Last updated on October 18th, 2025 at 07:50 am
Looking for some unique, little-known, highly-effective ways to increase sales?
Then you’ve come to the right place.
At ClickFunnels, we’ve been helping entrepreneurs build online businesses for almost a decade now.
Through trial and error, we’ve uncovered a lot of different, unique methods for generating sales online… tactics that very few entrepreneurs know about.
Many of these methods are explained in detail in Russell Brunson’s Secrets Trilogy book series (click that link to get your copies!).
They’re extremely effective and proven to work for tens of thousands of businesses.
Let’s dive in!
By the way, in our Your First Funnel Challenge, you’ll build your first (or next) sales funnel side-by-side with the experts (100% free). Check out our full review here.
1. Think in Sales Funnels
In today’s world, the vast majority of online marketing happens online.
And many new business owners are very aware of this — they think to themselves, “Man! I need a website and an online presence!”
They’re right.
But they’re also wrong.
The truth is, we’re not in the early 2000s anymore where throwing up a website is sufficient for “building an online presence” and making sales.
We’re 20+ years down the road.
And a website just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Because everyone has a website.
In fact, we made this video to try and explain why the age of websites is coming to an end.
Don’t think in terms of just building a website.
Think in terms of the experience you’re creating for your customers, your leads, and your prospects.
You don’t want to create an online brochure.
You want to create an automatic online experience that guides people from point A to point B with as few phone calls, text messages, and support tickets as possible.
If you’re going to be successful in today’s online marketing climate, then you’ve got to make this shift.
Don’t think in terms of “building an online presence.”
Think in terms of creating a compelling experience for your target market.
Spend a little time pondering the following questions…
- How are your dream customers going to find you?
- Once they find you, what do you want them to do first? How can you point them in that direction?
- Then what do you want them to do? How will you guide them from B to C?
This is one of the biggest secrets to how the best online marketers destroy their competitors. They don’t think in vague terms. They think in sales funnels and experiences.
And because of that, they create compelling experiences that consistently drive lead generation, sales, and bottom-line revenue.
At ClickFunnels, we’re experts at creating high-converting sales funnels. If you want to learn how we — and our members — do it, click here.
Build Your First Funnel Now (Side-by-Side With Experts)
2. Consider Your Value Ladder
Your value ladder is the progression of products and services that your company offers, from low-end to high-end.
The whole point of a value ladder is to entice your customers to keep buying from you — by offering more and more valuable products and services as they move up the ladder.
For example, let’s say you’re a Personal Trainer.
Your value ladder might look something like this…
Free Consultation (Low-end)
- 8-Week Beginner’s Training Program (Mid-range)
- 12-Week Intermediate Training Program (Mid-range)
- 24-Week Advanced Training Program (High-end)
- $1,000/month 1-on-1 Training (High-end)
Notice how each successive product is more expensive (and more valuable) than the one before it? That’s intentional.
The goal is to get your customers to keep buying from you, by offering them progressively more valuable products and services as they move up the ladder.
Here’s an example of how you can visually chart your value ladder (this is from our DotCom Secrets launch)…
Understanding your value ladder will give you a better idea of your customer’s journey and when to offer what products to your customers.
Check out the video below to learn more about how this works.
3. Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes
In order to increase sales, you need to understand your customer’s needs, wants, and desires.
You need to know what they’re thinking about — and more importantly, what they’re feeling.
One of the best ways to do that is by putting yourself in their shoes. Try to imagine what they’re going through, and how your product or service can help them.
For example, if you’re selling a weight loss program, then imagine what your customer is thinking and feeling as they begin their journey…
- They might be feeling frustrated because they’ve been trying to lose weight for years without any success.
- Or they might be feeling insecure because they’re worried about how their weight is affecting their health.
- Or they might be feeling ashamed because they feel like they’ve let themselves go and don’t know how to get back on track.
By understanding how your customer is feeling, you can create marketing messages that resonate with them on a deep level.
Create a customer avatar, get a clear picture in your head of who your dream customers are, how you can help them, and why they will benefit from your products and services.
And that will make it much easier to sell.
4. Build Empathy
I’ll never forget the first time I wrote an article for Smartblogger.
This one, specifically…
I’ll never forget the advice the editor gave me after I turned in the first draft — “we need to make the introduction more empathetic,” he told me.
I asked what he meant.
He said that they make all of their blog articles start with empathy for the reader. By describing the reader’s current state and situation in detail, a writer can show that they really understand the person they’re communicating with.
I thought that was genius.
And It’s something I’ve tried to do every since.
When you’re trying to sell something, leverage empathy by showing the person you know what they’re feeling and what they’re facing. You understand that it’s hard. You know the excuses going through their head.
Prove to them that you know them.
And they’ll be willing to hear what you have to say.
Bryan Ward is one of the best copywriters I know when it comes to empathy. Check out this email — he creates online products for men who are dissatisfied with their lives…
- They’ll hate you if you say it out loud.
- But your secret’s safe with me:
- You want to make them jealous.
- You want all your friends to stare, mouth agape, when they see your washboard abs at the pool…
- When they see you bend down to tie your shoes, no sitting or kneeling required…
- When they hear that your doctor took you off the medication…
- When they learn that you climbed a fricking MOUNTAIN with your grandson.
- It’s the fantasy we ALL share:
- To be the anomaly… the man who defies the odds by going into his 40’s, 50’s, or 60’s lean and shredded…
- …Striking awe and jealousy in the hearts of women and men alike.
- If you’re ready to stop fantasizing and GET IT FOR REAL, then you need to join our Male Transformation System.
- Because this is exactly what we do.
