7 Key Stages to Building a Customer Pipeline

Does your business feel like a roller coaster ride where sales are either at an exciting high or they’re at a panic level low? This pendulum is stressful on your cash flow. It’s also highly stressful on your mindset.

So, what can you do to build a customer pipeline so you can have a steady flow of new clients instead of living through spikes of feast or famine? Building a strong customer pipeline doesn’t have to be something all that complicated. It can be as simple as segmenting your interest groups from your customer groups. Then from there mapping out a sequence of offers to both groups that will entice them and invite them to move from no risk, to low risk offers.

Here are my 7 key stages to building a strong customer pipeline that you can implement right away into your business today:

Stage 1: the free offer responses: the customer pipeline should always start with clustering all of those prospects who responded to your free offer. This is an indication to you that these are the people who are raising their virtual hands to identify themselves as being open to learning more about you and your business.

Stage 2: the low risk offer interest group: Now, from all of the people in stage 1, you will now start seeing people respond their interest to learn more about the low risk offer that you have. The easiest way to do this is to create a separate landing page where you send your readers to grab more information about the low risk offer you are promoting. Here is where you can track your click through rate.

Stage 3: the low risk offer customer group. This is now the people who have moved themselves from the interest group (they clicked through to the sales landing page) into the customer group where they made a low risk buying transaction. Perhaps they purchased a $25 ebook or they purchased a $40 seminar ticket. They are now starting their buying behavior.

Stage 4: the mid price point interest group. From the people in both stage 1, 2, and 3 you will start seeing people indicate their interest in whatever product or service you are offering that represents your mid-price point. You can still use the same click through tracking to a separate landing page to identify who stage 4 people would be in your customer pipeline.

Stage 5: the mid price point offer customer group. Some of the people in this group may jump right into this group as a first time buyer of your company. You will also have customers in this group who were (or are) customers from your lower price point offerings too. This is the group who will undoubtedly sing your praises as they are already sold on your company.

Stage 6: the high price point interest group. Here’s a great opportunity to think bigger about your company and for your customers to think bigger about how they want their services delivered. Here is where you can present the Cadillac version of what it is that your company offers.

Stage 7: the high price point customer group. This will represent the 20% of your customers who very well could reflect 80% of your sales & profits. These are your A clients. These are the people who are your company’s biggest asset because they are the ones who place a premium value to the way they regard your services.

So, there you have it — 7 stages now mapped out for you in how you will go about creating your customer pipeline. Now, some of you will be able to read this and run with it. But, many of you will need more guidance to help you take action on a more granular level.

Creating a strong customer pipeline can sound simple, and yet, feel hard to do. This is normal. The good news is I have a structured program – called the Marketing Action Group Coaching Club (MAGCC) – designed to help you through this process, so that your business is able to have a steady flow of new clients year in and year out.

Generating a STEADY FLOW of new clients starts with YOU, investing a STEADY AMOUNT of your time working “on” your business instead of “in” your business.

The reason your business spikes up and down from feast to famine is often because the time you are working “on” your business spikes up and down.

Well, you now have the opportunity to stop that once and for all. In my MAGCC we work together twice a month every month for 60-90 minutes giving you STEADY GUIDANCE so you’re not just working on random marketing, but you’re doing the right things in your marketing.

Here’s to your success!