Funnels: How to Take Control of Your Lead Gen and Your Client Growth

If you’re an HR Consultant who wants control over your lead gen and your client acquisition—without living on LinkedIn or dragging yourself to every breakfast networking meeting under the sun—this episode is for you.

I’m breaking down funnels in plain English: what they are, why they give you an on-demand pipeline, and how to build one that brings clients, sales, and profit when you decide—not when luck shows up. 

You’ll see how to replace hit-and-hope with a simple, repeatable system that helps you stand out from the crowd of other HR Consultants and scale your business with confidence.

In this conversation, you’ll...

• Discover the “toe-dip first” approach that turns strangers into prospects so you don't waste your precious ad spend.
• Uncover the tiny page change that encourages sign-ups WITHOUT rebuilding your whole website.
• See the easiest way to keep in touch with all your leads, clients and prospects so they remember you in under half an hour a week.
• Learn the few numbers that put you in charge of your funnel outcomes without any guesswork or overwhelm.
• Grasp how to turn traffic into booked calls without endless manual outreach.

Want a step-by-step process you can plug-in to your business? Then join my mailing list to catch my upcoming webinar where I go deeper into building a funnel that works. 

Or, if you’ve heard enough already and want this in your business ASAP, DM me on LinkedIn and we’ll check if you're a fit for the Success Squad or the Fastlane Formula.

Either way, enjoy the show!

Timestamps:

00:00 – Why Every HR Consultant Needs a Lead Generation Funnel
 00:30 – The Problem with Networking and Posting for Clients
 01:10 – What a Funnel Actually Is and How It Works
 01:50 – The Step-by-Step Funnel Journey: From Stranger to Client
 02:35 – The Toe-Dip vs Jump-In Analogy Explained
 03:15 – Why Most Facebook and Google Ads Don’t Convert for HR Consultants
 04:00 – How to Build Trust Online Before Selling Your HR Services
 04:40 – The Number One Funnel Mistake: Selling Too Soon
 05:15 – The Simple Funnel Fix: Lead Magnet + Email Nurture
 06:00 – How Funnels Give You Control, Predictability, and Consistent Clients
 06:45 – The Key Metrics Every HR Consultant Should Track in Their Funnel
 08:10 – The 7-Day Funnel Setup Plan for HR Consultants
 08:55 – How Funnels Deliver Clients, Sales, and Profits on Demand
 09:40 – What to Change When Your Funnel Isn’t Working
 10:25 – Why Funnels Are Networking at Scale (But Easier and Faster)
 11:10 – The Confidence and Control Funnels Bring to Your Business
 11:55 – Next Steps: How to Build Your Own High-Converting Funnel

Want My Help to Build Your £70K+ HR Consultancy?

1️⃣ Grab a copy of my book – The Complete Guide to Building a £70K HR Consultancy – and discover how to get every lead and client you need.

2️⃣ Apply to Join The Fastlane Formula – so we can work together 1-to-1 to get you earning £70K+ faster (and easier) than going it alone.

