One thing that many coaches, speakers and other expertise-based business owners seem to have in common is a lack of understanding a basic concept of marketing: The Marketing Funnel. Since the next series of Turbo-Charge Your Marketing teleseminars (the first week in November) will be focusing on this key concept, I thought now would be a good time to start talking about it.

The idea of a marketing funnel, sometimes called a product funnel, marketing pipeline or product pipeline, is this:

1. At the widest point of the funnel, the mouth, your business draws in prospects. This is where you have your attraction tools — your bait or lures that attract suspects and prospects into your business.
2. In the middle of the funnel, you have your mid-prices products and services.
3. At the end, the smallest point or spout, of the funnel, you have your highest-ticket products and services.

The idea is to get as many people to go through the funnel and come out the other end.

The problem is … many coaches, speakers and other expertise-based business owners don’t have anything in the middle of the funnel! For some reason, they expect prospects to move from a free or low-cost product or service, such as a free consultation, to a high-ticket product or service without the relationship-building process that the middle of the funnel creates.

Although some prospects will make this leap, you are pushing a whole lot of potential clients out the door by not having the middle of your funnel fully developed. It is in the middle of the funnel where client relationships are developed and trust is built. It is in the middle of the funnel where your nurture clients, transforming them into evangelists for your business. And, it is in the middle of the funnel where you educate prospects, helping modify their attention and attitudes so that they realize how much value you offer them.

In the first four calls scheduled for Nov. 3 and 4, my guest speakers, which at this time include Milana Leshinsky, Karen Capello and Arvee Robinson, will go into greater detail about how you can develop your marketing funnel. But, to give you a head start, here are some suggestions:

• Group coaching or mentoring programs — these can offer many of the benefits of your highest-ticket services, but at a lower cost

• Membership and continuity programs — very similar to group coaching, but for a longer period of time

• E-books

• Audio programs

• Supportive products, such as flash cards, posters, etc. that help people interact and review the information you provide in your other products and services

These are just some of the products and services you can provide that fill up the price points between free and your highest-ticket, velvet rope products and services. Be creative — remember, you can re-purpose information you’ve already created into another format to help you develop these funnel fillers.