If you’re a small business owner or self-employed professional, it is so important to keep your eye on what is getting you clients and what isn’t, and then to change course as needed. It’s more important for YOU than for big businesses, because you have less money to burn.

A few weeks ago, I decided to take stock of my own sales and marketing funnels to see what was working successfully and what wasn’t. After looking at my metrics (I know it sounds scary, but I promise metrics CAN be easy), I realized there were a few places in my funnel that weren’t very smooth. I also noticed a couple of spots where I was dropping the ball in my follow-up.  What did the rough spots and lack of follow up mean to me? Fewer clients, less sales, and less income.

Just by being aware of the parts of your marketing funnel that aren’t effective, you can make a few simple changes that can get more clients with the same amount of leads and traffic that you have right now.

The theory of understanding where your marketing funnel needs adjustments to fill your sales pipeline is important, but you still have to “get out of your own way” in order to be able to take stock of what is getting you clients and what is not. It can be tough to be honest with yourself-to really look at your offerings, your marketing funnel, and your sales funnel and say, “My funnel is not terrific in a particular area and it could use improvement.”  It’s common for small business owners to look at that area that needs improvement as a personal failure, rather than as an opportunity to learn from mistakes and improve. The thing to keep in mind is that being aware of those areas where your business could be doing better can lead you to take actions that make your business incredibly profitable.

I have found that there are two main reasons many businesses DON’T look at their marketing and sales funnels to see where they can improve.

1.       Fear: Fear of failure, fear of making mistakes, fear of having to admit a mistake or miscalculation, fear of being embarrassed.

2.       Lack of know-how: Lack of understanding how to create metrics, lack of understanding how to analyze marketing and sales funnels.

The problem with giving in to that fear is that your fear can stop you from looking for answers, solutions, and ways to improve your sales pipeline. It’s fear that will stop you from trying new things, and it can also stop you from making those changes to your marketing and sales funnels that can turn your not-so-great results into FANTASTIC results. Ultimately your fear stops you from taking action, and in the end, it’s those who take action who are successful.

Lack of know-how is the easiest thing to overcome, as long as you don’t give in to your fear. You can find coaches and mentors to help you figure out how to create marketing metrics, how to know what is getting you sales, and what is getting you clients, and they can help you create a marketing funnel that will get clients. It’s not reasonable to expect yourself to know EVERYTHING.  Experts hire coaches and support staff-people who can help them do the things they don’t know how to do themselves-all the time. Experts become experts because they are willing to invest in themselves.

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