Have you ever felt kinda icky when creating a sales funnel? Following all the “rules” for what’s regarded as a successful, high converting sales funnel, but not feeling totally aligned or comfortable doing it that way?

The good news is you don’t have to follow the “rulebook.” You get to create a sales funnel that feels good to you. And this is exactly what content strategist, Mel Daniels, is chatting with me about in today’s episode: Building your soulful sales funnel.

We talk about:

• Giving yourself permission to ditch the bro and go with your own flow when building your sales funnel.
  Creating the perfect lead magnet and striving to build an aligned email list rather than a big one.
• Mapping out your sales funnel the easy way.
• Figuring out what to say to nurture your new email friends.
• Setting up the tech – keep it simple!
• Promoting your new resource! Don’t keep it a secret!

Have you ever felt kinda icky when creating a sales funnel? Following all the “rules” for what’s regarded as a successful, high converting sales funnel, but not feeling totally aligned or comfortable doing it that way?

The good news is you don’t have to follow the “rulebook.” You get to create a sales funnel that feels good to you. And this is exactly what content strategist, Mel Daniels, is chatting with me about in today’s episode: Building your soulful sales funnel.

We talk about:

• Giving yourself permission to ditch the bro and go with your own flow when building your sales funnel.
• Creating the perfect lead magnet and striving to build an aligned email list rather than a big one.
• Mapping out your sales funnel the easy way.
• Figuring out what to say to nurture your new email friends.
• Setting up the tech – keep it simple!
• Promoting your new resource! Don’t keep it a secret!

Resources and people mentioned in the show:

Mel Daniels website
www.meldbusinessservices.com.au

Instagram
www.instagram.com/meldbusiness

Facebook
www.facebook.com/meldbusiness

The Content Project Facebook Group
www.facebook.com/groups/thecontentproject

Soulful Sales Funnel – 5 day challenge

www.thecontenteffect.com.au/soulful

Connect with me

On Instagram @thehayleymaxwell
At www.hayleymaxwell.com/fiercely-you-coaching

Free resource

Become Wildly Unforgettable
8 ideas to rise above the noise and claim your powerful position as a memorable and recognized expert in your industry. Grab it here: www.hayleymaxwell.com/wildly-unforgettable

TRANSCRIPT

Hayley Maxwell  00:06

Welcome to the fierce impact podcast. I’m your host, Hayley Maxwell brand clarity and messaging coach, copywriter, ferocious ice cream eater and leopard print lover. If you’re ready to harness the incredible brand building power of words, so you can become memorable, meaningful, and the only real choice for your dream clients, this is the podcast for you. Let’s get started well, hello, my friend, and welcome to the Fierce Impact podcast. How are you doing? I hope that you’re well. And I just want to thank you so much for being here, for listening in. I truly appreciate you investing your time and listening. And I always, always hope that you get a lot out of the episodes that I share with you. So thank you, thank you so much for being here. 

Now, today I am talking with the lovely Mel Daniels who is a content strategist, coach and speaker, all about building your soulful sales funnel. And Mel’s approach to sales funnels really aligns with my beliefs about the way that I want to show up in my business, and the way that I want to nurture relationships and build connections. And it really comes down to just being respectful and focusing on the human first. And this is really the theme behind the conversation that we have today. 

Mel really drops so many useful gems of wisdom in this episode. So I know it’s going to be a great episode to listen into. We talk about all things like giving yourself permission to ditch the bro and go with your own flow when building your sales funnel, creating the perfect lead magnet and striving to build an aligned email list rather than a big one. Mapping out your sales funnel the easy way and figuring out what to say to nurture your new email friends and keeping your text simple and then promoting your new resource. Not keeping it a secret because it’s something that people shy away from we go through all this effort to create beautiful resources, highly valuable resources for our audience, and then we shy away from promoting it. 

So I want to jump in. And let me introduce Mel to you. As I mentioned just a minute ago. Mel is a content strategist, coach and speaker who loves to understand why. She is a girl after my own heart because I also have to understand why to the point that it actually drives my husband slightly crazy. And so even past her toddler years, she always asked why she wanted to understand why things worked like they did why people acted a certain way, and why she was the only one who loved peanut butter and saltana sandwiches. Not so sure about that!

Her Curiosity has led her on an interesting life journey from academic achiever to corporate leader mum extraordinaire and now business owner. Mel’s purpose is to teach and empower women who want more from their business on how to use content in a powerful way. She gives them the confidence they need to become more visible be seen as the expert that they are and be inspired to take their business to the next level.

When she’s not talking about content and client journeys. You will find Mel cheering on her clients from the sidelines. Her other favorite hangouts are the kitchen and the gym. And luckily her love of deadlifting counteracts the amount of baking she consumes. Well kind of is what she says. So with all that, let’s jump in and hear from Mel. Welcome to the faith impact podcast Mel How you doing?

