Your sales funnel is the beating heart of your business.
Done well, your sales cycle will guide your customers through an efficient, helpful journey that provides them with value.
Get this right and you will have more leads, more sales and more repeat business for your company.
Get it wrong and you will be left scratching your head, wondering why you aren’t acquiring new clients and why your current customers have stopped answering the phone.
In this guide, I will talk you through a proven process that brings remarkable results and gives your clients exactly what they need from your company.
But first, let’s quickly address the mindset you may need to make this work effectively, as we so often get asked the same question:
‘Why Is My Sales Funnel Not Working?’
Many of our clients have asked us this very question over the years and, through our vast experience, we find the answer is often the same.
It’s not that they didn’t have a great product.
It’s not even that they didn’t have a beautiful website or a catchy call-to-action.
Their sales funnel was not working because of this one fundamental reason.
They were not serving their ideal customers well enough.
That’s why, before diving into the ins and outs of your marketing funnel, you should pause and consider the mindset of your company.
Ask yourself, ‘How can we best serve our prospective customers?’.
Once you have thoroughly researched who exactly your ideal customer profile is and how it is you can help them, your messaging to them needs to be consistent, throughout your sales process, in serving their needs.
Solve a problem for your prospects and don’t forget to include this in your messaging at each and every one of the sales funnel stages.
We’ll go into greater detail on this later, but for now, let’s make sure we’re on the same page before we begin to shape your company’s perfect sales funnel.
What is a Sales Funnel?
Think of a sales funnel as directions your prospective customers will follow in order to become a fully fledged client.
A successful sales funnel will map out their entire journey, from first hearing about your brand to purchasing your product or service.
Prospects enter the top of the ‘funnel’ and will hopefully emerge as happy customers through the bottom.
Naturally, the number of prospects will decrease at each stage of the ‘funnel’, hence the name.
Traditional sales funnels typically comprise four key stages.
Let’s break them down…
Sales Funnel: The Four Step Breakdown
1) Awareness
First things first, your company needs to make a name for itself.
You want your brand name, logo and values to be imprinted in the mind of your potential customers before they even know they’re interested.
This is called the awareness stage and is a crucial part of your marketing efforts.
There are many types of content that could spark this awareness such as social media posts, referral traffic, Google Ads, search engine optimization, video content, or even your company blog (hello there!).
2) Interest
Before any purchasing decision can be made, you must pique your potential buyer’s interest.
At this stage, this is where your valuable content comes in.
Use whatever platform you have to build a relationship with each and every target customer.
The key to this is to use your social media content, YouTube channel and blog content as the valuable tool they are.
In a B2B sales pipeline, the modern consumer is doing a lot of research themselves before they are drawn into a demo by a salesperson.
In fact, according to Hubspot,18-24 year olds are using social media (28%) and online search (27%) to research products, more than any other method.
This suggests this trend of online research will only increase over time as the younger generation generates more spending power. .
This means to generate interest you must be speaking to your prospects online in a way that brings them value.
You can do this by giving away free advice concerning your niche.
This does more than just help your customer, it also helps your company.
That’s because it positions your business as an expert in the field, giving your brand an aura of authority.
Now that is interesting.
As Ken Blanchard puts it, “Just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create Raving Fans.”
3) Decision
By this stage, your customer’s buying journey has reached the consideration stage.
They are already interested, but now it’s time to do what you can to trigger the buying decision.
Remember, you may not be the only company that has piqued your prospect’s interest, so it’s time to act.
You can do this by adding a free eBook on your website in exchange for your client’s email address.
This way you can keep contact with them and address them personally to their inbox, consistently offering insight and making them feel they belong with consistent messaging.
Adding social proof is also a great way of standing out from the competition, as a prospect sitting on the fence could be swayed by a dazzling testimonial from a client they admire.
Webinars, demos and optimised landing pages are all great ways of steering your prospects through the buying process, too.
It seems like a lot to produce, but according to Worldwide Business Research, B2B buyers are 57% – 70% through their buying research before even contacting sales, so it’s more than worth doing.
So keep going, and turn your prospects from wanting your service, to needing it.
A great way of doing this is to include a great call to action to your email campaigns and promotional content which includes a sense of urgency.
This way, you have a better chance of getting them on the phone with your best sales reps.
4) Action
It’s time for the action phase.
Your once cold prospects are now fully warmed up, ready to make a purchase decision.
This is where you need to make the process as seamless as possible for you soon-to-be clients.
Your website must be easy to navigate and your sales team should embody the values you have been transmitting through your messages at each of the previous sales funnel stages.
Remember, you don’t just want a customer. You want a loyal customer.
Customer loyalty will come from building genuine relationships and from going above and beyond to add value.
So, make it a pleasant end to your qualified prospects’ buying journey with excellent staff to bring home this action stage.
Five Steps to Creating a Winning Sales Funnel
Here are five proven methods to ramp up your purchase funnel and improve results.
1) Make your landing page sing
This is where your adverts will be pointing to.
So make it special.
Get your best designer on the case. Make use of a great copywriter. Include video if you can to increase engagement and reduce your bounce rate.
Direct them to leave their information so you can share your content with them.
This brings us to step 2.
2) Create amazing content they can’t ignore.
It’s time to get creative.
What’s the best way to speak to your audience? If you don’t know, test out several methods. Then let the metrics do the talking.
Craft a regular blog, start a company YouTube channel. Create reels and shorts. Let your consumers see the fun side of your business.
Live stream a webinar, ask questions for engagement.
Whatever you do, keep it consistent, and don’t forget to…
3) Offer Value
I’ll say it, say it some more, and say it again.
Give your prospects value.
Offer them a free eBook, teach them how to do something.
In return, you can ask for their email address.
The best way to offer value is to ask…
4) What’s the problem?
You know your ideal buyer persona. Or at least you should.
What does your research tell you about them? What problems are they facing in their company?
Are there any current problems in their industry?
Once you establish your ICP’s pain points, you can offer them value that makes them take notice and encourages them to engage.
5) Don’t stop at the end of your funnel
The end of the sales funnel should not be the end of your efforts.
If you have converted a prospect into a customer, great! Then continue to offer them value.
If the prospect has not decided to buy, no problem! Keep engaging with them. Keep nurturing them.
This is not a quick scheme. This is a continuous process that you will need to deliver consistently and regularly reflect upon to make improvements.
Final Thoughts
It’s great to know what a sales funnel is and to understand what you can do at each stage to nurture your potential customers.
But, to really set your business apart, you should apply the mindset of serving your prospects through each stage of the customer journey, and beyond.
Sometimes we get so bogged down with the numbers, we can forget we are dealing with real people with real problems.
You can use your expertise to really help solve these problems and build long term relationships.
At Excelerate360, we strongly believe in adding value to our clients, and we know it’s the best way to grow your business.
If you need any help at all with your sales efforts, whether that’s through lead generation, consultancy, or outsourcing, we are here to help.