How to Optimize Your Lead and Sales Funnel for 2020

2020 brings exciting new potential to grow your business. 

But, it also brings new challenges. According to recent studies, almost 600,000 businesses will close their doors in the new year. 

To avoid that, you need to optimize your lead and sales funnel to bring in consistent leads that convert. 

Doing so is often easier said than done, but these four tips will help kickstart your funnel in the new year to drive more business than ever before. 

Without further ado, let’s jump in. 

1. Cater to Organic Search

The first step in optimizing your lead and sales funnel for 2020 is capitalizing on organic search.

Why?

Google processes over 3.5 billion searches every single day, and capitalizing on just a small fraction of that number could result in life-changing profits. 

Organic search is booming, and it’s no secret. The only problem becomes:

How do you optimize for organic search? 

How do you capture this traffic and ensure it’s relevant traffic? 

Through two specific things: great content and laser-focused SEO. 

But, doesn’t SEO require years of optimization to provide sustainable results? According to a recent study from Higher Visibility, most companies see SEO results in just three months. 

To get started optimizing for organic search, you need to take a hard look at your existing content on your website. 

If you don’t have a blog that targets specific industry keywords, now is the time to start.

If you already have a blog, it’s time to optimize for performance. One of my favorite examples of great content marketing and optimization for organic search is Each Night’s mattress reviews: 

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Let me break it down: 

1. This post is directly targeting a long-tail keyword relevant to their business offering, meaning they are driving high-quality traffic with the potential to convert them into leads
2. The content is updated frequently to meet SEO and user expectations 
3. It’s complete with internal links to combat bounce rates 
4. They utilize custom development and graphics to streamline the article for readability 

This is how you optimize for SEO and drive more organic traffic. 

With more people searching organically than ever before, a well-optimized funnel begins at search. 

2. Make Your Homepage a Conversion Powerhouse

Blogging and creating content for target searches is the first step. But now that people have landed on your site, it’s your job to get them to convert to a lead.

Leads won’t simply convert on their own if it’s their first visit. 

Instead, it’s time to get aggressive with your offering. Whether it’s a lead magnet or a free offer, you have to compel users to convert, while making the process as easy as possible.

One of the most innovative approaches I’ve seen with this is from GainTap, who puts the power in the hand of the user:

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Utilizing a direct Calendly integration, users can schedule consultations on their own time, picking an exact time that works for them. 

Rather than a tedious, annoying back-and-forth with sales, they can simply select a time and hop on a meeting. 

Now that’s a conversion gold-mine.

There are only a few reasons as to why people don’t convert: 

1. The offer doesn’t match their need
2. The process is unclear or too difficult 
3. The audience is a mismatch for your product

So, in addition to making the process clear and easy to follow, you also need to ensure your value proposition is crystal clear. 

For example, take a look at the homepage of LFA Machines: 

Capsule filler specialists. It doesn’t get much more clear and concise than that. 

Then they follow it up with a lead magnet offer: 

Homepages are not a place to gloat about your product or spend 3,000 words describing it. 

Instead, your homepage should be short and to the point: what do you offer, why do you offer it, and how does it benefit the user. 

3. Perfect Your Closing and Onboarding Experience

When it comes to onboarding, your funnel should tackle everything from initial invoicing and accounting to tutorials and user-guidance. 

Start by creating a streamlined accounting process that doesn’t feel invasive for your customers.

I recommend using an invoice template that is already pre-made and can be linked directly to any accounting software you use: 

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This ensures (1) that you get paid on time and (2) that customers have a flawless payment experience. 

Next, it’s time to help your customers make the most of your services. Whether it’s software or SEO or material goods, the more you help customers achieve their potential, the better your long-term lifetime value will be. 

If you can hop on phone calls, demos, tutorials, or create an onboarding knowledge base, these will all help your customers find more value from what you offer. 

The closing and onboarding stages of your funnel aren’t the end, either. In fact, your job is only half-way done…

4. Unify Your Lead History For Upselling

Optimizing for organic search helps you get tons of traffic in the door, passively. 

Making your homepage a conversion powerhouse helps you turn that traffic into leads.

And perfecting the close/onboarding experience helps you close. 

But, what about those leads that just won’t convert yet? What about existing customers who might benefit from upsells and additional services? 

That’s where unifying your lead history comes into play. Preferably with a CRM, you can keep track of each touchpoint your leads make on your site, via calls, social media, and more:

Since consumers are active on countless platforms, it’s key to utilize lead history data to understand what they enjoy and don’t. 

Keeping track of this information without a CRM is next to impossible.

Using unified lead history you can better understand needs, wants, and most importantly: the right time to reach out with the right information.

Conclusion

Optimizing your lead and sales funnel is something that you know you need to do. 

While tedious and time-consuming, it’s critical for growing your business. 

Start by optimizing for organic search. This will allow you to passively generate leads relevant to your business. 

Next, turn your homepage into a CRO powerhouse. This will ensure you are capturing and keeping the traffic you get, rather than traffic bouncing and never giving you a dime of attention. 

Refine and fine-tune your closing and onboarding process to ensure clients are happy, pay on time, and stay for years. 

Lastly, unify your lead history to improve upsell potential and close those stubborn leads.