Mel Daniels 04:26

I am so excited to be here Haley to be with you to have a chat about soulful sales funnels today and just the fact that you are such an experienced and knowledgeable and beautiful person. I’m really really honored to be here so thank you for having me.

Hayley Maxwell  04:41

Oh, thank you and thank you for you know the compliments I think there’s brownie points straight off the mark. So yeah. But ya know, I’m super excited to talk to you today about soulful sales funnels because it just really aligns with the approach that I like to take towards business and that’s done doing things in a really respectful, aligned way and doing things in a way that really feels good to you. So not necessarily following the trends or the things that, you know, we’re told we have to do. It’s just really carving out our own path. And so I’m excited to dig into, you know, what it what it all means and how we can go about creating that soulful, sales funnel. But I’d love to just find out a little bit more about your own business journey and sort of how you got to where you are today.

Mel Daniels 05:35

Oh, okay, cool. So I started in business six years ago, and I started as a virtual assistant. And I kind of call myself an accidental entrepreneur, because I never had any role models in my life. In terms of business owners, I never knew what it took to be a business owner or an entrepreneur. So I kind of fell into it. Because I knew that after having children, I didn’t want to go back to the corporate space. And that’s not because I didn’t love it, because Oh, my goodness, I loved my corporate career. I loved it so much. I loved the people, I love the culture. I love the traveling to work, I loved all of those things. But obviously, when you have children and a family comes along your priorities change. I mean, it’s it’s that simple. So I really felt like I didn’t want to go back to that corporate space. So it was kind of like, well, what do I do with myself now. And at the time, I was really lucky that a friend of mine who is a solo entrepreneur, in terms of being a lawyer, asked if I could help her out because she was going through a really busy period. So I went and helped her a couple of days a week for a little while. And then I thought to myself, this is something that I can see a lot of women out there needing, and that’s that help that assistence just getting through the busy periods of their business. So that’s when I decided that I would start as a virtual assistant. And from there, I really started to focus in on content, I could see how content was such a huge part of so many women’s business businesses, and they just didn’t have the time to actually create it, shedule it publish it. So I really started to focus in on that. And that’s when I changed to becoming a content strategist and coach. And I’ve really helped women become more strategic, and purposeful and powerful with their content, so that they can go out and convert their ideal clients.

Hayley Maxwell  07:33

That’s amazing. I didn’t realize that it started off your journey as sort of a virtual assistant and sort of specialized and specialized and sort of, you know, carved out, you know, to where you are now. So it’s Yeah, I love I love hearing about people’s journeys. And because they’re not, they’re not always just these linear journeys, are they, you know, particularly in entrepreneur, renewal land. It’s kind of the sort of up and down and all around. And yeah, we can find ourselves in some unexpected places sometimes.

Mel Daniels 08:05

And I think that as long as we’re open to that as well, and realize that it isn’t necessarily where you start isn’t necessarily where you’re going to end up. And just Yeah, being open to the opportunities as they come along, then this entrepreneurial journey can be just so amazing.

Hayley Maxwell  08:22

Yeah, absolutely. And so we’re obviously going to dig into soulful sales funnel. So I always like to start with kind of a definition as a starting point. So what what do you regard, you know, a soulful sales funnel as?

Mel Daniels 08:39

The total opposite out as a traditional sales funnel, to what everyone writes. So really, it’s moving away from that really transaction numbers based sales funnel, and content marketing to one that’s really built on relationships. So we’re thinking about that human on the end of every piece of content that we create, including every little step inside of our sales funnels. And when we do that, we really experience so much more personal and business growth. And I know that a lot of people think of sales funnels as being really hard and heavy. And there is a reason for that.

Mel Daniels 09:14

It’s because you are not doing the sales funnel, aligned with yourself. So it just feels really hard. And you feel that resistance, because you’re not really focusing on what you’re truly good at. And that is building relationships. And that’s what it should really be about. And that’s what the crux of a soulful sales funnel is it’s really creating something that is not only aligned with yourself, but really speaks to the human that you’re trying to communicate with.

Hayley Maxwell  09:43

Yeah. And so what are some of those, from a traditional sales funnel perspective? What are some of those things that you think people really struggle with when it comes to kind of setting up that that sales funnel and in terms of it makes them think “oh, this just isn’t right for for me.”

Mel Daniels 10:04

There’s so many, there’s so many different answers to this question, Hayley. And I think that one of the main things is that people just don’t necessarily know where to start, they’re told, you know, these are the exact steps that you need to follow up with a sales funnel, you need to create a lead magnet, you need to do automated emails, and they have to go out every day, sometimes they have to go out twice a day, it’s being told all of those things that just don’t feel or sit right with you. And I think that, you know, even just talking about these, if the, if someone’s listening, and they think to themselves, yeah, you know what, that really does not feel right for me to be emailing my new subscriber every single day or twice a day, then please just don’t do it, don’t do it.

