What is a Sales Funnel and why is it important?

In today’s blog I will be discussing what a sales funnel is, it’s uses and I will be delving into the necessary steps to being able to utilise one. Firstly, what is a sales funnel exactly? A sales funnel put simply is a marketing term for the journey prospect customers go through to purchase a product or service. They contain several different steps which are usually categorised as the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel. These steps can vary due to businesses using different sales models.

Every sales person knows the pain from just missing out on a sale. In some cases it can happen even after weeks or months of demos and pitches. It happens to the best of them but it is possible to lower the risk of it happening by using the right sales funnel management. Using sales and marketing automation software can help turn missed opportunities into sales. More sales? I’m sure no business on Earth would say no to that!

The importance of sales funnels.

Sales funnels can help you understand what goes through your potential customers' heads, and can allow you to assist them through all stages of the purchase process. Having access to these insights can allow your business to invest into creating the most relevant messaging to potential customers during all stages of the purchase journey, and can help you invest into the most suitable marketing channels for your company and customers.

What are the stages to a sales funnel?

It starts from the very moment your potential customers hear about the product or service you provide and goes all the way through each stage until the customer decides to make a purchase or in some cases decide not to. Journeys can differ depending on the prospect customers but they all will get evaluated based on the level of interest towards product or service. Generally there are four stages to a stage funnel and these include; awareness, interest, decision, and action.

Awareness

Awareness is the first stage as it is where people first find out about your business, whether it be through word of mouth, your social media presence, or advertising. Whether or not those people move down your sales funnel is totally dependent on your company’s sales ability. The middle and lower funnel stages are the ones you want to put the most focus on as they have moved on from awareness down into the interest section.

Interest

After potential customers have gained knowledge on your company’s brand they would then move into the interest stage where they would tally up their interest in your service or product and decide if making a purchase is the right thing to do. Potential customers will think about the problem they need to solve and then also take note of what other businesses are charging to see if your goods are the most suitable for them.

Decision

Once they have all of the relevant information your potential customers will then dig a little deeper into the pricing and packaging options your business provides. Making calls, having webinars are all valuable to help prospect customers decide on whether or not they will make the leap and purchase.

Action

All of the stages work together to get to this section. This is where the potential customer makes the purchase or decides not to. If they didn’t purchase your goods then it isn’t all lost as you can create and implement nurture campaigns to help your business stay in their head for the future.

How to build a sales funnel

To start you’ll need prospect customers who can easily move through your sales funnel. Once those prospects are in place you can then track engagement and behaviours utilising lead scoring to see where they are at in the funnel. The next step would be to build a landing page. A landing page will tend to be where your potential customers will learn about your business. If they come across an advert or sign up for a webinar for example they will be taken to your landing page. Your page should be a clear message of who your company is and should showcase the benefits to purchasing your goods or using your services. Also, your landing page should include a section where prospects can enter their details and information, including email addresses so you can start to communicate with them.

The Steps

You need to make sure your business will actually offer something of value to the customer. Your company needs to give something to potential clients in exchange for their email addresses. An example of what could be given is some form of ebook or lead magnet which is just an offer compelling enough that a potential customer will want to give their contact information to receive whatever it is you have decided to offer. But remember, it has to be worthwhile enough for them to give away their details!

After you have gained your prospect’s contact details you must begin to nurture them which just means you will have to build awareness about your brand by contacting them through emails sharing informative content about the products or services you are offering.

Moving on from that step your business will want to start to upsell. Upselling means as your potential customers move through your sales funnel into the ‘decision’ section you will want to try and offer them anything that will move them in the right direction towards purchasing your product. You can even offer some form of discount or a free trial for them to try out what you are selling before deciding to commit to purchasing.

After this stage you will have the ball rolling and you are going to want to keep it rolling. Keep it going as when your customers are in the action phase you will hear why they like your product and maybe why they don’t. Keeping communication going on is crucial in this section. For newly formed customers you must focus on retention and engagement. For potential customers who decided not to make a purchase it is good to continue to nurture them every few months to see if they have changed their mind on your product or service.

If you and your business are planning on implementing a sales funnel then click here to speak with a Sales Expert.