How To Fill Your Sales Funnel: 5 Ways To Bring in More Leads

Originally posted May 2018; Updated May 2023

Keep the leads coming and your business growing!

Over the years, the humble funnel has had many uses. (Filling up jars with jam, the salt shaker with salt, or the car engine with oil, for example.)

When it comes to sales and marketing, the funnel plays a similar — yet different — role.

In marketing, the sales funnel describes the journey a lead takes toward becoming a customer. As they move through the sales funnel, a larger group of leads is narrowed down until you’re left with a select group of prospects primed to become your new clients.

The first step in this process, of course, is to fill your sales funnel (i.e., attract new leads). But how exactly do you do that? We’re glad you asked…

Why Is It Important To Keep Your Sales Funnel Full?

This is sort of a rhetorical question — if you’re a business owner or salesperson, you know why it’s important to have a full sales funnel. After all, if you’re not attracting new leads, your business won’t last long.

Even if you currently have all the customers you could wish for, it’s dangerous to get complacent about lead generation. Things change: companies go out of business or switch their loyalties,  and individuals move, get new jobs, or go through other life changes that lead them to alter their buying patterns. It’s never a good idea to be overly dependent on current clients.

So whether you’re struggling to keep your schedule full or sitting pretty with a full roster of great clients, you need to be consistently filling that funnel. When your sales funnel is full, you can focus on engaging those prospects and bringing them through to a sale. 

Think of filling your sales funnel as maintenance: engaging in ongoing activities that help you continuously attract prospects.

5 Ways To Fill Your Sales Funnel

There are so many lead generation tools out there that it’s easy to get overwhelmed trying to figure out which ones to use. We recommend that you focus on a few activities that suit your business and your clientele. As long as you keep replenishing your supply of potential new clients, you’ll be in good shape. Try a few different methods, and keep what works. 

To that end, here are five ways to keep your sales funnel filled so you always have leads to follow up with. 

1. Email Marketing

Email marketing offers a simple, easy way to stay in touch with people who have expressed an interest in your business. 

Plus, it has fantastic ROI: For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $36. Not bad, right?

To take advantage of this stellar ROI, you first need to build your email list. There are dozens of ways to build your list, but one of the best is to create a landing page where people can easily sign up for your list, as well as a banner or pop-up on your website homepage directing visitors to the signup page. You can also link to that landing page from your blog posts, social media posts, and even your email signature.

Learn all about using email campaigns to attract and nurture leads in our recent blog: Getting Started: How To Use Email Marketing To Grow Your Business

2. Blogging 

Blogging is one of the best ways to establish credibility with your audience. Your blog gives you a place to share useful insider information about your company and industry. 

But remember: One thing a blog isn’t for is selling.

Yep, you read that right. The goal of a blog isn’t to sell: it’s to educate your audience, attract leads, and prepare them for a sale by establishing credibility and earning trust.

That means you don’t want your blog posts to be full of sales pitches or monologues about how great your company or product is. Instead, share industry news and expert advice, answer frequently asked questions, and establish yourself as a go-to resource and expert in your field.  

When readers find value in your content, they’ll keep coming back AND they’ll trust your expertise.

3. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a great way to connect with your target audience and build interest in your brand. Posting a mix of:

• Educational content about your products and services (including links to your blog posts)
• Behind-the-scenes content (like employee introductions or office tours), and 
• Relevant entertaining memes or videos 

... will help humanize your brand and keep your name fresh in the minds of your audience.

Consistency and connection are key in social media marketing, so make sure you’re posting regularly and engaging with your followers by responding to comments and questions. Engaging with other accounts’ posts through likes, comments, and shares will also help improve your visibility and attract more leads.

4. SEO

At the top of the sales funnel, the customer is at the point where they’ve just realized they have a problem, and they’re searching for a solution. To make it easier for prospects to find your company when they search the web, make sure your website’s SEO is on point.

To capture these potential leads, you need to offer content that answers the questions people ask in the early stages of the buying journey. A blog, as we’ve mentioned, is a great way to do this. A blog also helps increase the number of pages on your website that are indexed by Google, making you easier to find online.

In addition, you need to make sure your blog and all other website pages are optimized for the keywords used most often by those searching for information related to your products or services.

Learn more about keywords and other aspects of SEO in our article: Transform Your Blog Into a Traffic-Generating Machine.

5. Lead Magnets

Offering high-quality free downloads is another fantastic way to draw in more prospects for your sales funnel. These can include:

• eBooks
• White papers
• Guides
• Infographics
• Webinars
• How-to videos
• Other gated content 

To access these lead magnets, people provide their contact information in exchange for the free resource. This typically includes their name and email, but sometimes also a phone number or other details.

However, make sure the content you’re providing actually offers useful information. Otherwise, the lead will feel like they were swindled out of their contact information, and won’t be as likely to want to do business with you.

Fill Your Sales Funnel With Help From Wild Fig Marketing

These are just five of the dozens of ways you can keep your sales funnel filled to the brim with leads. And you don’t have to do them all: Try a few techniques and see what works best for your business and your audience.

No matter your industry, doing business is a lot more fun when the pressure to find leads is off. Using these tools will help keep the leads flowing in so you can relax and focus on bringing your leads through to a sale.

Looking for more ways to generate leads and grow your business? Schedule a complimentary exploratory call with me! I’d love to learn more about your business and talk about how Wild Fig Marketing can help you reach your goals.