that you sell to these Candid customers.
It’s also possible to switch the order. For example, you sell books, and then offer Candid powered coaching to your book customers if they want your help.
There are many ways to use Candid products as part of your product sequence, or as the only products you sell.
Candid accounts are free to create. You can also create as many products as you want, also free.
Testing your idea is easy. In just 5 minutes you can create a Candid product, promote it to your audience or customers, and see how they respond.
If it doesn’t bring the result you want, adjust the product offer, or create an entire new product and test again.
When you find a product that gains traction, double down. Keep promoting long term and grow your customer base and income. It may just result in a life-changing income stream.
Sign up for a new Candid account here, or login if you already have an account.
Look For Opportunities For ‘Ascension’
Ascension is just another word for ‘next level‘.
You should never underestimate the potential to offer another level to your fans and customers.
Most people won’t be buyers, they will happily consume your free content. A few will be willing to spend money to get your help or more content from you.
The group of buyers may be small, but these customers can result in a six or seven figure business, if you offer them a range of products they can purchase, from entry level to the die-hard fan who will pay anything for the best access to you.
You may be surprised by what you can already achieve with your existing audience, if you just take the time to create products and promote them.
To get started, login to Candid and create your product, or sign up for a Candid account if you are a new user.
