Are you looking for more sales appointments in your business? One of the best ways to do this is with an automated appointment funnel.
An automated appointment funnel gets you booked appointments with leads who want to work with you. And best of all, this is all done on autopilot.
In the last 10+ years, I’ve helped hundreds of business owners generate leads and build successful appointment funnels.
In this article, I’ll show you the best way to build and promote a funnel to get more sales appointments booked on your calendar.
Let’s get started!
Quick Summary
Here’s a step-by-step overview of how to build an automated appointment funnel to generate new leads, appointments and clients each month in your business:
- Step 1: Choose the right funnel software for your appointment booking funnel
- Step 2: Create an opt-in landing page to generate leads
- Step 3: Create a video sales letter to convert leads to clients
- Step 4: Promote the appointment funnel using lead generation strategies
- Step 5: Follow up with leads via email marketing until they convert
Here’s a helpful diagram of the automated appointment sales funnel process:
Tip: To learn how to do each of these steps in more detail, watch my free Masterclass training on the ‘5 Steps to getting predictable appointments’ each month in your business.
How to build an appointment funnel
Here’s a detailed step-by-step process you can follow to build an appointment booking funnel.
Step 1: Choose the right sales funnel software
There are hundreds of sales funnel tools available, so it’s important to choose the right one for your business.
Some good options include:
- Highlevel (good for agencies who want to white-label their services)
- Kartra (good for business owners)
- Hubspot (good for businesses with 20+ employees)
In my own business, and for 80% of my clients, we all use Kartra. It’s my top-rated all-in-one funnel-building tool. You can see my full Kartra review here.
You can see my full list of the best funnel builders here.
Once you’ve chosen your funnel-building software, you can start building your automated appointment funnel!
Tip: You can see my full training on building a funnel here.
Step 2: Create an opt-in page
Once you’ve chosen the right funnel software, the next step to creating an appointment funnel is to create your opt-in page.
A high converting opt-in page will have:
- A big painful problem you solve
- Simple layout
- No distractions
- Clear call-to-action
- Free lead magnet
Here’s an example of what this opt-in page looks like:
And when people click on the shiny blue button, they see an opt-in form like this:
Note: I’m always split-testing my opt-in page. So if you want to see the latest version of what my opt-in page looks like, click here.
Additional tips for an effective opt-in page:
- Have a big headline at the top. It’s important the headline on your landing page talks about the biggest and most painful problem your potential clients have and how they can solve that problem.
- Be specific in your headline. A headline that says “How to get 10, 15, 30 or more sales appointments each month” is better than one that says “How to get more appointments”. The more specific you are, the easier it will be for potential customers to visualize the result and take action.
- Be balanced in your headline. Make your headline promise exciting, but not too unrealistic where it doesn’t sound believable.
- Make it clear who this is for. Don’t make your landing page a “one-size fits all.” For example, my landing page focuses on how to get appointments. This will automatically filter out people looking to make more sales in an eCommerce store (who are not my ideal clients). I also have landing pages specific to different niches, such as financial advisors and accounting firms.
- Keep it simple. The fewer distractions you have on your landing page, the more likely your potential clients will take action and go to the next step in your funnel. Avoid distractions on your landing pages.
- Make it fast. People are not very patient these days. The faster your landing page loads up, the more conversions you’ll get.
Any leads that go to your opt-in page will now have entered your appointment funnel and now leads can move to the next step in your sales process.
Step 3: Have an educational video
The next step to creating an automated appointment funnel is to have a video page. This video is designed to build trust with your leads and motivate them to proceed to the next step in your sales process (e.g., scheduling an appointment).
Although you could use any type of lead magnet, I recommend using a video sales letter (VSL) for the best results.
Why use a video sales letter?
- A video allows you to actually show people how to solve a problem they have.
- A video is also a lot more engaging.
This means leads are more likely to consume free educational content in video format than in written format.
At the end of the video, if people want to learn more, give them the opportunity to schedule a call / apply to work with you.
Here’s an example of what the video page looks like:
Here are some tips for what to say in your video sales letter:
- Explain how to solve a problem they have, what are some alternative solutions to solving this problem and why YOUR solution is better
- Keep the video length short (but not too short). Make the video as short as it needs to be while still long enough to cover all the important information you need to cover.
- Have a clear call to action. Tell people to go to the next step in your appointment booking funnel (which is typically to schedule a call or fill out an application form).
You can see a real-life example of what my video sales letter looks like by clicking here.
If leads like what they hear on the video, they can click on a button to ‘schedule a call’ or ‘apply to work with you’.
Tip: If you want to see in more detail how to build a lead generation funnel, be sure to watch my free Masterclass training which goes through how to both create and promote your lead funnel.
Step 4: Promote your appointment funnel
You could have the best appointment booking funnel in the world, but if no one actually sees it, it’s pointless!
So, you need a way to get people to see your new appointment funnel: promote it!
However, not all methods to promote your appointment booking funnel are the same.
Some work better than others.
Here are my top lead generation strategies to promote your appointment funnel:
1. Google SEO lead generation (free)
Google SEO lead generation is when you answer questions your potential clients are asking in the form of a written blog post. In fact, the article you’re reading right now is a real-life example of this lead generation strategy in action.
Throughout your article, you also want to include links to your funnel (see what I did there?) so that website visitors convert into leads.
2. YouTube Search lead generation (free)
YouTube lead generation works similarly to Google SEO lead generation. The main difference is that instead of creating written articles answering questions, you would create videos answering these questions.
3. LinkedIn Outreach (free)
Using LinkedIn lead generation allows you to reach out to potential clients who are interested in watching your video and learning more about how you can help them. LinkedIn works especially well for B2B lead generation, but it can also work for B2C lead generation in some cases.
4. TikTok Ads (Paid advertising)
Lead generation on TikTok ads is becoming one of the best advertising platforms for business owners.
TikTok is not just for young ones anymore.
Business owners and even wealthy people are all using TikTok ads. Our clients who are using TikTok ads to promote their appointment funnels are also getting 2-5x better results compared to other advertising platforms like Facebook ads.
5. Facebook Ads (Paid advertising)
Facebook lead generation allows you to generate leads, appointments, and clients on demand. The advantage of using Facebook ads is that they get you quick results and are very scalable. The downside is that you need to pay for ads, which can take a large chunk of your profits.
6. Other promotional channels
There are lots more ways to promote your appointment booking funnel. Here is a full list of lead generation ideas. I’m sure some on that list will work well for you!
Step 5: Follow up with leads via email marketing
Many businesses generate leads and then forget about them. But if you don’t follow up with your leads, you’ll never convert them into customers.
You should have a system in place for following up with your leads so that you can stay in touch with them and update them on your products or services.
See this video for more information on the best way to follow up with leads automatically.
The bottom line
Creating a successful lead generation funnel doesn’t have to be as confusing as it looks. All you need to do is follow a step-by-step plan to build and promote the sales funnel.
To learn how to create and promote your sales funnel in detail (with real-life examples) be sure to check out ‘Step 4’ of my free training by clicking here.
FAQs related to appointment funnels
Ashley Davis (or ‘Ash’ for short) is the CEO & Founder of Skyline Social. For over 15 years, Ash has been helping business owners get high-quality leads, appointments, and clients each month. He has extensive experience working with B2B & B2C industries in finance, insurance, marketing, sales and beyond. Learn more about the author here.