Mel Daniels 10:48

I really think that, you know, not just our content, not just sales funnel, but this whole business journey is really about doing what feels good for us. Because when we do what feels good for us, then we bring that energy. And when we bring that energy, our ideal client can really feel that and that’s, you know, what attracts them to us as well. So it’s about you know, not knowing where to start is about being told to do these things that you don’t really feel like it fits with you. It’s about it feeling complicated. Because sometimes with sales funnels, you know, we’re taught to, you have to do a automated email, and then you have to sell a low cost, product or service, and then you do five other emails, and then you have to try and push this other thing on to them. And I feel like that when we go down that path, when we go down the path of a formula or doing something, someone else’s way, then it just, it just feels really wrong, it feels wrong, and your ideal client will pick up on that as well. So that’s probably some of the things that I think that people struggle with when it comes to a traditional sales funnel.

Hayley Maxwell  11:58

Absolutely, yeah, I couldn’t agree more with those. And I think that I think one of the biggest problems that people have is that we feel like, you know, we’re being told by some of the online gurus, perhaps that this is the way it’s got to be. And I think that we get stuck in that mindset of thinking, well, if they’re doing it, if this is the way that they’re saying needs to be, and this is the success that they’ve got then, this is the formula that I need to follow. And it’s really hard to then step away from that and kind of break out of that mold, because I think many people are then worried that if they don’t do it that particular way, that they’re not going to have, you know, the success that they want to have. And so I think it’s, it’s, there is a mindset piece in that that sort of work and stepping away from, you know, doing what other people say that you should be doing, and then stepping into something that actually feels right for you and trusting in yourself to just give it a go, would you agree?

Mel Daniels 13:07

Oh, yes, 100%. I agree, you know, the FOMO is real, it really is real. And even for someone like myself, I probably about two years ago fell into that hole, you must do sales and content marketing this way, otherwise, you won’t have the success. And I used someone else’s swipe files for emails. And as I was using them, I was like, This just doesn’t sound like me, this isn’t the type of things that I would actually say, this is not how my ideal client would like me to talk to them. And so after I’d gone through about five of those emails, Hayley, I just meant, well, I got to, I’ve got to stop. But I did get caught up in that, oh, my goodness, if I don’t use these exact words that someone else has to give me I will not succeed, I will not be able to build a business that I want to build. So it’s definitely real that pull to do things someone else’s way is definitely there.

Hayley Maxwell  14:08

Yeah, absolutely. And I liked also about what you were talking about, about the kind of the simplification because sales funnels can become incredibly complicated beasts. But I think there’s something really beautiful about having just a really simple funnel that just Yeah, is is truly aligned to kind of your goals and also the clients that you’re trying to reach. I mean, let’s face it, we’re all busy business owners, and I think we’d all like to have less, you know, one, one less as the receiver to read to work through, but also as the business owner, managing our own sales funnels and all the moving parts that we think we’ve got to add to it adds a huge amount of sort of stress onto our plate thinking well, I’ve got to get that in place before I can Got this next bit in place before I can do this piece? It feels never ending sometimes doesn’t that do

Mel Daniels 15:06

does and the perfectionism comes out in us and therefore the procrastination comes out of us. And then you know, we don’t actually put ourselves final together. So I think that you hit the nail on the head when you said, simplicity is the key. And especially if you’re just first starting out as well, yes, in years to come, you can build these amazing complex funnels that, you know, take people down different pathways. But just for right now know that a soulful sales funnel is all about delivering content to your ideal client, but they need to hear right now that they want to hear from you right now. And when you put that together in a very simple and very easy way, it can be just as effective when it comes from your heart, and it’s not coming from your head or someone else’s email swipe file, you can really connect with your ideal client and start to take them on that client journey with you. So yes, simplicity, especially when you’re starting out is definitely the key.

Hayley Maxwell  16:02

Absolutely, I love that. So let’s let’s dig into it. So if you are helping someone to build their soulful sales funnel, what is the kind of first place that someone would would start out, I guess.

Mel Daniels 16:18

The first place is I’m going to give you permission, I’m going to give you permission to ditch the bro, the bro marketing and go with the flow. Because when someone gives you permission, that you know that you don’t have to do something a certain way, then it’s just going to make it so much easier for you.

