You’re in the process of building a successful Cash Machine that you can rely on
to create the extra $500 – $1,000 you need right now to get above water; money
you can ultimately use to change your entire financial future and build real
income security for yourself and your family.

You’ve gone through the process of identifying the type of Cash Machine that
you can create right now and start generating fast cash. It may not be the most
glamorous of businesses, but for now, it gets the job done.

This new Cash Machine Business could be a cleaning service, or a delivery
service, messenger service, web design service, child service, or any other type
of service-based business that people are already paying for. We’ll call this first
Cash Machine the stop-gap measure to start catching up on the bills, paying
down the debt, and setting the stage for your next move of expanding your Cash
Machine.

Until that time, we still need to identify the product or “Service Model” for your
Cash Machine. Let’s say you’re starting a cleaning business, this means going to
the next level in this process – beyond the basics of, “I’m starting a cleaning
business,” to identifying the types of cleaning your business might be doing.
For example, maybe you’re just doing light house work, or you’re doing full-scale
clutter reduction. You might be removing mold and mildew, or you could be
cleaning fire damage. There are a lot of things to clean and a lot of ways to do it.

This section is about identifying your product and service offerings so that you
can quickly go from introducing your business to cashing the checks without a lot
of time in between.

Now that you have identified your skill set and applied that to a Cash Machine,
it’s time to get into action. Define the products or services that you plan to offer
within your business.

Too many entrepreneurs make the mistake of talking to potential clients without
having anything to sell – they just say, “hey, I’m starting a cleaning service” but
really don’t know how to answer the next logical question, “what do you clean?”
Remember, each conversation that you have about your Cash Machine is a
potential sale so be clear on what services you offer and what their value is. This
even includes conversations you have with your friends and family.

Time and time again, I meet people with great business concepts and strong
ideas but who aren’t clear on the details and try to go too far, too fast. I’ve said it
before, and I’ll say it again, “you must walk before you run,” and getting this
section out of the way is like lacing up your running shoes. This happens before
you’re even ready to walk out the door.

This is why we closed the conversation in the first section with interviews of your
model companies. In the previous section, you learned about your chosen
market and Cash Machine by interacting and interviewing people who are
already doing what you are about to do. The questions presented on your
worksheets were specifically designed to help you discover the following key
points for developing what we refer to as a product funnel – the way in which
people move from being a casual contact to becoming a long-term customer.

The questions you asked the other company were actually designed to help you
discover the funnel that company uses.

Questions to ask:

• What was the first service that the representative discussed?
• How did the representative begin the conversation about their business?
• What differentiated their Talk Track from the other companies you
researched?
• Did the representative discuss other products and services, also referred
to as upsells?
By the end of this module, you should not only be able to answer these questions
for your own business, but you will have the following:
• An understanding of exactly what products or services you plan to sell.
• A product funnel which leads each client from the “first encounter” (lead
generation or first meeting) through to “marriage” (a loyal customer of your
business).
• A complete pricing model on each of your products or services created by
your revenue goals.

I am going to continue using the case studies we introduced in our first module
because they will help provide you with the examples of how to construct your
Cash Machine, product funnel, and revenue model. Before moving forward, and
if it’s been a while since you read them, you may want to quickly review those
case studies to remind yourself of their businesses and situations.

The Product Funnel:
Drawing the Roadmap through Your Business
A product funnel is the map that shows you how your customer from a planned
starting point (your first conversation), through to an opening offer (a free or low
cost product or service to build engagement). Prospects will continue through the
funnel onto an eventual up-sell to a more experience product or a larger package
of products and services.

Your Cash Machine may consist of an entire menu of services, costing anywhere
from a few dollars one time to hundreds of dollars a month. Offering a large
bundle of products and services may seem like your fastest path to new cash,
but if no one is buying, there’s really no value in it at all. Sometimes, it’s better to
make a small sale because once a buys from you, it’s more likely they will buy
again in the future.

An effective Product Funnel will create a path that leads people from an initial
introduction to your services and end with a contract for an entire bundle – but
you have to start at the beginning – walk before you run.

