Creating a lead magnet funnel over lunch

In just 30 minutes, go from idea to action – building a lead magnet funnel that attracts your ideal clients and works for your business around the clock.

This practical session led by Lisa Tennant walks you through the exact steps to create, position and connect a lead magnet into a simple funnel that generates leads even when you're not working.

Whether you're starting from scratch or finally ready to get this done, you'll leave with a clear plan and the confidence to implement it.

Topics covered in this session

• How to create a compelling lead magnet that your ideal clients actually want – and position it to convert browsers into subscribers

• The simple funnel structure every service-based business needs to turn cold traffic into warm, ready-to-buy leads

• How to connect the pieces together so your funnel runs automatically – without a big tech budget or a team behind you

About the speaker

Lisa is the CEO of L.T. Business Strategy & Management (LTBM), a Derbyshire-based consultancy helping ambitious entrepreneurs build smarter, more scalable businesses.

Having scaled her own business to six figures in under four years, Lisa brings real-world experience to everything she teaches.

With eight awards and finalist recognitions to her name and a track record of saving clients over 6,000 hours combined, she specialises in business strategy, funnel implementation and systems that actually work.

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Transcript

Lightly edited for clarity.

Beth: Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's Lunch and Learn. My name is Beth, and I'll be your host today.

For those of you attending a Lunch and Learn for the first time, Enterprise Nation is a vibrant community platform for start-ups and small businesses.

I'm pleased to introduce Lisa Tennant from LT Business Management. In this session, Lisa will walk you through the exact steps to create, position and connect a lead magnet into a simple funnel that generates leads even when you're not working.

If you have any questions throughout the webinar, please post them in the chat, and we'll do our best to answer them at the end of the session.

Today's webinar will be recorded, and we will send a follow-up email later today with further resources and the recording. Thanks for joining us, and I'll hand over to you, Lisa.

Lisa: Thank you so much, Beth, and thank you everybody for joining today.

Hopefully, I'll get through this quite quickly and you'll leave knowing how to create a lead magnet funnel of your own.

I'm Lisa Tennant. I've been in business for 22 years this year, so I'm showing my age now. I'm the owner of an award-winning business management company, LT Business Management, and my team and I support businesses with strategy, management and systems implementation.

I'm also the owner of a SaaS company, More Than a CRM, and I build bespoke systems for service-based businesses using AI. We also provide admin, tech and marketing assistance for business owners through our team members.

So, what is a lead magnet funnel? This always surprises me because I speak to people as if they all know, and not everybody does. So apologies if you already know, but there are probably some people here who don't.

A lead magnet is something of high value that you offer to your ideal client for free in exchange for their email address.

The funnel is the process of getting your ideal client to sign up for the lead magnet by directing them to a convincing landing page, giving them a form to complete, and then moving them into a nurture email sequence. That starts with emailing them their freebie, then continues with a number of emails to warm them up, and ends with a solid call to action.

So, in simple terms, you give them something and they give you their email address.

I love this quote, so I thought I'd include it. It says, "You must offer what your potential client wants to buy, not what you want to sell or think they should want to buy."

That applies to a lead magnet too. If you're going to go away from this today and create one, you must create something that aligns with your ideal client and, most importantly, with the thing you really want them to buy in the future.

Because the purpose of a lead magnet is to nurture that person so they eventually buy the thing you really want to sell.

This is how I like to think about it. You have to think about your big offer when you're creating a lead magnet.

Before you start thinking about your lead magnet, you need to think about the thing you really want to sell. Whatever that is, your lead magnet has to connect to it in some way. If you don't connect the two, you can end up with a pipeline of people who were never going to be interested in your main offer.

For example, let's say you're a business coach and you have a group programme coming up targeted at women in business struggling with perimenopause. Your lead magnet could be a guide to dealing with hot flushes during Zoom calls, which happens to me all the time, or a notebook for perimenopause brain, for making notes before you forget.

