Funnels Are Overrated (Focus on THIS Instead)

Funnels are the marketing world’s favorite buzzword.

Every “guru” loves to talk about them.

Well, maybe not every guru. But many of them love to talk about them.

Build a funnel, they say.

Add 15 steps, 7 upsells, 4 downsells, and voila—you’re rich.

Except… you’re not.

Here’s the ugly truth.

Most funnels are just overcomplicated sales pages in disguise.

In other words, they are overrated.

Here’s what I mean.

A sales funnel is nothing else but an automated version of some kind of sales message.

With that definition, we can easily get to the following point.

The best sales funnel in the world won’t do much if no one’s going through it.

In other words…

You can spend weeks obsessing over your headline, split-testing colors on your CTA button, and crafting the perfect upsell sequence.

But if your marketing machine isn’t bringing in a continuous stream of qualified traffic, your funnel is pretty much useless.

Funnels don’t create demand. Funnels don’t build trust. Funnels don’t make people care.

Marketing does.

Marketing is what happens before anyone sees your funnel.

It’s the system that puts you on people’s radar, gets them curious, and makes them want what you’re offering.

Without it, your funnel is just a glorified “buy now” button that nobody clicks.

Here’s the reality:

➢ You Can’t Sell to Empty Rooms: The world’s best closer is useless without leads. Same goes for your funnel. If you’re not consistently driving traffic, it doesn’t matter how good your funnel is.

➢ Marketing Always Comes Before Sales: Build a machine that attracts the right people—whether it’s through content, ads, or partnerships. THEN you can sell people something. No leads, no sales, and no money.

Want your funnel to work?

Stop over-optimizing.

Build your marketing engine first.

Get attention. Build trust.

Then, when they finally hit your funnel, it’ll actually do its job.

Funnels don’t fail because they’re ugly.

They fail because they’re empty.

Fill your funnel with trust and demand, and it won’t matter how ‘pretty’ it looks.

In other words, focus on marketing first.

Final example to prove my point.

Let’s say that Elon Musk opens up an ugly Google Doc and starts talking through a bunch of bullet points.

He’s telling you that his latest offer (literally insert whatever you want) is going to be available for purchase if you go to a specific link.

That’s it. That’s all there is in the landing page.

Ugly, crappy funnel.

Now, you tell me.

How much money you think something like that can print?

A ton.

Because funnels aren’t what move the needle. Marketing is.

Prioritize accordingly.

Talk soon,

Nick