Starting out, most entrepreneurs have clearly identified the larger service or
product – the holy grail of their service, the one they know, if everyone would buy
it, they’d have it made. Although it may seem that the highest “ticket price” will
get you closer to your overall goals faster, you cannot drive clients immediately to
a big ticket without understanding what steps they will take along the way.
It comes down to a simple question: “Would you ask someone to marry you right
after your first meeting?” Probably not! It takes time to establish trust, identify the
characteristics that work together, and ultimately decided that this relationship
will work out for the long haul.

When your funnel is clearly constructed, you will be able to establish a pattern of
trust with your new prospect. This means that you will be able to quickly
introduce yourself, establish your expertise and credibility, and build a need for
your service as well as create fast cash in the process. Then you’re in a position
to offer your service as a solution to fill that need, and over time, this will also
help you can identify potential sources of additive revenue (add-on services) that
you can incorporate in your model agreement.

All of these things are discovered in your first few interviews, appointments, and
conversations, and Action Steps. That means that having these conversations
and doing these steps on a daily basis is the best way of making your ideas
become a reality sooner rather than later.

The customer is the key to this entire process because with each conversation,
your prospects will help you identify gaps in your talk track or even in your
products and services – they will literally tell you what they want to pay you for.
For the first few months, you will need to come back to your funnel consistently –
revising and reworking the process to ensure the most efficient path from
introduction to cashing checks. For some of you, this may even become a daily
process.

Do not make this harder than it is. It breaks down to a very simple question:
What do you sell?

You already know the type of business you are creating and that naturally
narrows the focus of what services or products you will be offering. It’s not likely
that a cleaning service has to worry about repairing bicycles – so the simple fact
that you’ve chosen your Cash Machine means a large portion of this process is
already done for you.

The answer to the question, “What do you sell?” should not be merely one
particular product or service. Give an answer that doesn’t limit or disqualify a
potential customer too soon.

For example, if you’re a cleaning service and you offer (among other things) barn
cleaning as a service, you still don’t want to answer the question, “what do you
clean?” with “barns.” While it’s true, it may be completely irrelevant to the person
asking, because they don’t have a barn for you to clean.

When you answer the question, start by providing a broad answer instead of
talking about only one of your services. Instead, talk about how you plan to serve
your customer overall.

When someone asks, “what do you do?” you can answer with, “I make life easier
for people who are already stretched thin and don’t have time to clean.” This
answer talks broadly about your service and speaks directly to what your
customer may be looking for.

Speaking to how you plan to serve your customers will ensure a long-term
relationship with them. In our example above, as long as that person is stretched
thin and has no time to clean, you are an indispensable relationship that makes
life easier. Why would they ever stop working with you?

As you continue to cultivate the relationship with the customer, you can pay
attention to other areas of their life and business that seem to be falling by the
wayside or could use some extra attention. You can expand your relationship
with this customer simply by offering an upgrade of service to include that little
thing. It’s a surefire way to expand your business and strengthen your value with
this customer.

By now, you’re seeing that this is a long-term relationship you’re building with
your customers. Even after you stop doing the work personally in your Cash
Machine and have hired people to do it for you, you will still have these
customers as the backbone of your success.

You should approach this with a mindset that you will NEVER sell a customer
just one product and then disappear from their life. Focus on building lasting
relationships that continue to pay out over time. With a strong Product Funnel,
you are doing the hardest work in advance of identifying the process for moving
customers into a long-term position and offering the services in a logical order.

Knowing exactly how you will build the relationship – straight from the ground up
will save you time, show your professionalism, and increase your bottom line.
When you know exactly how you will serve your customer, you will become far
more confident about selling your services to them over and over again and
accepting the cash for a job well done.

In the end, your success is directly related to how thorough you are in
understanding and developing your product funnel. If you know your product and
service inside and out, you can offer it quickly, adjust to meet the specific needs
of a new client, and still know exactly where your final destination is, you’ll never
skip a beat.

Your Product Funnel will ensure that you already know how your client will be
introduced to you. You already know the next steps following that process. Best
of all, you know how you will keep them engaged in the long run.

