The Customer Journey

As a handmade business owner, do you currently have a sales funnel in place?

Ok, ok, I hear you all crying out with a “A say what now Jules?!”

A big thing I continuously hear people struggling with in their handmade business is gaining consistent sales.

Having a well thought out sales funnel – or customer journey can really help, as you are consistently channelling people on through the various stages.

I hear you mumbling under your breath that you are just a micro business, a simple hobby business.   Surely you shouldn’t be thinking about anything like this.  Now I know that some of you don’t really want to do any of that serious business stuff, it seems so hard to understand and you just want to create all day.

I hear you, I understand, I get it!

But if you want your business to grow then you need to take this business building malarkey a teensy bit seriously, put your business head on, pull up your big girl fancy pants and start learning new things, agreed?

And I know you can do it.

This is an example of a really simple funnel, or as I like to call it – The Pathway to Happy!…

The Pathway to Happy
(Aka – The Customer Journey).

So, the pathway to happy starts off with that initial finding – that first stumble across of your business. This may be by accident, it may be through some sort of direct marketing connection, it may be through word of mouth, however it happens it doesn’t matter – what matters is that they have found you – yay!

Now they need to know that it is the right space for them. So they have a bit of a shufti around, checking things out, kicking the tyres so to speak, and seeing if it is a stay or nay. This can happen within minutes of becoming aware of your existence – maybe even seconds! This is why it is so important to get your brand and image representation on tip toppity form so you attract and repel with ease.

If they stay, they want to find out more. They want to get to know you a bit better. This is where your voice comes into play and the nurturing begins – always in an authentic, this is me and what I’m about kinda way.

Let people in, let them connect. Let them resonate with your story. Ensure that they know that they are absolutely in the right space for them and they can trust you.

This leads to them supporting you through engagement, recommendations to friends, and (the important bit if we want our kids fed and bills paid), buying from you!

When they feel completely ‘with you’, connected to your vibe and totally wanting to hang around with you – they become an official member of your true crew – your raving fans – who will support you every step of the way and adore all that you do. They want the world to know about you – family, friends, even strangers – you are making them feel so good, they want others to feel that joy too.

That’s why I call it the Pathway to Happy. I see it as a mutual happy making journey for both – customer and business owner – as you both benefit.

Sounds a whole lot better than the usual ‘Sales Funnel’ or ‘Customer journey’ stuff right? It’s the same thing – with a bit of a tweaky tweak of the mindset.

Sound good?

Love Jules x