What if you turned the typical sales funnel upside down?

In the usual way of selling, prospects are dropped into the top of the sales funnel. The salesperson, with the help of gravity, pushes them down into a narrowing path.

The upside down funnel is more like a mountain, a mountain that some people want to climb. Prospects are outside of the mountain, and free to go where they want to go without constraints.

The salesperson is more like a climbing guide, showing various ways up the mountain for anyone who wants to climb and who wants a guide. Prospects move up the mountain under their own power, against gravity, with no pushing from the guide.

It’s a different metaphor, for a different way of selling.