Most entrepreneurs I speak with are pouring a massive amount of resources into getting new leads.

I see you:

• Creating content like there’s no tomorrow

• Engaging on social media until your fingers ache

• Networking with virtual coffee chats all week long

• Paying lead generation agencies to get booked calls

• Investing in automation tools to scale your messaging

On their own, many of these tactics can work.

They work far better when supported by a simple sales funnel that offers an attractive lead magnet in exchange for contact information.

This information becomes your marketing list and, over time, your most valuable asset.

(If you don’t have a sales funnel set up, here’s a video on how to get started.)

But after auditing hundreds of sales funnels—including my own—I’ve identified 2 common mistakes that leave a shocking amount of money on the table.

1. Early-Stage Mistake: Not Engaging Every Interaction

If you’re in the early stages of your business, traffic is light, and leads are scarce.

This is your golden opportunity.

Why?

Because when volume is low, you can personally connect with everyone who shows interest.

When someone downloads your lead magnet, connect with them on LinkedIn and send a voice note asking what they hoped to gain and if they have any questions.

When a new subscriber joins your newsletter, send a personal note thanking them and asking what topics they’d like to see you write about. You’ll get new ideas and hear what their pain points are.

Hell, if you’re just getting started and don’t even have a funnel set up yet, reach out to every new follower and ask if they’re looking for help with a problem or just enjoying the content.

When volume is low, high-touch, personal engagement can convert attention into prospects and sales.

No, this isn’t scalable.

These personal touches are crucial for building relationships and understanding your audience’s pain points.

Armed with that (and your initial sales from starting these conversations), you’ll have everything you need to scale the right things later on.

2. Later-Stage Mistake: Leaking Opportunities at Every Stage

As you gain traction and your volume of leads increases, the challenge shifts.

Instead of engaging with every interaction, the focus becomes optimizing your funnel for maximum conversions.

With a steady stream of traffic, it’s impractical to reach out to everyone. Instead, it’s essential to evaluate and optimize each stage of your funnel.

For example, in a recent audit of our digital course funnel, we discovered that many people who opted in never started the course.

To tackle this, we added messaging calling out the number of people who get courses and never start them. This simple tweak noticeably increased course completions and engagement.

We also found that while our email open rates were strong, responses to the sequences were pretty weak.

So, we revamped our email sequences with more targeted messaging, specific calls to action, and various ways for recipients to engage further. (This is what triggered my newsletter a few weeks ago on email sequences.)

Measuring key conversion rates—like the percentage of users who opt in, consume the lead magnet, and engage afterward—is a powerful way to identify areas for improvement.

The Bottom Line

The purpose of a funnel is to simplify the process of selling and marketing your services over time.

If you’ve invested the time to build one, make sure you’re fully leveraging it.

• If your volume is low, seize the opportunity to connect with every person who interacts with your funnel.

• If your volume is high, use this traffic to analyze what works and what doesn’t, and start making the necessary adjustments.

More than anything, don’t fall into the trap of hunting for new leads and ignoring the ones you already have.

Hasta la vista,

Ray