Sales funnel template: the 4-stage map I fill in for every business
In short: A useful funnel template isn't a pretty triangle, it's a table: stages, steps, volumes, conversion rates and a break-even CPA. Copy the structure below into a spreadsheet, fill it with your last 90 days, and the weakest stage shows itself.
Search for “funnel template” and you’ll find thousands of blank triangles for PowerPoint. They look good in a deck and tell you nothing. A template should force you to write numbers, because numbers are what show you where to act.
Here is the one I use. It fits on one spreadsheet tab.
Part 1: the stage map
Copy these columns:
| Stage | Steps (what the buyer does) | Volume, last 90 days | Rate to next stage | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attract | Sees an ad or a post, clicks, lands on the site | Qualified visits | Visit → lead % | Marketing |
| Capture | Downloads a resource, fills a form, books a call | Leads | Lead → opportunity % | Marketing |
| Convert | Call, proposal, checkout | Opportunities, customers | Opportunity → customer % | Sales / founder |
| Compound | Onboarding, referral, repeat purchase, review | Repeat customers, referrals | Repeat rate % | Whoever owns retention |
The “Owner” column matters more than it looks. A stage without an owner is the stage that leaks.
Part 2: the unit economics
Under the map, add four lines:
- Average order value (AOV), or average contract value for B2B.
- Gross margin %, after cost of goods or delivery.
- Share of margin you accept to spend on acquisition. Between 30% and 50% is common for a first purchase; more if customers come back.
- Break-even CPA = AOV × gross margin × that share.
Example: $1,200 AOV, 55% margin, 40% share → break-even CPA of $264. Any channel that brings customers above $264 loses money on the first sale.
Part 3: the weekly check
Add a third block with the four rates from Part 1, one column per week. You don’t need a dashboard tool for this; a spreadsheet updated every Monday is enough to see a stage drift before it hurts.
How to read it
- One rate far below the others: that’s your priority, whatever channel you were planning to test next.
- Rates fine but CPA above break-even: the problem is price, margin or traffic cost, not conversion.
- Volumes you can’t fill: fix tracking before anything else. A funnel you can’t measure can’t be improved, only guessed at.
Make it yours
Change the steps, keep the structure: stages, volumes, rates, owners, break-even CPA. The full course, The Growth Funnel System, starts exactly here (Module 1) and gives you the spreadsheet with the calculator built in.
Build the whole system, not one piece
The Growth Funnel System walks you through the full funnel, from tracking to automation. Founding seats open to the waiting list first.