The only people who are likely to download those things are people struggling with those problems. So you're much less likely to attract the wrong people and then try to sell them something they would never be interested in.

This is how your funnel should work when you're creating a lead magnet.

At the top of the funnel, you need your landing page and sign-up form. Ideally, that would be hosted inside your CRM, which is your customer relationship management system. I believe every business should have one.

Then your lead will go to that landing page and sign up for the freebie. You'll have promoted it across your email marketing and your social media, so they know how to get there.

Once they sign up for the lead magnet, they enter an automated workflow in the background. I know this can sound really techy and complicated, but I promise you, it doesn't have to be. I'm self-taught, and if I can do it, you can do it too.

Once they sign up, they'll be taken to a thank-you page. On that page, you should always add a little bit more. You'll say thank you, let them know the freebie is on the way, and remind them to check their emails and spam folder.

Then give them something else to do. You might say, come and follow me at, and then share your social links. Or you might point them towards something else you want them to look at.

The lead should then enter at least a seven-step email nurture sequence. Email one will be the thank-you email with the freebie link. Email two, probably about three days later, will be a check-in. Emails three to five, again usually with about a three-day gap, will explain why you created the resource.

Share your personal story. Help people resonate with you. Tell them how the resource helped you or how it has helped others.

Email six is where you start to introduce your main offer. Then in email seven, you share more details about that offer and sell it. To do that, you'll want to include testimonials from people who've bought before and maybe bonuses if they sign up before a certain deadline.

Hopefully, the lead will then buy. You can have more than seven emails if you want to, but I wouldn't recommend fewer.

If they don't buy, you've still got them on your email list, and that's really important. It's like gold dust. Tag them at the end so they go into your newsletter list or whatever subscriber tag you use, and then keep sending your regular weekly, fortnightly or monthly emails so they still get a chance to know you and be nurtured.

This is an example of one of my landing pages. It's for an upcoming masterclass I've got. The top of the page tells people what they're going to get, a lead magnet funnel to attract your dream clients, and when it's taking place.

Further down the page, I talk about what's included and who it's for. Then there's a simple form. Notice on the form that I only ask for the bare minimum of details: first name, last name and email. You can even just say full name and email, or even only email.

You don't want to ask for phone numbers because that can put people off. I've also got a countdown on there which tells people how long until the masterclass takes place.

That's really what you want to create. And with AI these days, you can get it created in seconds. Hopefully, you're already playing with that.

Then you want to automate the process. Automating the process of nurturing a lead means you can have multiple lead magnets working for you at once.

Every automation starts with a trigger and then an action. So make sure to include your seven-step email sequence and make sure you tag your lead into your newsletter list at the end, not before.

This is just a screenshot of a very simple lead magnet funnel that I've got. This one is for a strategy workbook that I offer. You can see at the top that the trigger, which every workflow starts with, is that a form was submitted. So somebody went onto my landing page, wanted the workbook, and filled in the form.

I then actually put them into a pipeline because I'm currently reaching out to people, and I would recommend doing this as well. I'm reaching out to people who have ever downloaded a lead magnet from me.

Personal outreach right now is really big. If you can follow up with leads personally, please do. I know it adds a manual layer to an automated process, but that's where things are right now.

So I add them to a tracker, like a Kanban-style board, where I can track those lead magnet downloads and personally contact that person at some point.

I also tag them. That tag says they have downloaded this thing, so I can segment them from other people. Then they get the first email, which is the thank-you email.

What you can't see on the rest of the screen is what happens next. Quite simply, it's a wait, a wait three days, and then they get the next email. That repeats for the following six emails, and then right at the end, they get tagged into newsletters. That's the tag I use to send people newsletters.

The reason you do that at the end is that you don't want to send people your nurture emails and your newsletters at the same time. That can really annoy people, make it feel spammy, and lead to unsubscribes.

If you haven't got a CRM system, mine is morethanacrm.com. It comes with a free trial and loads of extras. You can replace everything you use with this one system, so take a look at that.