Let’s get started!

Visualizing Your Product Funnel

When you build your Cash Machine, one of the most important steps is to identify
what you are going to sell. Think of a menu at a restaurant. It lists all of the
appetizers, entrees, desserts, and beverages so that customers know what they
can order. You need to create a menu of products and services for your Cash
Machine so your customers know what’s available too.

The menu at a restaurant serves an important purpose for new and returning
customers. When you go to a restaurant, sometimes you will only be in the mood
for a certain item – so you look for that on the menu first, trying to identify
something you’re familiar with or in the mood to eat. Furthermore, if you have
never been to that restaurant before, you may be hesitant to try something new.
Once you have learned to trust the style of the restaurant you may be more likely
to stretch outside your comfort zone and try other options you may never have
considered before. You may go with something smaller or a more familiar item
until you have learned that you like their style.

While we’re learning from the restaurant business, recent studies have shown
that customers shy away from both the cheapest and most expensive items on a
menu, leaning more towards the mid-range priced items. Restaurants have
learned to design their menus and train their servers to point at the second or
third most expensive items, as they are typically the best selling items! This
concept will assist you in preparing your own menu of services and give you a
conversation structure for your Product Funnel.

Just like in the restaurant business, knowing your product and how it serves your
customer applies to EVERY type of business in EVERY industry – customers
think and spend money in a very similar way across all industries, so play to that.

Also, have you ever seen a menu with only one item? How about only two or
three? Not likely! It’s important for a great restaurant to offer a selection of food
that will ensure that everyone who visits will find at least one thing they could
enjoy. There is a very fine line in building your “menu” because too few options
may leave customers with no options, and too many may create confusion and
lack of focus. The perfect menu is refined, focused, and supports the needs of
different types of customers.

Just as in the example above, you must imagine your products and services as a
funnel that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. You’re going to work with
customers in a very organized manner and introduce them to your service in a
very specific order. At the top of the funnel, you will offer something that captures
the customer’s attention – this could be something for free or a very low cost. By
getting their attention with a “value” item/service, you are in a position to move
them further down the funnel.

As customers move deeper into the funnel, the prices go up and so does the
value. At the bottom of the funnel is your most expensive product – by the time a
customer is offered these options they have established a relationship with you
and are more likely to take advantage of higher-priced options because they
perceive you offer considerable value.

The reason the funnel is wide at the top is so you can visualize yourself reaching
the largest possible group of people first. It’s like casting a wide net in fishing.
This is the area where everyone in the entire world is sitting until they become
prospects and you can begin to market to them over time. At the broadest part of
your strategy is where you have and the majority of your new conversations
about your business. This is also where the customer learns the value of your
services, begins to trust your business, and you establish your brand.

Through your continued marketing and sales efforts, you will begin to develop the
mechanism you use to drive the new customers in your funnel. At first, some of
your clients will not understand why they need your product or service – but
something you communicated will capture their attention. This is why your
products should comfortably lead them in a direction. Once you have their
attention, every product or service in your funnel should lead to the next sale
deeper in the funnel. At each level, offer greater value and a higher level of
service.

Your model should always lead a client step by step like the following:

The First Encounter Stage

The majority of the time, your first encounter with a potential new customer will
be as simple as a conversation – a chance conversation that opens the door to
introducing your service or product.

As a result, you will want to know who is your potential customer? You want to
make yourself available, get your marketing materials, and be accessible in all
the places your customers may be.

Once you have the first encounter, make sure you’re ready to provide them with
what they’re looking for. Once they’ve found you, do you have what they are
trying to find? Once you’ve served them, would they want to come back and see
you again? Be ready to answer their questions, provide a clear picture of how
you can help them, and build their confidence in your abilities.

Your first encounter should be all about helping your customer to solve their
problem and get to know your business. This also should be done with little to no
cost or risk associated to the client so they feel there is no obligation to test out
your service and see what you can offer.

This broad part of the funnel is about building interest in what you’re offering. It’s
not the time to go for the gold and push some long-term agreement – you’re just
here to cast the net and start drawing the customers through the funnel. The rest
takes care of itself.

