This is the subject of a thought provoking Hubspot article that could change the way that you look at how to achieve business growth. It’s a 15 minute read and well worth it, but here’s an overview.
Funnels produce customers, but don’t consider how those customers can help you grow.
A flywheel is a simple energy-efficient disc on an axis. The amount of energy it stores depends on how fast you spin it, how much friction there is, and the composition of the wheel itself — how big it is and how much it weighs.
Trust is at an all time low, it’s harder to get distribution on Google and Facebook, and prospects are doing far more independent research than they ever have. With word of mouth being so crucial, losing the momentum you generate in creating a new customer is a real drag on your growth.
Still confused or skeptical? Then watch the short video on https://academy.hubspot.com/lessons/flywheel
In a funnel model, all force is applied to attract and acquire customers. In a flywheel model, you also apply force to delight those customers and make them successful. Identify points of friction between your customers and your employees, and points of handoff between internal teams, that affect customer experience. Re-align those points of friction to better serve the customer through automation, shared goals, or a reorganisation.
To help you build your flywheel and turn it into a growth tool for your business, Hubspot have produced an implementation guide. The process consists of 3 stages:
- Measuring the flywheel
- Maximising Delight
- Reducing Friction
Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/our-flywheel
You might also like to watch this video of the Inbound 2018 talk on the subject by Hubspot’s co-founder Brian Halligan
But before you throw away all of those working funnels, I’d just like to suggest that perhaps they could be combined with the flywheel approach for an even better solution