Transcript

00:00 Hello there and welcome back to another episode of Marketing Made Easy for HR Consultants. Today we are talking about funnels, we're talking about why you need one, whether you want to get to 70k, 100k, 200k or even a million pounds.
00:16 We're going to cover what a funnel actually is, what heads up HR consultants and other business owners get wrong about funnels and how to build a great funnel that delivers clients sales and profits on demand.
00:27 and on repeat. So let's get into it. Now most HR consultants follow the same routine. They go networking at 6 a.m.
00:37 7 a.m. silly o'clock whatever it is. They grab a bake and butty. They chat to a room of mixed businesses.
00:44 So electricians, plumbers, utility warehouse and marketing agencies and local businesses of some form or another. Then they post on LinkedIn when there's time.
00:56 And they hope something lands. Now, there's nothing wrong with this. It does build know, like and trust. Certainly, when you, When you go networking, you will build know, like and trust.
01:08 But networking is slow. It's time-hungry. And it is not controllable. You can't just turn it on for leads next week.
01:17 It's not a system. It's a calendar activity. And you're building trust one person at a time, which is fine until you want to scale, or until you want to want something that you can control.
01:30 Now, what a funnel actually is, is a funnel is a guided path that moves a stranger to becoming you. So, first up, there is the attention.
01:39 You have an advert or a post that gets noticed. Next up, you've got, a landing page with one job, one promise, one clear action.
01:49 Next, value exchange. So, some sort of path. Helpful lead magnet, some sort of short training, some sort of checklist, whatever it is that gives the prospect a client window.
02:00 And then it's a nurture process, emails, content, and optional personal outreach to build the relationship. To start moving someone from knowing that you, to liking you, and to beginning to trust you.
02:15 And then, we have content. So, it's a sales call, a simple next step to buy. Finally, there's the follow-up. So, there's the keep-in-touch content, the referrals, the retargeting, the timely offers, all that good stuff.
02:28 What I want you to think of is a funnel is networking at scale. It creates the same trust you build over coffee, but it keeps working while you're with clients, with family, living your life, whatever it is you want.
02:40 You went self-employed for, it wasn't to go networking all day, every day, right? It was to have more time, more time.
02:48 More freedom, more flexibility, and more finances. And that's what a funnel gives you. Networking works really well, because it starts with a toe dip, right?
02:58 It's a chat, it's a laugh, it's a coffee, and over time, confidence grows. And people jump into the pool and become clients.
03:06 Now, with adverts, many consultants forget that customer journey, and they try to sell. That's like shouting, jumping at strangers who don't know you, don't like you, and don't trust you.
03:19 Recreate the ToeDip online. Offer a simple lead magnet so they can test the water safely. Then nurture through the emails and, content to build that know, like, and trust while you're not in the room.
03:30 And that is how they later on jump into the swimming pool and become a client. Now, all this time, you might be thinking to yourself, Nick, I've tried adverts that didn't work, right?
03:40 And I understand that. Now, there are some common issues, so let's tick these off. Maybe these were one of the issues.
03:45 Maybe this was one of the reasons why your advert didn't work. Thank you. First up, maybe you were trying to sell too soon to cold traffic.
03:52 Now, there is a reason why selling too soon to cold traffic does not work. We will get into it shortly, but you cannot sell your £2,000, £5,000 service, whatever it is, from a Facebook ad.
04:05 And it's really difficult to get someone on the phone, just from a Facebook advert, or a Google advert, or whatever it is.
04:13 You need to build up a bit of a relationship with them. The other vague offer, er, problem that you might have is a vague offer.
04:20 Like, if you're selling something, HR services, instead of focusing on a clear pain and outcome, that's going to get lost in the wash somewhere.
04:28 No one wants that. HR services, they want a solution to the problem that they are in. The next problem you might have is a busy landing page.
04:37 So, with some sort of woolly headline, too many choices, you're showing your logo, you know, whatever it is, the landing page.
04:45 page might not be converting. Next up, you might have no nurture process, right? So, leads opt in, but then they hear nothing.
04:53 So, they've joined your mailing list, they've downloaded your freebie, whatever it is, but you've not heard anything with them. Well, you might as well wipe them that lead out.
05:02 You might as well just say, yeah, it's not going to happen, because if you're not going to nurture them, they're going to go and look elsewhere.
05:09 The other problem you might have is no speed to lead. A quick human touch can multiply responses, so you can consider, I'm not saying you have to do this, but it can help to get on the phone with them, to send them a quick SMS, to send them a WhatsApp, something, or maybe even a personalized letter.
05:25 whatever it is. And finally, there's no clear call to action, so you never actually ask for the conversation or the conversion.
05:33 You never make it clear what the next step is and why they should take it. What I want you to think about is that ads do the work.
05:40 Ads do work. But their job is to start the conversation, start the relationship, not close the deal on the spot.
05:49 Now, it doesn't matter whether or not you prefer Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Google, what matters is that you measure each other.