Some examples of lead magnets. There are so many that you could do. Fillable PDF workbooks are a good one. I make mine fillable now just to make it easier. I use software called PDF Filler. It's not free, unfortunately, but it makes them more appealing because people don't have to print them to fill them in.

You could create a guide, a cheat sheet, an interactive calculator, a free webinar, a planner, a masterclass or a quiz. There are loads of options.

But the golden rule right now is not to create something they can get easily inside ChatGPT. So you don't want to do something like "20 ways I can do this" if they could just ask ChatGPT and get it themselves.

Create something they can't get somewhere else, or something that feels especially valuable. Right now, video tutorials are really good. I'm actually going to give you a free video tutorial in the resources that will be sent out, for your seven-step email nurture sequence.

They work really well because it's you talking to them. They can't get that from AI right now. It also feels easier because they can listen while they work, and we're all really busy.

So think about something that's going to feel valuable and really appeal to your ideal client.

This is my ultimate funnel guide, a step-by-step planner for selling your offer. If you feel like you want to get started but it's all stuck in your head and you're not sure what the next steps are, what you need to do, I created this because I had the same problem.

You can scan the QR code or go to ltbusinessmanagement.com/shop and get the funnel planner for yourself.

I know that's quick because I wasn't really sure how much time I had. I felt a bit under pressure with only half an hour to help you build a lead magnet over lunch. But I know that at the end there are always questions, because I've given talks on this lots of times and the questions usually take up a lot of time.

So hopefully that has shown you what you can do quite easily and leaves enough time now for lots of questions.

Beth: Thanks, Lisa. No problem. That was really great. Thank you.

We do have some questions. James actually emailed earlier to ask whether you could cover the best lead magnet to use when selling via cold outreach on LinkedIn, and what might work best for a cold audience as opposed to warm traffic.

Lisa: Okay, so that's kind of a double-layered question.

Cold outreach was something I really advocated for up until recently because it does work, and I have got clients through cold outreach. But this year we've seen a real shift in what people are expecting because we're living in an environment that feels quite fake now. AI is everywhere.

People are using AI headshots. Social posts often aren't written organically anymore. We're in a bit of a trust recession, and people want to get to know people on a more personal level. So personal outreach is much more important now.

When I work with clients using LinkedIn and Sales Navigator, we warm people up first. There are lots of ways to do that.

You can create a list of ideal clients, connect with them first, and then send them a note saying, I'd like to connect with you, this is what I do, hope that's okay.

You track that. When they say yes, you then follow up and say thank you so much for accepting my connection request. You also need to look at their posts, see what they're writing about, and refer to it. You might say, I saw your post today, it made me laugh, or ask them a question about it. That's how you need to do outreach now.

Another way that works, and I know this wasn't the exact question, but I think it's important, is if you have a post that does really well. I recently had a viral post on LinkedIn that had nothing to do with business. It was about Mother's Day and ranting about the kids, and people loved it. Apart from a few, there's always one.

I literally went through the 180 comments on it and checked whether the people commenting were ideal clients. If they were, I connected with them, because it was easier to start a conversation. They already knew who I was, and I could refer back to the post and say thanks so much for commenting.

In terms of using lead magnets in outreach, yes, we do use them. As long as you're targeting your ideal client, it's easier to say, for example, with a client I'm working with at the moment, we connect first, they accept, and then we say thank you so much. I've noticed that people in your industry are struggling with A, B and C right now. Are you finding that?

They'll then come back and either say yes or no. Then we might say, what we're offering is a video tutorial library that can help with their marketing team.

That's what we use as the lead magnet. But the key thing is you get to know them first. You're not trying to sell to them immediately. Instead of asking for a call straight away, you say, look, I just thought I'd leave this resource with you. It might come in handy.

Then you'll know if they download it, if you've got a CRM, because you'll see them coming into the system.

