Building the Document Behind the Funnel
What it does: writes the resource that earns the meeting. The post earns the comment; the document earns the call.
Run it when: before wiring any lead magnet funnel.
Time: two to three hours for a good one.
Depends on: SOP 19 for the post it pairs with, and a filled-in brand profile for the proof and links.
Before you start
The exact promise the hook post makes, written out
Real proof points and the real booking link from the brand profile
A decision on which document type fits
The steps
1. Pick the type from the buyer's situation, not your preference.
A checklist or audit for someone who owns a process and fears missing a step. A playbook for someone who wants a repeatable system, which is the evergreen default. A swipe file for someone who dreads writing. A benchmark report when nobody knows what good looks like, which needs real data. A teardown when you have a real named result, and never when you do not. One type per campaign, and do not repeat a type within five consecutive funnels.
2. Make the title the post's promise, restated.
If the post promised five mistakes, the document is about those five mistakes. A subtitle with the negatives helps: "without ads, cold email, or praying for referrals".
3. Put the CTA at the top, softly.
This is the pattern that separates documents that book calls from documents that get read. A casual low-pressure line before the content, one line of social proof, and the ask repeated at the end. Winners open with a soft version rather than saving the entire ask for the last line.
4. Open on the reader's pain, as contrast or a scene.
What most teams still do, against what the ones winning do instead. Two short paragraphs, not a preamble about the state of the industry.
5. Deliver the promised value first and completely.
Named, numbered frameworks per section: the six questions, the 72-hour rule, the three flows. Every item the post promised must be findable by heading. The document has to be genuinely useful to someone who never buys anything.
6. End every framework with a copy-paste block.
A message template, a prompt, a script, in a fenced code block. Teach the concept, then hand over the literal words. This is the single most distinctive thing the best documents do and the easiest one to skip.
7. Show bad and good pairs wherever you correct a behaviour.
Two lines beat two paragraphs of explanation.
8. Give exact click-paths and real URLs for anything involving setup.
Zero ambiguity. If the reader has to guess which screen you mean, they stop.
9. Add a time-boxed plan.
A first 48 hours checklist, then a week-by-week ramp. Any expected numbers come from real data or are clearly labelled as targets, never presented as results.
10. Weave the product in as the way to do the thing.
Never a feature list. The document should read as a DIY guide, which is exactly what sells the done-for-you version.
11. Handle the fear before the final ask.
A short, hard-promises section: you approve everything, the cap is this and we hold it. Then the escape hatch that is the actual meeting mechanism: if you would rather we set this up with you, here is the link. Sign off with a real human name.
12. Keep it scannable and honest.
Seventh-grade reading level, short paragraphs, headings a thumb can scan, one bolded line per section. No invented numbers, no borrowed metrics, no claims the brand cannot support. Small tables only, because phones are narrow. Nested lists do not render, so keep lists flat.
Do this / Not this
Do this | Not this |
|---|---|
CTA at the top and the bottom | The ask saved for the last line |
Every promised item findable by heading | A document loosely related to the post |
Copy-paste block per framework | Concepts with no words to steal |
Real booking link from the brand profile | A link someone typed from memory |
Useful to someone who never buys | A brochure with a checklist bolted on |
Flat lists and small tables | Nested lists, which do not render |
Real numbers or none | Borrowed metrics from a competitor's case study |
Done when
Every numbered item the post promised exists and is findable by heading
CTA appears at the top and the bottom, with real links
Each framework section ends in a copy-paste block
A non-buyer would still save it
Reads at seventh grade and scans by headings alone
No invented numbers anywhere
Rendering checked: no nested lists, tables small enough for a phone
