Why I Ditched Sales Funnels (And What I did Instead)
TL;DR
In my experience, traditional sales funnels create overwhelm and confusions for solo business owners and their customers alike. Alternatively, sales pathways offer a more sustainable, relationship-focused approach that builds genuine connections while protecting your time, energy and integrity.
Photo by Peregrine Photography on Unsplash
If you are a coach or consultant working online then I suspect you will have come across the idea of a sales funnel - either knowingly or unknowingly - as a neat pyramid model that unusually involves a lead magnet, a low commitment online course, a group programme and a higher cost 1:1 service.
Part of the appeal is the apparent simplicity and the fact you can literally draw it on the back of the envelope.
But putting it into practice can be a different matter! When despite the apparent simplicity it might be the very thing that's keeping you trapped in overwhelm and your ideal clients confused about what you actually do.
When you're a solo-business owner juggling too much with too little time, building multiple offerings around a funnel model isn't just challenging - it's unsustainable. Your business can easily transform into a tangled mass of spaghetti, with nothing working optimally, and you feeling frustrated that your hard work isn't translating into the results you want.
This is what lead me to find a different another way that is simpler, more sustainable, and takes a much more human-centred approach to marketing your buisness - with no talk of sales funnels or trip wires or lead magnets required!
What is a sales funnel anyway?
It wasn't until I started building my own business online that I came across the idea of a sales funnel.
The Salesforce website describes a sales funnel as "a marketing term used to capture and describe potential customers' journeys, from prospecting to purchase."
It's most easily represented in a diagram - each step in the funnel is a more engaged level of interaction with your business, from simply being aware of it at the wide end, to making a purchase at the narrow end. The funnel shape represents the idea that a proportion of people will drop off at each stage, meaning that of everyone who ever comes across your business, only a few will purchase your highest value offering.
In my experience many online coaches and consultants go on to design their business around this concept - making sure that they have some free content as well as offers at increasingly high price points. For a coach this can look like:
Free content (blog, podcast, social media)
Low-cost offering (short online course)
Mid-tier option (group work)
High-end service (1:1 coaching)
The idea is that someone might first get to know your business through your free content, then move onto a low cost offering, then into some group work before finally investing in your highest cost offering working with you 1:1.
At each stage of the sales funnel you are supporting them to move closer to their desired outcome and they are getting to know you, like you and trust you.
That's the theory.
In practice, I have not seen it play out that way.
I'm not saying that the theory is wrong necessarily - maybe the model is applicable to some businesses in some circumstances. But for the types of businesses and business owners I work with, I don't see this model being an accurate predictor of your customers' behaviour.
On top of this, if you are a solo-business owner I'm not sure that basing your business model around this is the best choice, especially if you have limited time and energy to give and especially if you are in the early years of your business.
What I see going wrong
Creates overwhelm for the business owner: Most solo business owners try to implement the entire funnel at once, creating four or five different offerings that none are fully established or have a strong client base.
Expects linear behaviour: Only accounts for one type of linear purchase behaviour - but people don't actually buy this way
Customer Confusion: When the differences between offerings aren't clearly articulated, potential clients get lost in your options instead of seeing a clear path to their solution.
Relies on a big audience: Makes the suggestion that a big audience is needed to get sales and that increasing your audience should naturally lead to more sales
The alternative: sales pathways
So if we're not going to use a sales funnel, what's the alternative?
The thing I often see is that people try to implement a sales funnel of some sort, and then when it doesn't work or isn't sustainable for the long run they begin a lengthy process of chopping and changing different elements and before you know it their business feels like a tangled mess of spaghetti - to them on the inside and their potential customers on the outside.
For me, the alternative is the idea of building sales pathways - a concept I first came across from Caroline Leon and Tad Hargrave.
If you think of your product or service as a cabin in a dense forest, how can you help people find it?
You can build well trodden paths that others can follow, you can stand at the entrance to the forest and invite people in, you can put signposts up for when they reach a cross-roads and don't know which way to turn.
Here's how the pathways metaphor works:
The pathways are the channels that people use to find you
The invitation is the call to actions that you make
The signposts are how you direct people
The cabin itself represents your offering - how you want it to look, how you want it to feel, how you greet people when they arrive, how long can they stay, what are the rules and boundaries that you ask them to respect
For me, this analogy helps me make sense of two other patterns I regularly observe:
If you keep creating different pathways but never persisting for long enough then they won't ever become established. If you leave them, they'll become overgrown.
Once you have a steady and regular flow of people along this main pathway then you can move on to creating more adventurous or squiggly routes to get there.
And of course, I also find it much easier to get onboard with the idea that if I start a second house before I've finished the first then of course I'm spreading myself too thin and putting both in jeopardy.
Building your sales pathway
Step 1: Design your cabin
Before creating pathways, get crystal clear on your core offering:
What problem does it solve?
Who is it for, specifically?
What experience do you want to create? How do people feel when they work with you? What's different about your approach?
What are your boundaries?
Step 2: Choose one primary pathway
Rather than building multiple routes simultaneously, focus your energy on establishing one strong pathway first. This might be:
Content: Regular blog posts, newsletter, or podcast that consistently demonstrates your expertise
Relationship: Speaking, networking, referral partners
Platform: Building your presence on one social platform where your ideal clients spend time
Community: Creating or participating in communities where your people gather
Step 3: Create clear signposts
Instead of multiple offerings at different price points, create clear decision points:
Problem awareness signposts: Content that helps people recognize they have the problem you solve
Solution awareness signposts: Case studies, examples, and stories that show your approach working
Readiness signposts: Clear indicators of whether someone is ready to work with you now, or needs more time
Next step signposts: Obvious calls to action that don't require people to choose between confusing options
Step 4: Make a habit of inviting people in
Develop consistent ways of inviting people to take the next step:
Permission-based language: "If this resonates..." or "For those who are ready..."
Clear value proposition: What specific outcome will they get?
Risk removal: What happens if it's not a fit?
Time boundaries: When is the invitation open/closed?
Step 5: Walk your own pathway
Check that it’s clear and easy to follow. Instead of funnel metrics, track:
Pathway traffic: Are people finding and following your main route?
Engagement depth: Are people continuing along it?
Once your primary pathway is established (consistent traffic, regular inquiries, satisfied clients), then consider:
Creating a secondary pathway for a different type of client
Developing a complementary offering for existing clients
Building partnerships that create new routes to your cabin
The key takeaway: Don't start building pathway number two until pathway number one is genuinely working.
Ready to simplify your business model and build stronger pathways to your ideal clients? If this approach resonates with you, I'd love to help you identify which pathways are right for your business. Click here to find out more about how we can work together.