you've got to find that sweet spot

With a physical funnel, on the other hand, everything you put in the top comes out the bottom. Of course, ROI is related to profits, but in the end, it's your profits that matter. Think about some of the fast food you like so much.? Selling stuff is a process.. Why a sales funnel? Let's start from the beginning. If by scaling up, you decrease your ROI, you'll cut into your profits. Let's say you put an ad on the CNN website. The fourth filter is your offer. Think of this in terms of advertising something on your site. But is the quality of the product really good enough to create a billion dollar empire? In many cases, the sales process is what makes them the money. Each filter qualifies the prospect. In this instance, you have four filters in your process, or your funnel. So one percent of the people click on your ad, and end up at your landing page. Therefore, it could be argued, that having a well thought out and effective sales process is as least as important, perhaps more so, than your product. If you collect a hundred names, for example, you aren't going to sell something to everybody. What percent of the people that visit CNN's website want bananas? Maybe one percent. So how do you create a sales process? Create a sales funnel. Let's say another one percent. The bottom line here is profits. The third filter is your ad. It's cheap, it's decent. In reality, you've got to find that sweet spot between ROI, traffic, and conversions that maximizes profits. Not hits, not conversions, not ROI, but profits. The second filter is the people who go to the CNN website. Most successful companies that sell billions of dollars in product do so not only because they've got a good product, but because they've got a top notch sales process as well. You could consider every visitor to the CNN website as a potential customer, or a prospect. Let's further say you sell bananas. An ROI of two hundred percent isn't worth much if you have to filter through a whole world of people to only get a couple sales. If it's a regular landing, and you're selling memberships to the banana club, where you mail them a bunchy of fresh bananas every month for ten bucks, you'll get a certain percentage that will buy. If you spend a thousand bucks to filter through a million visitors, and make eleven hundred dollars, your profits are a hundred bucks. The first filter is the people that have an Internet connection. Not bad. In reality, a sales funnel is a long succession of filters. Another factor is how scalable your funnel is. The name of the game is to start out with as many people as possible, and then filter them as effectively as possible. The funnel is not really the best metaphor. But if you spend a hundred bucks to filter through a thousand and make three hundred dollars, your profits are two hundred bucks. Four?! What? Start off with the general population. If only it were so easy. Not as cheaply, as effectively