The First Commitment Stage

Your First Encounter has allowed you to start building the relationship with this
new customer and opened the door for the next phase of the funnel – it’s time to
move toward the first sale. Again, this shouldn’t be the highest priced item in
your arsenal, but another product or service that is designed to continue the
relationship – you’re continuing to fill their need with incremental steps – make it
easy for them to say “yes.”

Depending on your business, this stage may have several different options and
products depending on the customer. It’s okay, as long as you have organized
your services and you know which fall into this stage. There will be multiple
products for different customers in this stage.

Keep in mind that as you go through this process, your new customers may be in
this stage for some time as you offer additional services that meet their needs.
Ultimately, there will come a time when the number of services they have agreed
to will warrant moving to the next stage – make a proposal.

The Proposal Stage (The Big Sale)

At this point your customer is now familiar with your business and the services
you provide. They are familiar with your business practices and confident in your
ability to produce on your agreements. It’s at this stage you can lock them in as a
regular client, sign them into a long-term agreement, or expand the scope of your
services.

It’s at this stage you can finally guide them toward your “big ticket” product or
service. This could be a bundle of services you provide, or it could be a contract
commitment to work with you for an extended period of time. Each unique Cash
Machine will have a unique proposal of services and products, but this is your
chance to lock down this relationship and start capitalizing on the work you have
done.

Building and Maintaining a Community Stage (Ongoing Relationship)

Once you’ve closed the big sale, it ’s time for you to put that customer behind you
into a maintenance mode – a program of engaging them that keeps them
committed to your company and frees you up to find new customers. This
maintenance program may include newsletters, coupons, referral incentives, and
any other opportunity to fortify your brand and build customer loyalty.

In fact, it is your previous customers who are most likely to refer new business
your way so you will want to have a system in place that keeps them aware of
your company and makes it easy to refer someone your way.

Maintaining the relationship through ongoing correspondence, new specials, or
expanded products and services will likely be the lowest-cost method of
generating new business. Whether you choose to keep customers engaged
through offline methods (mail, phone calls, etc.) or online methods (social
networking, email, websites, etc.), you need to keep your client engaged. How
you cultivate and engage with your customer base will determine the long-term
success of your Cash Machine.

Creating an environment for your customers to interact with your brand and other
satisfied customers will be a great way to use the power of positive exposure to
build your company. This ongoing relationship is what then makes your best
customers want to be long term members of your community.

The internet and social networking resources are ways to engage clients and
incentivize them to share with others about your company. People have a desire
to belong. They also have a need to connect with other people and share their
experiences. If you do not provide an opportunity for your customers to connect,
they will look for others way to reach out to others. Building a community is more
important to some businesses than to others so be logical about how this part of
the program fits with your current Cash Machine. Community is a very important
benefit in the coaching and training world. My company, Live Out Loud, provides
various opportunities for clients to network, connect and develop relationships
with each other.

Case Study Example: Jennifer and Todd H.

Jennifer and Todd faced a few unique challenges when approaching the senior
care market. By far, their most valuable source of marketing was offline, where
they were able to meet seniors and families to directly provide consultations
about their services. Many seniors would not be searching online for this type of
care, but their children were.

Therefore, they required a unique approach at the beginning of the funnel. They
quickly expanded their ability to reach new customers by developing a small
book and a video product for online use, which they also reproduced in physical
form to promote offline. Their use of DVDs for this video, which can be
reproduced at a very low cost, was particularly effective.

Furthermore, the product model was particularly supported by “word of mouth”
style advertising at all levels. Because of the value provided by their errand
services, which were among the first they offered, many clients already began
referring new leads.

As more clients were generated, Jennifer and Todd were able to bring on team to
perform the errand and maintenance services, freeing them to focus on
marketing, sales, and providing only the in-home care services.

Case Study Example: Nancy B.

Nancy’s conviction about showing the difference between her business and a
simple “babysitting” service was the inspiration behind her efforts at the top of her
funnel. Nancy developed a simple report that she distributed before or during her
initial meetings with parents and teachers called “Beyond Babysitting,” that
showed the benefits that life skills and cultural education provided over children
who spent their afternoons staying with a “babysitter.”