Mel Daniels 16:34

But I really want to say that, you know, all of our entrepreneurial life, we’ve actually been taught, you know, this is the way that you put a sales funnel together, you you know, this is the formula, this is the swipe file, now go and plug in the missing bits and pieces, and you’ll be able to make the sales. But I really get so frustrated with this approach. Because I don’t know whether people realize this, but sales funnels really have such a low conversion rate, it’s really quite low, you know, it’s typically around, you know, average, average 2% for those higher ticket products and services that we sell. And to put that into perspective, Hayley, there’s 100 new people 100 new people that we need to get onto our list, our email list to get just two sales. And I think that that is beyond a lot of people’s comprehension and abilities as well to get 100 new people onto their list on a regular basis. And when you’re first starting out this organically as well, not necessarily paid. So to consistently, you have to bring in that many people, you need to use tactics that are not necessarily aligned with who you are. So if we give the bro marketing the middle finger.

Mel Daniels 17:49

Think of a sales funnel from a different perspective, let’s not call it a sales funnel, or think of it as a sales funnel. But let’s think of it like as a nurture funnel or really opportunity to build relationships with people, it’s a totally different approach, right. So if you’re coming from a sales funnel to try and sell something, as opposed to a sales funnel, to nurture or build relationship, it’s totally different. It’s 100% different. So when we’re kind of looking at planting that seed, and using t email automations within our sales funnel to really broaden our reach, and to introduce our entire content ecosystem to our subscribers as well, because you know, the more touch points that we have with them, the more that we can talk to them in different ways, the more that we can nurture them and get them to that point of conversion quicker.

Mel Daniels 18:43

So there’s lots of different ways or different angles you can come to your sales funnel from, but if we just kind of forget about doing the bro marketing tactics, and really go with the flow and think about what’s right for you, then I think that that’s really going to change the way you act in your sales funnel. And it’s going to impact the outcome of your sales funnel as well. So that’s kind of my first step and to give you permission to ditch it, give it the middle finger.

Hayley Maxwell  19:09

I love No, I really love that. And I think there are a couple of things there that I picked up on. One is around the the language that we use, particularly around some of the the sales funnels, you know, we call them funnels, and we, you know, have things like trip wires, and I really think the language needs to be changed, essentially. Because I think it’s like you were saying if we if we look at it in terms of building those relationships, making those initial connections with people deepening that, that trust, that’s a much nicer way to approach the beginning of a relationship with with someone that has joined your your community.  Whereas when we think about things like you know, tripwires or funnels, it’s all about out, molding people and shaping and squeezing them into a form that we want them to be shifted into. So we’re talking about that that sales funnel, it’s all about sort of squeezing them into a funnel and pushing, pushing, pushing them down. So they sort of come out at the end and buy our thing. Also that tripped up, and then they buy our thing, you know, and it’s, and when we think about it like that, just the shift in language that you use around really looking at it at that different perspective, I think really just changes the focus on actually what we’re what we’re trying to achieve, particularly in those initial stages around nurturing people and building those relationships. So I really love that.

Mel Daniels 20:43

Yes, most definitely. And, and when we flip our perspective, from that pushing to one of ease and flow, it reallyreally makes such a difference, Hayley, it really does. I’ve seen the difference in people, and how they approach their sales funnels, when once they’ve given that permission, that they don’t have to do all of those things that they don’t want to and they can actually include all the things that they really do want to and then it feels good for them. It just changes so much.

Hayley Maxwell  21:12

Yeah. And to pick up on your earlier point around the energy. And I think is the business owner, it really does change your your energy. It’s not that push, push pushing all the time. It’s more that drawing people to you, isn’t it that connection piece, and it’s filling your soul with that right kind of energy that you want to emanate? Is that business owner? And I think even just from the sales funnel perspective, it really changes your whole mindset piece around how you’re drawing people into your, your business in those initial stages. Most definitely. So what would be the give yourself permission to what would you say would be the next step people really need to be thinking about when they’re sort of building their their sales process their sales funnel.

Mel Daniels 22:05

So then the first step is or the next step is actually creating that lead magnet. So what is that thing that’s going to that piece of content that’s going to draw in your ideal client? I think that a lot of people approached the lead magnet from a very broad marketing perspective, and that is to be really quite broad with your lead magnet. So it attracts, #allthepeople, rather than trying to, you know, attract the right people. So I really think that having an aligned email list is better than having a big email list. So let’s forget about these really broad or, you know, not not really niched, lead magnet and create something that’s really quite specific for your ideal client. And not to be afraid of that.

Mel Daniels 22:55

I mean, you always say this Hayley to go deeper with your message and not broader I think the same thing with the lead magnet as well, you know, go deeper, rather than trying to attract all the people just attract the right people to your email list.

