The Two Funnels You're Mixing Together
Your existing relationships are your highest leverage, lowest cost growth channel, and most coaches skip straight past them chasing strangers instead. Fix the order, and both funnels get easier.
"Social media channels are meant to connect, not to convert."Jess Webber · I Love Coaching Podcast
Pull two lists this week. First, everyone who has spent money with you this year, in time or in dollars. Second, everyone who has engaged with you but hasn't converted yet. Those two lists are your Trust Ledger. Build there before you post a single thing meant to reach someone new.
Show Notes + Resources
What You'll Learn
- The four trust tiers your entire audience already falls into (Unknown, Known, Like, Trust) and why treating them the same kills conversion
- What the Trust Ledger is and why deposits have to come before you ever ask for a withdrawal
- How to audit your own database in under ten minutes to find the relationships you're leaving on the table
- Why approaching strangers with an offer is the coaching equivalent of selling pink highlighters on a street corner
- The real difference between top, middle, and bottom of funnel content, and the 50/40/10 ratio that actually works
- The one filter question to ask before every post: am I trying to get seen by someone new, or trusted more by someone who already knows me?
Key Themes
- Two distinct funnels: attraction (unknown to known) and trust (known to converted), each needing different behavior
- The Trust Ledger: relationships as deposits and withdrawals, not transactions
- Content strategy by funnel stage: the 50/40/10 ratio for top, middle, and bottom of funnel posts
- Why relationship-based selling beats transactional selling, every time
Memorable Lines
- "Social media channels are meant to connect, not to convert." (Jess Webber)
- "Relationship conversion is an easier lift. Buyers buy because they want to." (Adam Roach)
- "If people know you and you want to deepen the relationship to grow your business, focus on value first, deposits first." (Jess Webber)
- "That's what it's like to sell to an unknown person. They don't know you, you don't know them, but yet you've got a pretty pink highlighter you want to sell them." (Adam Roach)
Resources Mentioned
- Coaches #1 Problem Series (Ep. 187, Ep. 188)
- Instagram: @ilovecoachingco / @adamrroach / @thejesswebber
- YouTube: youtube.com/@ilovecoachingco
Timestamps
- [00:00] Intro: two funnels, two completely different jobs
- [02:04] The four trust tiers: Unknown, Known, Like, Trust
- [03:56] Adam's Kia Telluride story: how attraction becomes trust
- [06:14] Tying it back to "I know a guy" language
- [07:40] Where most coaches get the order backwards
- [08:44] The Trust Ledger: deposits before withdrawals
- [10:12] Why transactional focus shrinks your bottom tier
- [11:55] Audit your database: the trust list and the engaged list
- [14:05] The pink highlighter analogy: selling to strangers
- [15:36] Why relationship conversion is the easier lift
- [16:34] Top, middle, and bottom of funnel content, defined
- [18:40] The posting filter: new eyes or deeper trust
- [20:17] The 50/40/10 content ratio
- [21:32] Breaking the habit of selling on social media
- [24:26] Wrap up and where to go next
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The I Love Coaching Podcast is hosted by Adam Roach and Jess Webber of I Love Coaching Co. New episodes drop biweekly wherever you listen to podcasts.