Whenever the children were in school, Nancy would visit local schools and
agencies to share her material and receive suggestions. Many local teachers
quickly bought into her message, regularly referring parents to both consultation
sessions and evening classes that were taught by Nancy and her student
teachers. Because of the fun and easygoing nature of her program, the majority
of attendees would enroll their children in her primary afterschool program.

Nancy was able to expand her community very quickly in a variety of ways.
When children reached a certain age and had experience in the program, she
would work with them to become student teachers and kept them involved with
new children. When she would create a class in a new area, many of her
existing parents and children would attend, creating a great deal of enthusiasm
for those who had not experienced her program before.

Case Study Example: Samantha W.

Although Samantha’s business took off as a result of her strong offline marketing
and appointment setting, she quickly realized the benefit in creating other ways
for people to reach her. One of her first hires was a part-time web developer who
assisted in creating small, targeted websites (also known as landing pages) with
specific offers based on local searches.

For example, when a client would search for “Fort Lauderdale wedding,” her
landing page was among the first results. The website showed off a small video
sample of her previous events, while offering a report titled “The 10 Ways to
Create an Event to Remember.” Leads would then be required to enter their
contact information to receive the report (called “Opting In”.)

As her business continued to grow, Samantha also noticed a large market of
people who were attempting to plan an event themselves. She quickly worked to
create a “Do It Yourself” style product that included a variety of checklists and
planning tools, as well as a short phone consultation with Samantha (and later
her teammates) to help others.

The “Do It Yourself” kit quickly expanded Samantha’s business beyond her local
area, as she was able to perform consultations with people around the world on
how to create the perfect event. Samantha also noticed that there were a few
areas that were generating a particular amount of interest, so she attempted to
find partners in those areas who could help plan events directly. As a result, she
was able to make even more income when referring clients out to those areas.

Whenever a customer had an event planned directly by Samantha or one of her
partners, they were immediately and automatically enrolled into an ongoing
affiliate program. Each month, these former customers were provided with a
newsletter and a special new bonus for referring new leads to the business.

Case Study Example: Joe O.

Although Joe was primarily focused on offline marketing and networking within
his community, his skills made it easy for him to quickly create a variety of
information products about technology and web development. These products
were available on targeted websites (landing pages) that required contact
information, but he also exchanged them for business cards at networking
events.

Joe regularly hosted teleseminars with business owners from his community,
which he recorded and posted on new landing pages. As time went on, his Q&A
sessions became the most popular offer online, so he began hosting a monthly
session that customers could subscribe to at a low cost.

These seminars became the foundation for a full social media and website
training course that guided small business owners through the exact steps they
needed to get started in marketing and sales online. Joe found that many of his
clients were not interested in doing the work themselves after completing the
courses, which led them to purchase his services directly.

Joe offered a variety of different packages as his “big ticket” items, ranging from
setting his clients up on social networking sites to full scale web development.

Because of his local efforts and growing online presence, Joe was able to build a
team who was able to assist with the development of these sites.

Joe then began to focus on developing an ongoing maintenance and support
program that generated regular, reoccurring revenue for his business.

ACTION STEP: Create Your Product Funnel

Using the case studies above and the information gathered in Section 1, it’s time
turn to create your first Product Funnel. It’s time to begin the process of
developing a business strategy for your Cash Machine. This process involves
creating a list of the initial services and offers you can make to potential
customers and then organizing them into the appropriate funnel positions.

Remember, by the time you are complete with this Action Step, your funnel
should contain the following:

• An introductory free or very low-cost offer.
• A “first commitment” low cost product or service.
• An ongoing product or service (or multiple) designed to establish a
relationship with your customer.
• The “big ticket” offer.
• An ongoing product or service offer that keeps previous customers
engaged and interested in your business.

