Several years ago I worked for an employer who was struggling with rising health care costs.  Just like every other business in the United States, they were looking for ways to manage the year after year price increases.  The health insurance innovation they came up with was one that was based on the health of the employee - healthy employees would pay less and unhealthy employees would pay more.  

But employees naturally disliked this program.  It wasn’t that they thought everyone should pay the same for health insurance - they seemed to understand that unhealthy people cost the company more in premiums.  They even thought this was a great health insurance innovation.  Their problem with the program was with how the program was framed.

My wife has found a dentist she loves.  She doesn’t appreciate him because he makes her teeth whiter or takes away her pain when she has neglected her teeth.  She loves her dentist because he has given her $150 in gift certificates.

When she first walked into Dr. Painter’s dental office, she was told about a dental referral program offered by the practice.  For every person she referred to the dental office, she would receive a $25 gift card to the merchant of her choice.  Having a family of 5, she quickly got her first $100 in gift certificates.  Add in her parents, and she was up to $150 with very little work.

As I have been recently writing on the topic of developing an effective sales process, I thought I would show a few examples of how successful sales funnels have been applied.  In my post on How to Design a Service Industry Sales Workflow, I broke down the process of how to design a sales funnel for a business in the service industry.  Businesses that offer a service, rather than a product, have some unique challenges over businesses that sell physical products.  Martial arts marketing can be challenging on a number of levels.  Therefore, I think it is worthwhile to take a close look at a business that has done a good job refining their sales funnel.  This business is my son's taekwondo academy.

The retail industry in the United States has long been criticized for paying wages that no one can realistically live off of.  Many retail workers must work multiple jobs and struggle to get ahead in their careers.  One of the greatest challenges that retail workers face is that those who want to get ahead by attending college to earn an advanced degree really can't afford it. With rising tuition costs and increases in living expenses, earning a college degree while working in the retail industry has become a very, very challenging task.  For this reason, one company has decided to offer an innovative solution to this problem; the Starbucks college tuition reimbursement program provides up to two years of paid college tuition.

Every business should have a sales process.  A sales process is a formalized plan to evolve a prospect client into an ideal customer; it is an intentional strategy designed to systemize sales so that each potential client is given an equal opportunity to become an ideal customer.  Without a clearly defined process of how a customer will evolve over time, the lifetime value of a customer will not be as effective as it could be.  In my recent post on How to Design a Sales Process in 3 Steps, I discussed general methods on what should be done to develop such a process.  In this post, however, I am going to specifically focus on designing a sales funnel for a service-based business. 

I recently met a friend for coffee.  We were visiting a place that both of us had been to previously, but neither of us were regulars.  We had been chatting when we first walked in, so I wasn't really paying attention to the menu posted on the wall behind the cash register.  No problem.  I always get the same thing; a berry herbal tea.  But when I asked if they had any herbal teas, they handed me a huge book of options.  Some of the teas on the list were highlighted, some were scratched out, and some had no markings.  It was explained that they didn't carry every tea in the book and were out of some that they do carry, but I could tell by the markings in the book.  At this point, I was feeling the pressure of the line of people behind me and couldn't even tell what my options were due to the very complicated process.

This business could greatly benefit from implementing a formalized, intentional sales process.  A sales process is a defined step by step plan on how to help a customer move from being a prospect, to making a decision and purchasing a product or service.  When effectively implemented, a sales process can actually be one of the most valuable assets of an organization.  Therefore, every business should implement a formalized sales process for five reasons.

Walmart leads the world as the largest and most powerful retailer.  Their big box stores offer low prices and a large selection to their customers who line up to take advantage of the savings.  As I explained in a recent post, Walmart has been able to offer such low prices due to their economies of scale. But it has come at an expense; their customer service is often nonexistent.  And this provides an opportunity for other businesses to gain a strong market share in Walmart's shadow.  One of these businesses is Target.

In this article, I am going to dissect Target's business model focus of customer service and how they have found a competitive advantage to compete with Walmart without (completely) slashing their prices.