Over the last couple of months marketers like Ryan Deiss and Frank Kern have been sharing how they’ve organised their businesses to gather prospects and make sales. Each time they’ve use diagrams to help explain their processes. Some have been versions of sales funnel diagrams, others were essentially process maps.

It seems to me that if you can put your business plan or process into one or a couple of clear diagrams it’s a sign you’ve thought it through and avoided the trap of making it too complex. So what should a good diagram include?

It should start with a process for generating leads. This could be via SEO, and/or social media marketing, and/or email marketing. You could even use Kindle books. It could use one or both of the two biggest social media sites, Facebook and YouTube, and it could use Facebook ads to generate engagement with your posts.

It also should probably include a free offer or trial to persuade your target audience to opt-in to your list and ideally it should be set up so that you get quality leads.

The second part of the diagram is set up to convert your subscribers to buyers. Everything in part 1 should lead to part 2, so your Facebook page and YouTube videos should link to your website or blog.

So this is where your own website fits in the diagram or where you use someone else’s as an affiliate. Ideally though you’ll be using your own online property. Ideally part 2 is where you have a self-liquidating offer.

Part 3 is set up to gain repeat business. This could be an immediate one-time-offer or built into an email sequence. If you’re delivering an information product the upsells could be a means of increasing the speed of getting results from your product, and/or a means of automating a process. This could be something as simple as templates or as complex as a done for you service.

If you’re offering a service as your main offer the upsell could be built in to how you deliver that service. The best form of a repeat business offer is a membership area that requires ongoing subscription for access.

Part 4 of the diagram should show that part of your business that exists to increase revenue. Here you increase the number of times you interact with your list using high value email content. You can set up an automated sequence and also use broadcast emails. Build in some interaction and take the opportunity to ask your list questions and direct them to surveys.

Remember that each part of the diagram will have to be set up and moving your customers from one part to the next will also require work. Start with a simple diagram and add other parts as you grow. If you have to separate different aspects of your business (like sales funnel and email sequences) into different diagrams the do so. Keep the diagrams simple and be clear on how they connect to each other. Don’t mistake complexity for improvement.

You’ll also need to have a plan for the people who do not purchase. Once they have been through your email sequence they can receive broadcasts which will provide varying types of content and occassionally reintroduce your offers.

If you can represent the above in a clear diagram or set of diagrams where you can follow the path a prospect will take through your business then you’ll have the basic plan for the type of business you should build.