Mel Daniels 23:09

And then I think that in we will kind of kind of touched on this already, Haley but creating a lead magnet that attracts people that are not necessarily ready for your thing. And working on them in terms of pain points that they have. So you know, it’s all about the hustle, the sales or salesy approach, trying to push something on someone by poking that pain point. And until they really become so despondent that they feel like they have to work with you to solve their problem. I don’t know about you, and I don’t know about your listeners. But that’s not someone who I really want to work with who’s coming to me, from a place of desperation, I want someone to work with me because they love me, and they really want to work with me to to solve their problem. I want to work with someone who is you know, happier, and who’s excited about the possibilities, and that I can create, working with them rather than someone who feels really upset and despondent. It’s kind of like a really different vibe, working with those two different people. And I know that I would much prefer to work with someone who comes to me from that space of joy and space of you know, excitement because they’re willing to see what the possibilities are. So with that lead magnet is all about attracting the right people and attracting them in the right way. That feels good for you as well.

Hayley Maxwell  24:33

Yeah, completely right. I think just getting really, really clear on exactly what you’re trying to achieve with that that lead magnet and you know who you’re trying to attract onto your list because I think, yeah, you can you can have a big list but all it really does is kind of boost your ego unless it’s that big list is full of all your ideal clients that that’s amazing. But you know, let’s really focus on making sure we are highly targeting the ideal client that we’re really wanting to work with with a really focused lead magnet. I really love that piece of advice. Absolutely. And so what do people what do people do next then so they they come up with their focused lead magnet idea, then what are those next steps to start getting things moving?

Mel Daniels 25:24

Yeah, so it’s all about being coming back to simplicity, Haley, making it really easy for you to put the pieces together. So the next step is basically the automated emails that come after that. And I really, I too often, I see women really starting on creating that lead magnet and fighting their way through creating it. And then they forget what actually comes after it as well. So it’s all about mapping, what comes next.

Mel Daniels 25:52

And then it’s a process of knowing what you’re actually going to say. So I really my little tip here for everyone who’s listening is when you are mapping your sales funnel, soulful sales funnel, and you are thinking about what to talk about, or what comes next in your email automations, then my top tip is to actually put all of your emails just in one document, write them out in one document, so you can actually see them and read them as if someone’s going to receive them. So make sure that you have that flow happening. And make sure that it really does guide them through that client journey with you, it kind of takes them step by step through him.

Mel Daniels 26:31

So that’s probably like the next two steps, mapping the funnel and just knowing what you’re going to say, really focusing on the fact that this is about nurturing people more than it is selling. Yes, I’m not, I’m not saying not, don’t sell full 100%, we need to make the offer, we need to let our ideal client know what solutions we have for them to solve their problems. But just thinking about the nurturing side of things, I think it just really brings that different energy, both you and your ideal client as well. So definitely, you know, make sure you still putting those call to actions in there and offering what you have as a solution for your ideal client. But just think of it from a different perspective. You’re not standing at the top of the stage kind of with a megaphone yelling at people, you’re down with them in the audience holding their hand guiding them through, and just really making sure that you’re getting to know them and that they are getting to know you as well.

Hayley Maxwell  27:30

Absolutely. And what are some of the things that you would typically encourage or recommend people to include within that, that kind of nurture, nurture sequence?

Mel Daniels 27:43

Yeah, so there’s lots of different things that you can talk about, obviously, and it can get really overwhelming and confusing. But there are some really obvious staples that I really encourage people to include, no matter how many automated emails you decide to use your sales funnel, you may decide to use too, you may decide to use 10, whatever feels right for you. There is no optimal number at all. It’s just how met how long, it actually takes you to explain the things that you can provide for them and your transformations of working with them.

Mel Daniels 28:19

But there’s definitely some things that I would recommend that you include, and one of them is a case study or a testimonial. So not only are we telling our ideal clients or our subscribers, exactly how we can help them with what what it is that we can provide, but they’re hearing it from someone else. They are hearing how this person felt before working with you, and how they now feel working after working with you, sorry. So having those words from someone else can really, really help someone visualize better what their life could be like after working with you. So I would definitely recommend including that something else that a lot of people probably don’t think about doing. And that is using existing content that you already have. If we’re trying to broaden that web of connections that we have with our ideal client, we really do want them to be listening to our podcast, or reading our blog, or watching our videos or following us on socials. So it’s those little mini, call to actions that you can include that send people off to consuming that content as well and start following you on different platforms as well. So that’s something else that a lot of people don’t think about.

Hayley Maxwell  29:38

You’re right, a lot of people around the existing content that they have, quite often forget that that is all really great content that we can connect people who are maybe new to our sphere, we can connect them to and it’s and it’s also that piece around making the most of what we already have. And also making things easier for ourselves as well, by thinking, Okay, what what? What blog posts? What podcast episodes have I got? If I’ve got my own podcast? Or if I’ve been a guest on on other podcasts? What pieces of content do I have that are really poignant to people at this kind of early stage of entering my world? Or for whatever it is that’s going on there in their life? What is it that I can point them to so that, you know, they can really start to build a sense of the way that I work, who I am, how I connect with people and that sort of thing. So I think that that’s a really important point that you raised there around using that existing content that we already do have?