To get started, you will want to create a list of the services you will offer in your
Cash Machine. Be specific and break the services down to the most fundamental
offering. For example, if you have a cleaning business, don’t just list “clean
kitchen.” Get specific and include all the things you are likely to clean such as
refrigerator, appliances, floors, trim, molding, curtains, cupboard fronts, cupboard
inside, etc. Each of these are important elements are important to showing your
thorough work and will illustrate to the client the extent of your service.

Remember, the “small” things on your list may end up being value added options
or initial free offers you can make. As a cleaning service you could make the offer
something simple like, “free refrigerator and oven cleaning for new clients.” This
is a small offer that gets you in the door and makes your service appealing for
those people who don’t enjoy cleaning that part of the kitchen.

LIST YOUR SERVICES
In the following space list your services and the price of the service.

Even though some of these things may be all part of one larger service package
or bundle, separating out the price for each service individually is a good way to
show the value of getting a bundled service for a customer and also allows
individuals to get just the services they need – they feel like they can create their
own service package.

INITIAL OFFERS
Now that you know what your services are, you can start to identify which of
these services could be offered as an initial incentive to start working with you.
Your initial offer will be something you can provide at little or no cost to your
customer while still providing a value-added product.

This can be a service, a discount, a report, or anything that feels like it has value.
Some people, like our case study Nancy, use information as an initial offer. This
educates the potential customer and creates the need for the services being
offered. Other people, like our case study Joe, create events, or offer a free a
version (simplified and general) sample of their service to get a customer hungry
for more. Focus on adding value to demonstrate how you can help to provide a
solution to their problems. Providing this value starts to establish you as a trusted
advisor. People are much more likely to buy from a trusted advisor or someone
who has provided value.

In the following space, make a list of the service you can use as an initial offer
and the price/incentive to attract the customer.

FIRST ENCOUNTER
Now that you have a list of possible Initial Offers, it’s time to determine the First
Encounter area of your Product Funnel. Using the list that you created, choose
the Initial Offer you feel will get the most attention from potential customers. You
can bounce these ideas off friends and family, or even contact someone you
know who could be a customer and ask them what incentive appeals to them.

You might be surprised by the answer.

Write your FIRST ENCOUNTER offer: _______________________________

FIRST COMMITMENT

Now that you know the offer that will get people into your Product Funnel, it’s
time to get a clear picture of where you want them to go next. The initial step may
have only captured their attention, now you have to get them to commit to
something more.

If you were creating a cleaning service, this is like getting their attention with a
FREE OVEN CLEANING – for new kitchen clients. In this example, you have
them interested with FREE oven cleaning, and you’ve incensed them to commit
to a kitchen cleaning to take advantage of your offer.

Based on the FIRST ENCOUNTER OFFER from above, what is the FIRST
COMMITMENT you want your new customers to make? Remember, you’re
going to charge for this offer.

Write your FIRST COMMITMENT here: _____________________________

PROPOSAL

When you have a customer in your Product Funnel thanks to your initial offer and
their first commitment, you need to move them along the process by offering
them a long-term relationship option. This is the bread and butter for creating a
Cash Machine that continually pays out.

Using our cleaning service example, the proposal takes it from a one-time
kitchen cleaning to a weekly or monthly agreement that involves regular service
at a set price.

It’s important for you to know what the long-term proposal you will offer
customers as part of your Cash Machine. This will be the fuel that will drive this
machine forward, so you want to have this planned out in advance. This is a way
of having regular, returning customers who are constantly funneling cash into
your bank account.

Write your PROPOSAL here: _____________________________________

ONGOING RELATIONSHIP

Once you have a proposal that is acceptable to the customer, you need to have a
plan in place to keep them engaged and hungry for your service. This plan will
continually communicate your services and added value offers that make it
worthwhile for them to recommend you to their friends and family.

Cultivating your customer relationships will become a key source of new leads
that will filter into the top of your funnel. The more you can get your customers to
do your marketing and sales work for you, the more cash you can keep in your
pocket.

Create a plan to develop customer relationships and reward them to work for
you. This could include regular emails, a newsletter, coupons, discounts, or
incentives. Each Cash Machine will have its own effective cultivation model, so
be creative and consider your customers. This should be tailored to their
preferred form of communication – emails may work for some, but not for others.