A sales funnel, sometimes called a marketing funnel, is a visual representation of the journey each customer takes before buying. This will include everything from awareness all the way to the actual conversion.
Why is having one important?
A sales funnel in other words is a layout for your marketing touchpoints and at what stage should each person see them. Here are a couple of reasons why your company absolutely needs to have a defined sales funnel:
Focus
A sales funnel will show your sales team exactly which leads are ripe to sell to and which still need a bit of time. It will create organization in your hundreds and hundreds of leads. In a way scoring them based on how much engagement they have had with your company. If your sales team is calling up any random leads it will result in not only a lower conversion rate but possibly also turning away potential customers simply because they were too early in the funnel.
Automation
By defining your sales funnel, you will also be able to match any processes related to marketing with their respective stage. Processes that would have to be repeated over and over again once a lead reaches a new stage can all be automated. These are processes like sending an email once a lead reaches a certain amount of engagements or when their engagement rate goes over a certain percentage. Of course, to be able to do all this you will need a pretty powerful CRM as well as a platform for workflows, we recommend Zoho CRM and Zoho Flow as affordable and powerful solutions for any business.
Overview
Marketing strategies include a lot of detail that when looking at the big picture isn’t necessary. That’s where a sales funnel will come in handy. With a sales funnel you can see exactly how each part of your marketing strategy is contributing to pushing users through the funnel. This gives you a visual representation of how sales and marketing work hand in hand.
Monitoring and Optimization
Never wonder again why users are not converting. With a defined sales funnel you can see exactly at what stage you have the highest drop off rates and focus your next project there. A sales funnel will give you a direction for what needs to be improved. Without having one you could believe there’s no issue as the metrics from each individual medium look positive, but when you see how one converts to another you can start seeing problems in the journey.
Does your company need a custom tailored sales funnel? Schedule a consultation below!