Mel Daniels 30:51

Yeah, so it’s about using those staple pieces of content that really showcase your values and beliefs and how you are different to how other people in your industry might approach the same solving the same problem. And, yeah, just really helping them educate in terms of what you do and how you do it as well.

Hayley Maxwell  31:11

Yeah, absolutely. I think people can feel quite overwhelmed with kind of nurture sequences in a way so that you’re talking about earlier, people create the lead magnet. And that’s a big enough mission and its own right at times. And I certainly know that I have recently birthed a new, a new opt in and, and I got caught up in my own mind junk about it. And I, you know, I’m happy to talk about that, because it’s part of that business journey, we all go through those sorts of things. And so you create your opt in, you create your landing page for it. And then a lot of people forget that actually, after that, there is another another piece that is fantastic to make sure that you connect up to that, to that opt in to that resource that you’ve created. And I think one thing that I encourage my clients sometimes to think about is, if they’re feeling really overwhelmed with creating that that nurture sequence, is just take it one email at a time. So obviously, you’ve got the email that’s delivering it, and then maybe set yourself a goal of writing one email to add to that automated sequence once a week. I mean, if you can do it faster than that, then then absolutely. But if it feels really big and overwhelming, and you’re not sure exactly what to write, then actually, you know, break it up, map it out, like you sort of said, and then just commit to kind of doing one one a week. And then if you’ve got six emails or four emails, and so four week sign, you’re already four emails into that that sequence. So it’s, I think that that’s just one way of getting through the overwhelm. Have you got any other sort of tips for beating that overwhelm?

Mel Daniels 33:03

No, I that was going to be my tip Hayley use that? Because once again, it’s about simplicity, isn’t it? And I think that a lot of people don’t realize that with sales funnels, that you can do that you can actually spread it out. They think that Oh, my goodness, it needs to be seven emails, it has to be seven emails, I need to write all of these seven emails, and put all the tech together for these seven emails before I can start advertising my lead magnet. And that’s so totally not true. Your soulful sales funnel can be simply one or two emails. And then like you said, you can build on that. But just really keep it keep coming back to that keep it simple. How can I make this easy? How can I make this fun as well? And just do it slowly?

Hayley Maxwell  33:48

Yeah, oh, the other thing, like drawing on that that content, you know, using content that you’ve already used before is also maybe if you’ve been sending emails regularly to your email community, then looking back through some of those emails that you’ve already written previously, to see what parts you could maybe draw from that could be used within your your nurture sequence, rather than those just being emails that are sitting there within your, you know, your email database, you can actually draw on that that content too. That’s another another thing you can do.

Mel Daniels 34:23

Reimagination of content is one of my favorite things to talk about. And, yes, you could use your past emails. And in the same token, why not use the transcript from a previous podcast and pull something out? Why not go to one of your most popular blogs and look at you know, what are the five things that you’ve written in that blog, and use that as your basis for your five automated emails? So the yes, there’s so many different ways that we can use what we’ve already got, and create something amazing from it, too.

Hayley Maxwell  34:53

Yeah, I love that. Yeah, absolutely. And you touched a little bit just then on the sort of tech required. So can you talk a little bit about you know, that that whole tech setup and that side of it?

Mel Daniels 35:07

Yeah. So you know, without absolutely bamboozling people with the tech side of things, what I really want to say with this is, you know, it is a challenging part of the sales funnel. And it’s challenging for a lot of people. There’s lots of different little bits and pieces, you know, the landing page, the thank you page, there’s tags, there’s triggers, email, automations is all of these parts. And sometimes people take that big deep breath and go, Oh, my goodness, where do I start with this? How can I possibly even do it, just remember it like it, it’s keep bringing it back to being simple.

Mel Daniels 35:40

But if it’s not your thing, if tech is not your thing, then I really encourage you not to fight it, just outsource it, there are so many people out there who do know this, who do know how to put the bits and pieces together and you’re going to be far less stressed out about the whole ordeal. And it’s going to take less time. And you’ll be able to get your lead magnet out into the world quicker. So I really encourage people to think about outsourcing it if they can’t do it themselves. So that’s kind of like the tech side of things.