- So if you want to make your friends jealous…
- If you want to get in the best shape of your life NO MATTER your age…
- If you want to be their inspiration…
- Start your transformation now
See how well he knows his target market?
And notice how much empathy he shows for their situation and their mindset?
There’s a reason he’s highly successful.
Understand your customers, show empathy, and you’ll sell far more of your products and services to your target market.
5. Use Customer Loyalty Programs
Customer loyalty programs are a great way to increase sales.
They’re also an extremely effective way to improve customer retention rates.
In other words, they help keep your current customers coming back for more, while also enticing new customers to give your business a try.
A study by the Harvard Business School found that a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 95% increase in profits.
And another study by Bain & Company found that a loyal customer is worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase.
In other words, if you can get a customer to make a second purchase, then you’re 10X more likely to get them to make a third, fourth, fifth, and so on.
That’s the power of customer loyalty programs!
There are all sorts of tools you can use to create customer loyalty programs. MyCredits, for instance, allows you to create your own loyalty program in minutes.
And you can integrate it with your ClickFunnels account easily using Zapier.
Furthermore, the business management system vcita has introduced a “Packages” feature that allows small and medium-sized businesses to combine several services together and offer them as a package deal online at a reduced rate.
This can make for an attractive and compelling offer to existing customers.
The point is, there are all sorts of different ways to create customer loyalty programs. And if you’re not using them, then you’re missing out on a massive opportunity to increase sales.
6. Craft a Soap Opera Sequence
A soap opera sequence is a series of emails (usually 5-7) that tell a story.
The story typically revolves around a problem that your customer is facing, and how your product or service can help them overcome it.
The idea is to keep your customer engaged by telling an interesting story that piques their curiosity, and then offering your product or service as a solution to the problem they’re facing.
For example, let’s say you’re selling a weight loss program.
Your soap opera sequence might look something like this…
- Email 1: The problem (e.g., “Are you frustrated with your weight loss efforts?”)
- Email 2: The story (e.g., “I was in your shoes not too long ago…”)
- Email 3: Introduce the solution (e.g., “This is what helped me finally lose the weight…”)
- Email 4: The offer (e.g., “Here’s how you can get started with my program…”)
- Email 5: The urgency/scarcity (e.g., “This offer won’t be available for much longer…”)
Soap opera sequences are a great way to keep your customers engaged, and they can be very effective in increasing sales.
Check out the video below to learn how to craft your very own soap opera sequence.
7. Write Amazing Emails
A big part of online marketing today is email marketing.
And there’s a lot of hubbub around how marketers can get people to open the emails they send — after all, if people don’t open your emails, then you’re “talking to the hand”.
Marketers recommend…
- Crafting great subject lines
- Personalizing emails
- Writing great preheaders
So on and so forth.
But you know what far too few marketers talk about?
Writing emails that are so good people open them just because they love receiving and reading your emails.
Think about your own inbox.
Why do you open a certain email?
90% of the time, you probably open an email because of who it’s from. Not because the subject line catches your eye or because the preheader is compelling. Just because it’s from a family, friend, or someone who provides genuine value.
Heck, the subject line might not even be all that appealing.
That’s the goal.
To create such great value with your emails that people open just because they like you and your brand.
This, naturally, leads to more website traffic, sales, and bottom-line revenue.
Rachel Pedersen is someone who’s great at crafting high-value emails. Check it out…
Build Your First Funnel Now (Side-by-Side With Experts)
8. Tell Stories
Stories are a powerful way to connect with your customers on an emotional level.
When you tell a story, it helps your customer to see how your product or service can help them in their own lives.
For example, let’s say you’re selling a weight loss program.
You could tell a story about how you used to be overweight and unhappy, but then you found this program and it helped you lose weight and become healthy and happy.
Or you could tell a story about one of your customers who used your program to lose weight and transform their life.
Stories are a great way to connect with your customers and increase sales.
The more that you become a storyteller for your business, the more sales you’ll see.
For example, this is a landing page where I sell my “Freelance Writer’s Survival Kit” — and the entire page is full of storytelling.
It converts cold traffic at a whopping 20% on a $47 product.
How? Why?
Because it’s full of stories that help take the reader on a journey from where they are now… to where they want to go.
Tyler Austin at REISift — software for real estate investors — is also great at telling stories in his emails. Here’s an example…
Become a storyteller and you’ll achieve far more success than your non-storytelling competitors.
9. Practice Funnel Hacking
Funnel hacking is the process of reverse-engineering your competitor’s sales funnel.
This means taking a close look at how they’re selling their products and services, and then creating your own sales funnel that is even better.
For obvious reasons, this is a great way to get better results faster — you’re learning from people who’ve come before you.
There are a few different ways to do this…
You can start by taking a look at their website and see what kind of offer they’re making.
Then, take a look at their sales page and see how they’re selling their product or service.
Finally, take a look at their email sequence and see how they’re following up with their customers (it’s not a bad idea to even buy their products or services just to see what the rest of their funnel looks like).
By reverse-engineering, your competitor’s sales funnel, you can learn what works and what doesn’t, and then create your own sales funnel that is even better.
Final Thoughts
If you want to increase sales, then you need to understand your customer’s needs, wants, and desires.
You need to know what they’re thinking about — and more importantly, what they’re feeling.
One of the best ways to do that is by putting yourself in their shoes. Try to imagine what they’re going through, and how your product or service can help them.
By understanding how your customer is feeling, you can create marketing messages that resonate with them on a deep level. And that will make it much easier to sell your products and services.
In addition, you should also craft a soap opera sequence and tell stories to keep your customers engaged and increase sales.
If you use these strategies, you’ll be well on your way to increasing sales like crazy.
Click the link below if you’re ready for a challenge…