“Flip the Funnel” is Flipping Fantastic

I just finished reading Joseph Jaffe’s latest book “Flip the Funnel” and boy is my brain tired! (And I mean that in a good way.)

You might have heard of Joseph Jaffe from his popular blog “Jaffe Juice”  where he blogs about all things “new marketing.”

His latest book is BIG on energy, BIG on content and BIG on opinion.  It’s customer experience commentary, examples and data on steroids.  It’s intense, it’s serious, and it’s required reading for any CEO who is fond of saying things like “We value our customers” then creates ridiculous policies that make it darn near unpleasant for those customers to do business with his company.

Let me begin by saying that this is one of those books I received from the publisher, but that I would have purchased ANYWAY.  As a reluctant sales rep, the idea of flipping the sales funnel was extremely appealing to me.  I mean who wouldn’t want to increase their revenues, by selling more stuff to existing customers?  No cold calling, no persuading, just blissfully building deeper relationships with people who are already convinced of your value.

You’d think everyone would be doing it.  As it turns out, not nearly enough companies are doing that at all.

Flip the Funnel Uncovers a Pathetic Pattern of Profit Passivity

Throughout the book, Jaffe is building a case for giving at least as much attention to the customers we’ve got as to the prospect we haven’t brought into the fold.  The book is written in three sections:

1. Getting Priorities Straight – In this section, you’ll get to meet Jaffe and really see how he thinks and how his brain works.  He describes how prospects become customers, how we currently measure success and how vapid, empty, shallow and unfulfilling the whole process can be.
2. A New Way Forward – Here Jaffe shows us that this whole funnel flipping idea has merit by giving us examples of how successful, profitable companies are using these simple human techniques to show customers they matter.  He also brings up the strategy of focusing on employee engagement and satisfaction as a key ingredient in creating engaged, loyal customers.
3. Making it All Happen – The last section gives your ideas, possibilities and examples of how to create your own funnel flipping culture.

Jaffee Tells You What Your Customers Won’t

Jaffe gives lots of examples and well researched data that show just how much money and time most companies devote to attracting new customers only to ignore them.  Throughout the book Jaffe will let you peek inside his email as he makes some very frank and snarky commentary on things that many business people take very very seriously – like the customer satisfaction survey.  Here is just a snapshot of Jaffe’s notes and thoughts on a survey invitation he received from Hertz in his email:

“Ref: Rental Record 169257082

As a valued customer MY NAME IS JOSEPH JAFFE, WOULDN’T YOU KNOW THIS ALREADY, CONSIDERING I’M A “VALUED” CUSTOMER?. We would appreciate your taking a moment to complete this brief Customer Satisfaction Survey regarding your recent rentalif you have already completed this survey by calling the telephone number, we thank you. ER, SHOULDN’T YOU KNOW THIS ALREADY? BESIDES, DO YOU REALLY THINK I WAS MOTIVATED OR THAT BORED TO READ THROUGH MY RENTAL RECEIPT?”

And that’s just one example of many.

Who Will Get the Most Out of “Flip the Funnel“?

• CEOs – Jaffe is talking to YOU! He’s telling you everything you need to hear.  He’s showing you what your customers and your employees don’t have the guts to say.  He’s giving you examples of companies and how they are successfully implementing funnel flipping solutions that cut costs and build profits.
• Marketers – The same holds true for you folks. Jaffe calls out lazy, inauthentic communication with customers and how it actually works against all the resources, strategies and efforts that you go through to get and keep loyal customers.  Assuming your CEO is open to funnel flipping, you will find lots of great ideas here that you can insert into your next strategic plan.
• Sales – If you’re a sales professional, you will be inspired to build additional sales with your existing customers.
• Customer Service – Even if your organization isn’t subscribing to this philosophy, you will be inspired to have a different quality of conversation with each customer.  You will look at your job differently and you might even find yourself having fun.

“Flip the Funnel” isn’t just a book, visit the companion site “Flip the Funnel Now” where you can see videos and get enhanced content (just like a DVD – stuff that didn’t quite make it to the book).

This is a super summer reading business book.  You’ll not only learn something, you’ll get a kick out of Jaffe’s writing style and even crack a “Glad I he’s not talking about me” smile.

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