Here’s why you need 2 types of sales funnels (evergreen and launches)

When I talk to new business owners or people who are just getting started with an online business, a lot of them really want to jump into creating automated funnels, because passive income sounds like a really great thing. Like, make money in your sleep.

In this post today, I want to share with you why you should have two types of income streams with one signature offer.

Want to skip the ready and watch the video? Catch it below right here:

What are sales funnels?

There are going to be two different types of funnels that you can create, and one is going to be an evergreen funnel and one is going to be a live launch sales sequence. It’s my belief that in every business, there should be two and I want to share with you why and how.

But, first, we should probably just talk about what is a sales funnel.

Sales funnels are just simply a process for turning leads or potential clients into clients.  It’s a process for converting potential leads into customers. That process looks different for every business, but really a sales funnel is a step-by-step process that you’ve outlined that leads them from being, you know, just a follower into an actual client.

If you just put all of your leads or your followers into the top of the funnel, you’re going to funnel and weed out the people who aren’t going to be ideal clients, and everybody who ends at the bottom of your funnel ends up being a client.

The steps of your sales funnel might involve social media, different lead magnets, webinars, welcome email sequences, discovery calls. Really sales funnels are not all created equal.

There are so many different types of funnels.

• launch funnels
• trip-wire funnels
• ad funnels
• challenge funnels
• affiliate funnels
• and so on…

But what I wanted to talk about today was why you really need two types, because sales funnels can be either a live funnel or an automated funnel. And it’s my belief that every business to be successful with get capturing as many clients as possible should have one of each; one live funnel and one automated funnel.

Why You Need 2 Types of Sales Funnels

Why not simplify things and only have one funnel? It comes down to the fact that your potential clients and your followers are not all the same.

Some may be slower to take action and maybe slower to make a decision where others might be just really ready to make a change or invest in something that they’re looking to invest in.

What we want to do is create different experiences for our different types of clients:

• a live launch/funnel
• an evergreen/automated funnel

Evergreen simply means (always available and relevant like a tree that stays green all year round). Which illustrates why having both types helps you capture and support both types of people in your audience.

If you’re just getting started, you may be considering doing a live launch of a new offer and having an open cart date and a close cart date. But if you get new followers after your cart closes, then that means that those people are going to miss out. That’s why having an evergreen funnel or some kind of automated funnel that can support them in looking for help or engaging in your service is a good idea.

You don’t want to alienate buyers if they’re ready to buy just because your “doors are closed”.

Plus…Evergreen Funnels provide recurring revenue because launching every quarter isn’t enough

Start with Funnel Type 1: Live Launches and Live Selling 

If you’re just getting started and you don’t have either sales funnel, then what you’ll want to do is start with a live funnel.

You want to map out the steps of how you convert a new follower into a client through live interactions. That means you’re really talking to them in direct messages. You’re really having live discovery calls. You’re really hosting live videos and live webinars. And the sales process happens live. If you’re just getting started with your business, that’s where everybody starts. That’s where you’re going to start.

We can’t do the automated process before we do the live process, because we have to validate the process and understand what your audience needs, and wants and what actually converts to sales.

Live launches and live funnels are great for building hype. Like any event, they’re more engaging. They’re more fun. You might show up live on your stories, or host a live video on Instagram or Facebook. You might host a live webinar. It’s more engaging and more fun that way. It’s also great to do when there’s maybe new content that you’re adding to your course or your program, whatever it is that you happen to be creating. It’s great to do live launches when there’s something new that’s being added to your offer or your product.

Start with a live funnel, if you’re just getting started is going to look a little bit like this, grow your audience, get them onto a waitlist or your email list through a lead magnet or a webinar. Then either have a sales conversation with them in email or on a discovery call or have a special offer that’s offered to them during your live webinar. And then of course, during your sales funnel, you’re going to incentivize them to take action. If you’re doing a live launch, you might offer a bonus for people who take action the day of your webinar, or you might offer a special price to people who are, you know, purchasing on the first day of your launch versus people who purchase on the last day of your launch.

Build out Funnel Type 2: Evergreen and Automated 

If you’ve ever done a live launch, and your kind of thinking about diving into evergreen funnels, really therefore your proven offers. If you have had a live launch and you did well with that live launch, and you’re ready to move into an evergreen funnel, this is where you want to start, but you only want to start with evergreen funnels when you have a process for growing your audience and growing your email list because automated sales will only happen if that funnel is fed with new people. You need an audience growth plan and a way to get leads into that funnel.

If you’ve ever hosted a live webinar, you might turn that webinar into an automated webinar.

And on top of that, you’re in an evergreen funnel or in an automated sales process, there is less hype and it’s not live. Some people fall off of that funnel. We need to have testimonials and social proof to support the sales process. It’s important before you start your evergreen funnels or launch an automated webinar that you have at least 10 solid testimonials from clients you’ve worked with that can support the sales process through your automated sales funnel. And I really recommend having those 10 testimonials before you even consider creating an automated evergreen offer.

Want an easy evergreen funnel? Try a Trip-Wire

Now there is another type of evergreen funnel or evergreen offer you can create, and this might be for a mini product or a tripwire. Sometimes it’s called a one-time offer. These are typically anywhere between $7 and maybe even $99. But basically, this is an offer that’s shown to someone after they join your email list or after they sign up to download something like a lead magnet.

Basically, they sign up for your lead magnet and they’re redirected to an offer page with a countdown timer on it. It’s really kind of simple to set up.

Sales Funnel Tools Needed

There are countless sales funnel tools you can use. Some online businesses might use tools like Deadline Funnels or even Click Funnels. If you use woo-commerce with WordPress like me, you can use tools I use Woocommerce and WooFunnels to create and track my sales funnels and tripwires.

The idea of a trip-wire works the same using any of those services mentioned above. You create a lead magnet, someone signs up for it, they’re redirected to a one-time offer. And that’s an automated way to create passive sales in your business.

Healthy growth comes from having both types of sales funnels

Even if you create an automated email funnel or a one-time offer or a tripwire, you will probably most likely still need to do live launches or live sales funnels as well. Because remember, we have two types of people in our audiences, the people who need that interaction with you and make decisions better that way. And the other people who are ready to take action right away. You’re going to have a mix in your business. No matter what business you’re in, it’s always a good idea to have both a live launch funnel and an evergreen funnel for your different types of buyers.

Comment below, which are you? Are you the type of person to buy through a live launch or are you more likely to buy through an evergreen funnel? Are you the person who’s ready to buy or do you need a little more time? Let me know in the comments I’d love to know.

What Next?

Now that you know, I’ve created a launch planner and content prompts for your launch, and you can grab that right below this video, it’s completely free and you can get the link right below.