Sales Funnel Strategy
An important strategy used in digital marketing is the sales funnel strategy. The name might sound odd, but this concept can make your business from a non-existent entity to a well-known business in a few days. Some firms specialize in implementing just this concept in marketing which shows how important it is for business.
You are probably wondering what a sales funnel is. A sales funnel is a multi-step process that changes prospective browsers to buyers. The sales funnel leads visitors to your website by the use of a systematic process. The objective of the process is for the visitor to purchase your products. Just like the real funnel where a substance is poured inside and runs down to a destination, in the same way, visitors who visit your site are taken through a process to reemerge from the other end as buyers.
Stages Of The Sales Funnel Strategy
Most companies do not identify their sales funnel and often chase every sale lead they have. When you have a sales funnel, you can have consistent effort towards the most promising of your sales leads. You will also be able to measure progress at each of the sales processes. Here are the essential stages of any sales funnel.
- Awareness
Awareness as the first stage has the highest number of people. These are the people who land on your site by chance or because they need to buy a product. Every lead, in this case, is a potential customer. The leads learn about your website through social media, Google search, ads, Referrals, networks, or email marketing.
- Interest
The second stage involves leads that are already on your site and are actively looking for solutions to their needs. They show interest in your products and might take action such as following you on social media. At this stage, you should provide them with rich content to keep them interested and win their loyalty.
- Decision
The leads at this stage are considering whether they should make a purchase decision or not. They will closely look at your product, pricing, after sales service and other characteristics and compare the product you are offering with that of your competitors. This is the stage where you need to make a sales offer using marketing tools such as landing pages, webinar, retarget marketing and other methods.
- Action
At this stage, the lead will decide to become your customer by making a purchase. They will finalize the deal when they hit the buy button. If they are satisfied with what you offer, they might be repeat customers, and you can gain loyalty from them.
Why You Need A Sales Funnel
A sales funnel allows you to understand your customers and their buying habits. The sales funnel also enables you to focus your effort and resources to the right leads, which is essential to the growth of your business. Below are other few reasons why a sales funnel is necessary for your business.
- Sort and rank your sales leads
Using a sales funnel helps you come up with an organized and consistent process for ranking, evaluating, prioritizing and sorting your sales lead. You can base the process on the leads that are more promising in terms of a purchase or the ones that are urgent. You can also sort the ones that need long-term nurturing and follow up until they are ready to buy your product. Not all the sales leads are equal. Some clients will want to purchase your product right away. However, others need some time or more convincing to trust you.
- Focus on the right leads
A sales funnel allows you to focus. You will use your time and resources to chase the right sales leads. Spending your time and resources chasing a wrong lead can drain you and misuse your resources, and yet this is what most firms with no sales funnel go through.
You should have preliminary steps in the sales funnel including phone screening, request for an online presentation among others. Such steps allow you to focus more on the lead and you will get a chance to know and interact with your customer. You will also know early enough if the customer is a serious potential buyer or not.
- Having a long-term process for lead nurturing
In some situations, especially in complex B-2-B sales, it takes time for a client makes a purchase or to sign a contract. A sales funnel is an essential tool in such situations especially one if the lead has many contact points. You might need to nurture the leads by contacting them numerous times before they are ready to make a deal. Alternatively, some clients prefer organizations that are willing to build relationships before they can sign a contract.
When you use the sales funnel strategy, you can come up with a long-term plan on how to keep in touch with your sales leads in an organized and orderly manner to build trust and make that sale. Guttulus is a firm that offers a sale funnel strategy for your business to ensure you follow the right sales lead. Contact them for the best sales funnel strategy and other digital marketing services for your business.