So what works really well, as I said, is video tutorials, guides, anything like that. But it needs to have more value now. It could be a playbook, for example, or something they can fill in. But video tutorials are especially good because they aren't something they can get from Claude or ChatGPT.

Beth: That's great. Thank you.

Thinking about CRMs then, we've had a few questions in the chat from Naomi and Liza. They want to know which CRM you would recommend for a small business.

Lisa: This is a difficult one because it depends on your business. The number one rule I always tell people, and it really annoys me when people do this, is don't sign up for a CRM just because it's free.

You need to think about where your business is likely to go in the future. If it's going to scale, you want software that you can grow into.

A lot of people sign up for CRMs like HubSpot because it's free. The problem is it's only free for a certain amount of time. As you grow, add more contacts, send more emails and want to do automations, they start charging and it suddenly becomes really expensive.

So although it can feel expensive to invest early, and I know it's hard when you feel like you don't have the money coming in, it's a really valuable resource for your business.

The advice I'd give is make sure you do your research. Check it has the capabilities you want and doesn't come with restrictions like only allowing 5,000 contacts. You want unlimited contacts, unlimited automations and unlimited emails. And you want to make sure it has proper automation capability.

The CRM I often recommend is the one I offer to clients, which is morethanacrm.com. It's white-labelled on the back of Go High Level. I think it's the best CRM out there because it literally does everything in one place: your website, your social media, funnels, payments, everything.

But if you're really not techy and you don't need all the bells and whistles and you just want a simple email marketing system, then you could look at something like MailerLite or Mailchimp.

Just be mindful and check what the future costs are before you dive into something that could become expensive.

Beth: That's great, and often you do get sucked in by "free" and then it comes back to bite you later.

So, you mentioned video tutorials. Could you provide some examples of your favourite kinds of video tutorials?

Lisa: Yes. Video tutorials can just be a talking-head video where it's you on camera.

I've done one recently and it's just me talking, but I've added little captions and pictures to break it up a bit. It's me talking through an example of how you can generate leads in a certain way or how you can strategise in a certain way.

The other thing you can do is a live example. I've got a webinar, which is a pre-recorded webinar, and it's actually free, called Getting Started with CRM Automation. I do a presentation like this, but I also do a walkthrough of how to set up automation.

So it's you teaching and showing at the same time. Talking-head videos and videos where you show someone how to do something both work really well.

A lot of people want things explained simply, and sometimes they just need to see it in action. I'll send the link over for that as well.

Beth: Great. Please do. We've had lots of questions in, which is great. Claire asked earlier when you were talking about the email sequence, why does it have to be seven? Why not five or three?

Lisa: Because you need enough time to nurture the person before you sell to them.

Ultimately, what you're doing is selling to them. So you can't go from the first email being thank you, the second saying why you created it, and then the third saying buy this thing. It's just too soon.

People need to be warmed up. So seven tends to happen naturally. It doesn't have to be exactly seven. It can be more, and sometimes I have done more, but I wouldn't do fewer.

If you do fewer, you're basically going from here's the thing to buy this thing, and it's just too fast.

You have to treat those emails almost like a date. It's your first date with this person, and you need to warm them up before they buy from you.

Beth: I love that analogy. That's brilliant. So what would be a realistic conversion rate to aim for at each stage of the funnel?

Lisa: Funnels, notoriously, have drop-off.

The interesting thing is that people often get really excited about your lead magnet and probably download it, then never read it. That's why you shouldn't put too much value into the lead magnet itself. Don't be tempted to give too much away.

Don't build, say, a six-module course and give it away for free if it takes loads of effort, because a lot of people won't even open it.

What you're trying to do is attract people who are interested enough that they might buy your main offer. So you'll get the most activity at the top of the funnel, with sign-ups.

You won't really see them "drop off" in the nurture sequence because there's nothing for them to do except receive the emails. The real drop happens at the end when you start selling to them.