Mel Daniels 36:10

But then the last step, and this is something that most people forget about. And that is promoting, promoting it. So you really need to make sure that you tell the world about it, and not being the world’s best kept secret. Because sometimes I think that we can go okay, oh, my goodness, I’ve just put all these bits and pieces together. Okay, great, that’s done. And forget that people don’t necessarily always find it by a search engine optimization methods, we really do need to put a little bit of effort behind it. So some of the places that you can put it include on your website. So there’s so many different places on your website as well. On my website, I have it in the top bar, I have it in my footer, I have it on my blog page down the side, and also my podcast page down the side. So they’re all little touch points. No matter where someone lands on my website, they will, you know, actually see it. Think about putting it inside of your core content. So your blogs, your podcasts or your videos, how can you, you know, weave your lead magnet into that you can do it in Facebook. So you know, obviously paste posted on your page, if you’ve got a Facebook page in your group, if you’ve got a group, other people’s groups, there are so many Facebook pages that have, you know, freebie type days. So you know, use it in that use it as a base for our Facebook Live, Instagram, you can use all the features on Instagram Stories, reels, posts, whatever, collaborate with people as well.

Mel Daniels 37:41

This is something that a lot of people don’t think of, but you know, get together with a bunch of people who have a similar audience to you. And, you know, put together a little mini event or some description and all promote your lead magnets as part of that. And then obviously guesting opportunities as well. So your lead magnet really becomes this great value add that you can put into your pitchs, whether it’s for a podcast or video series, or someone else’s blog as well, it really elevates your pitch as well as providing value to the person that is hosting you as well. So lots of different ways to promote your lead magnet. So don’t forget to do it.

Hayley Maxwell  38:22

Yeah, absolutely. It’s such such good advice, because I think, you know, people go through that, that, that work that there’s a lot of work putting together their their opt in and getting their email set up and then might get it out there sort of once or twice, but don’t regularly promote it. And I think that probably comes a lot down to that, you know, not wanting to be seen as maybe salesy or you know, pushy, do you do you agree with that? What do you think the main thing is, in terms of people sort of not promoting their opt ins, enough?

Mel Daniels 38:59

Mindset 100%? I would say that they’ve put all of this work into something and then they start questioning themselves. Is it good enough? Are my emails good enough that come off the back of it? Should I really be directing people to my website, my website doesn’t look so great. It’s all of those inner Mean Girl thoughts. But I just think you, you’re here, you’re on this business journey to serve with love and with an open heart. So why not attract those beautiful people that you want to work with into your life and the way that you’re going to do that is through your lead magnet? So don’t be shy. Don’t be shy with your lead magnet at all.

Hayley Maxwell  39:40

Yeah, so many yes’s to all of that. That was so good. That’s awesome. Thank you so much for sharing all that that wisdom about your soulful Sales Funnel Method. And so there are always three questions that I like to ask at the end of interviews. The first question I like to ask is What does being fierce in business mean to you?

Mel Daniels 40:03

Oh, my goodness, Haley, I really liked this question. Because as soon as I read the question, I was like feirce, oh, I don’t think that I’m fierce because my version of fears, or might be my immediate thoughts went to, you know, being ruthless and being aggressive. And I was like, oh, that’s, that’s not me at all. But obviously, when I then googled the definition of fierce, there was one particular definition that I really, really love. And it just really stood out for me.

Mel Daniels 40:33

That’s about being fashionable, or attractive in a bold or striking way. And I thought, Oh, my goodness, yes, that is what being face is all about. It’s about being yourself. And it’s really about bringing that to everything that you do, whether it’s your content, your business as a whole, it’s bringing that uniqueness in a way that helps you stand out from the crowd. So when you’re being yourself, then you know, your content flows, it becomes more powerful. And that’s because it comes from your heart and not from your head. So I really think being fierce in business, for me is about having the confidence to be myself, and it’s taken me such a long time to get to this place.

Mel Daniels 41:19

I really do believe that when you are trying, when you are being yourself, not trying to be someone who you think you should be, then Oh, my goodness, everything just takes this amazing new turn. And when you hit feel confident enough to do business, your way as well, to implement a soulful sales funnel instead of the traditional sales funnel, then that’s what I think fierce is being all about in business.

Hayley Maxwell  41:47

Yeah, no, I love love, love that. It’s just yeah, that really resonates with me. So thank you for, for sharing that. And I love that you, you know, really took the time to look up what it meant, like, you know, in terms of the definition and apply it to your, your way of thinking. So yeah, thank you for sharing that. And what is the impact that you are trying to make with your business?

Mel Daniels 42:11

And this question made me think as well, Hayley, it really made me think because I have a really clear vision about how I want my business to feel. And I have a really strong connection with that. But it made me question well, what is the actual impact? What is the outcome that I want to bring to the people who I serve. And for me, I think that it really just comes back to my values and beliefs, and how I want to bring them to the world, because I really believe that content in particular, as well as your business, it really needs to be based solely within your values and beliefs.