05:56 So, track the journey. Impressions, clicks, opt-ins, replies, calls, clients, whatever. Whatever it is. If clicks are low, fix the ad.
06:07 If opt-ins are low, fix the landing page. If email opens are low, fix the email. Fix the subject headers and the content.
06:15 If replies or bookings are low, fix the nurture. Fix the call to action. Right there in benchmarks exists so you can diagnose quickly and improve one link in the chain at a time.
06:28 Adverts have been running off Facebook and Meta and Google for 15-20 years. There is so much data out there. We know what's going on.
06:37 We to expect if we are running adverts, if we are running funnels. So, if something isn't working, you can analyse.
06:44 Where the link is falling down, where the funnel is broken, and then you can change it. Now, as a simple overview, here is what a simple working funnel would look like.
06:56 First up, identify who it is you're looking to speak to. Get specific about them and then get specific about what problem you want to solve for them, right?
07:04 So if it's absences, if it's grievances, if it's a lack of HR processes, whatever it is, talk to them about those problems, talk about the world that they could be living in.
07:14 Then you offer them an irresistible toe dip, so a quick win, a checklist, a mini guide, a short training, whatever it is.
07:22 Offer them something simple and easy to consume that gives them a win, but it doesn't involve them giving you any money.
07:30 Or too much time. This irresistible toe dip should be, ,shared on a one-job landing page. A clear headline that names the win.
07:38 A single call to action. No distractions. Don't talk to about anything else other than the quick win that you are offering.
07:47 Don't talk about podcast, your LinkedIn. Don't talk about Don't try and send them too many things. Don't try and send them elsewhere.
07:53 One page, one job. Then, nurture that behaves like you. So, seven to ten short emails over a span of a few days.
08:02 Deliver the thing. Teach them some wins. Give them some insights. Share some stories. Handle objections to working with you, one at a time.
08:11 Invite replies, and then have that soft call to action. Share a or to a short call. Whether Finally, follow up politely.
08:18 Whether or not you converted that lead into a client or not, doesn't matter. Keep them on your mailing list and keep sending them out content.
08:26 Keep retargeting adverts. Keep sending out timely offers. So that that lead has more chance of becoming a client forever and ever.
08:32 If you don't want know what kind of content to send out, make sure to join my mailing list and see what I send out.
08:39 You can then model it. And if you want to know how to join my mailing list, I will include a link in the show notes.
08:45 Now funnels. Funnels don't just give you leads, clients, sales and profits. They also give you control and certainty. You stop guessing, you start deciding.
08:54 You price with confidence because you can see strangers becoming subscribers, subscribers becoming conversations, and conversations becoming clients. And here's a useful reality check for you.
09:05 I've got a 31 page, 8,000 word document just for just to sell a five pound book. If it takes that much trust building to get a fiver out of someone, what are the chances you can sell a two pound ten thousand pound HR service straight from one advert?
09:22 You can't. So build the relationship first. That's what I want you to focus on with your adverts. That is what will get you control and certainty.
09:31 That is what will get you leads and ultimately then client sales and profits. a seven. Seven day starter plan. Choose day one.
09:41 Choose one pin, one promise. Whatever it is, get the advert created for it. Then, day two. Draft that one-page landing page with the single call-to-action.
09:51 Day three and four. Create that short, high-value call you told it. The tip, the PDF, the 10-minute video, whatever it is.
09:58 Day five and six. Write that simple seven-email note. Write a sequence. If you don't know what to send out, go and grab a copy of my book, then use the emails that I send out.
10:08 Use those as a model. You can use those. You can tweak them for your needs. After that, turn on your Adverse and track the journey.
10:17 Tweak. Take one step at a time. Whatever's happening. If your Adverse aren't converting, you know what to change. If your landing page isn't converting, you know what to change.
10:25 If your emails aren't getting converted, get an open, read, click through. Whatever it is, that's what you need to tweak.
10:31 Repeat the diet, and repeat the process. Diagnose. That's how you get a funnel that works on demand and on repeat.
10:39 You can turn it on and off at will, because once you know it, you then you can sit back confidently and happily that you are able to get leads, clients, and sales and profits for yourself.
10:50 consultancy while you're not even in the room. It's the reason why you went self-employed in the first place. want to go deeper on funnels, keep an eye out for my upcoming webinar.
11:00 The easiest way is to join my mailing list via my website. As I say, I've got a link in the show notes for you so that you can sign up.
11:07 In that webinar, we're going to walk through examples, we're going to walk through exact steps, and some of you will be lucky.
11:13 enough to be VIPs and I will review your copy there and then so that you can understand what makes good adverts, what doesn't make such good adverts.
11:21 Alternatively, if you've already heard enough and you want this plugged into your business ASAP, DM me on LinkedIn. We'll check fit, I don't work with everyone, and if it's right we'll talk about Success Squad or Fast Lane Formula.
11:34 Either way, I hope today's episode was really useful for you, and thank you for taking the time to listen along.
11:40 As ever, get marketing, because without marketing, there's no success. And without sales, there's no business. So get marketing.