That's where the numbers fall. There are some statistics around this, but for every 100 people in your list, you might only get two that buy. If 100 people download your lead magnet, you might only get two buyers. If 1,000 people download it, you might get 100 buyers. If 500 people download it, maybe 100. It varies.

There's a real rate of attrition, and that's why you can't be disheartened if people don't then buy from you.

The whole point is that as long as you're building your mailing list and getting subscribers, you're building a place where you can continue nurturing people.

You have to remember that your social media accounts can be taken away from you at a moment's notice. Your mailing list can't. That's why it needs to be worked on all the time, and lead magnets are one of the best ways to do that.

Beth: That's brilliant. Thank you. How specific should a lead magnet be when you're refining your niche?

Lisa: I'd say very specific if you're trying to link it to an offer.

Now, you don't necessarily have to create a lead magnet because you're selling something. It could just be that you want to build your mailing list.

For example, separate to my main business, I have a community for virtual assistants, and I have a whole roadmap for the year of different things happening. Some of those months are just spent building the mailing list.

That's it. It's not about trying to sell something. So you can take that approach too.

But if you do want to sell something, then yes, the lead magnet has to connect. One has to connect with the other. Otherwise, you'll end up with people who would never be interested in what you're trying to sell.

Like the analogy I gave earlier: if you're a business coach doing a group coaching programme for women with perimenopause, then of course a guide on dealing with hot flushes during Zoom calls makes sense. Someone who doesn't deal with that issue probably isn't going to download it.

So yes, if it's linked to an offer, it needs to be quite niched.

Beth: That makes sense. What are the essential elements of a simple funnel that people often overlook?

Lisa: One of the big things is people set up a lead magnet and then don't actually send it.

I've downloaded lead magnets before that never arrived. Usually that's because the person is doing it manually and hasn't had time to send it yet.

Then I'm frustrated, and my connection to that person becomes one of frustration. I don't trust them anymore. I don't think they're reliable, and I probably won't do business with them because I shouldn't have to chase them. So making sure it's automated is the first step.

The next thing is making sure it isn't just "thanks, here's the thing" and then nothing else. A lot of people stop there.

You need to use the opportunity to nurture them, and you definitely need to tag them into your newsletter list at the end.

There's a lot of worry around GDPR and whether people can do that. But this is classed as a soft opt-in. As long as they've exchanged their email address with you, you can email them about like-for-like services.

So you can send them your weekly newsletter. Don't be worried that you can't do that. Just always make sure there's an opportunity for people to unsubscribe if they don't want to hear from you.

I've had a pizza company harassing me for a year because there's no opt-out, and it's just driving me insane. Don't do that to people because that really is not okay.

Beth: I think we've all had that. James says if we've got time for one more question, he'd like to ask: if you're offering a service to a smaller client base rather than a mass-sold product, is it still best to use email nurture as the main funnel?

Lisa: Yes, absolutely. Your email nurture is the best place to sell. It doesn't matter whether you're a big company, selling to corporates, or selling to smaller audiences.

You have to think of your social media as you shouting into the same void as everybody else. Everyone is fighting for that attention. Why would you spend all your time and effort shouting into the same space and fishing in the same lake, when you could have your own audience that you can talk to directly?

So email marketing is one of the best things you can do, and that's why building your mailing list is so important.

Don't overwhelm people. I tend to send a weekly email, a weekly newsletter, and then run a campaign. That campaign might be spread over three months where I'm gradually moving towards selling something.

That isn't always through a lead magnet. Sometimes it's just regular nurturing over time. But the point is that people are only hearing from me maybe once a week, occasionally twice. No more than that.

Beth: Brilliant. Thanks so much.

We've had lots of lovely comments come in, including "absolutely love this session." So thank you for your time today, Lisa. It was a really great session.

Thanks to everyone for joining us today. As I mentioned earlier, we're going to be sharing the recording from the session, along with some of the resources Lisa mentioned, in a follow-up email this afternoon. So thank you, and enjoy the rest of this sunny day.

Lisa: Thanks, everyone. Bye.

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