Mel Daniels 42:51

Because when that happens, once again, you can be your true self, and you can actually do business your way. So I think that if I had to kind of sum up my impact in a sentence, I’d say that it’s to increase the collective confidence of women, my empowering them, and encouraging them to use their content powerfully. Because Hayley, I just see so many amazing intelligent women in business who are stuck in the all the shoulds, I should be doing these things, or they’re looking for a magic formula, or, you know, they’re the world’s best kept secret. And I don’t want that for people. I don’t want that for all of the beautiful women out there. I just want them to have that courage to step out from the shadows and use your content in a really strategic and purposeful way. That gets you noticed and remembered.

Hayley Maxwell  43:47

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think we need to create some kind of revolution because I completely agree with that. Yeah. I love love, love that. And so what’s one piece of advice that you’ve been given along your business journey that has really had an impact on you?

Mel Daniels 44:05

Okay, yeah, I’m actually going to be a bit cheeky Hayley and share a tool. Because for me in business, and I know a lot of people will resonate with this as well mindset has been the biggest hurdle for me. So usually, for me, this manifests during a launch phase. So I just start getting those inner Mean Girl thoughts of no one is listening. Now No one’s buying from you. Why are you bothering turning out? Why are you sending these emails? Just give up now. Save your energy going to the next one with you know, a greater mindset, but everyone kind of deals with these Gremlins in their own way. But I’ve found that for me, hypnosis has been an absolute game changer.

Mel Daniels 44:50

I know why because if you had have told me a year ago that I’d be using hypnosis I would have probably laughed at you Hayley because my vision of hypnosis is easy, you know, one of those showman up on stage that turns people into clucking chickens. I don’t know, why would I ever try something? Business, but I’ve found someone who is just simply amazing. So I now use hypnosis recordings on an absolutely regular basis, and particularly when I’m going through a launch. So it really helps me connect back to the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing. And it gives me assistance in visualizing what it’s going to be like when I reach my goals as well. So I do use it for other areas of my life as well, but I really use it in launch. So if anyone’s out there struggling with mindset, I mean, there’s so many tools that you can use, there’s different coaches, you know, journaling, whatever it is, give hypnosis and visualization at go, because it’s really made a huge, huge difference on the way that I show up in business.

Hayley Maxwell  45:55

Wow, that’s fascinating. How did you sort of come across hypnosis as a potential solution to sort of what you were going through from a mindset perspective.

Mel Daniels 46:08

For me, it was an attraction to the person, right, so she has amazing energy she has, she’s highly intelligent woman, and I just loved her scientific methodology when it comes to this kind of things. I’m a very list-driven, research-driven, and organized person. So that particularly appealed to me. So for me, it was an attraction to the person first, and then listening to the tools that she uses to help with mindset, particularly for women in businesses.

Hayley Maxwell  46:41

Wow, that’s fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that’s wonderful. And so I know you’ve got an exciting challenge coming up as well. So I would love love, love for you to tell us a little bit about that challenge.

Mel Daniels 46:53

Oh, thank you so much, Hayley, such a beautiful person. So yes, I have my five-day challenge coming up on the 17th of October. That’s 2022. And it is all about soulful sales funnels. So we will be learning about how to bring more of ourselves to soulful sales funnels and create and build our own self or sales funnel that feels right for us.

Hayley Maxwell  47:15

Yeah. Oh, wonderful. Okay, and I will make sure that I include all the links to that as well in the show notes. But if people want to come and stalk you and hang out with you, which I highly encourage them to do, but not in a creepy way, then where can they find you? Where are all the best places to come and find you?

Mel Daniels 47:36

My favourite places to hang out on socials are Instagram and Facebook and my handle is @melbusiness. I also do have a beautiful Facebook group as well. That’s called The Content Project. And I would love for anyone to come and join the community. It’s such a beautiful, safe space full of amazing women doing amazing things.

Hayley Maxwell  47:57

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for your your time today.

Mel Daniels 48:01

Thank you so much for having me, Hayley, I truly appreciate you.

Hayley Maxwell  48:05

Well, wasn’t that a fab episode, so many insights into building a more soulful, aligned sales funnel for your business. And I’d love to know what your key takeaways are from this episode, simply send me a DM on Instagram. Don’t be shy, please contact me. I’d love to have a chat with you. You can find me @TheHayleyMaxwell. And if you enjoyed this episode, I’d love you to share it via your Instagram stories and tag me into it so that others can benefit from it too.  Now, before I go, I also want to quickly remind you about my brand new freebie become wildly unforgettable, which has got eight ideas to help you rise up out of the noise and claim your space as the memorable recognized expert that you want to be. You can grab it at www.hayleymaxwell.com/wildly-unforgettable.  Well, my friend that’s it for today’s episode. If you want easy access to my episodes when they drop, please follow or subscribe to this podcast in your favorite podcast player. And until next time, go forth and be fierce.

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