As a business owner, you may or may not have a background in sales and marketing. <\/p>\n
Heck, you may just be hanging on by a thread, learning as much as you can about digital marketing<\/a> to grow your brand and increase leads.<\/p>\n But someone has to actually run the business, right? So marketing and lead generation may have fallen to the wayside. <\/p>\n This is especially the case in smaller companies that don’t have separate marketing and sales departments.<\/p>\n However, the sales funnel, created around the turn of the century, is still a valuable guide<\/strong> to boosting your results.<\/p>\n In this article, we will explain everything you need to know about the B2B sales funnel.<\/p>\n The idea behind the business-to-business sales funnel is to intentionally guide potential buyers on a path from introduction to your brand to the sale.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Elias St. Elmo Lewis, owner of an advertising agency and future member of the advertising hall of fame, developed the theory around 1990. <\/p>\n He explained the individual stages of a potential customer’s or buyer’s relationship<\/strong> with a business. <\/p>\n This model was later combined with the funnel concept and is still used today.<\/p>\n You built your business to see steady growth. <\/p>\n Using a funnel can help you get there by increasing sales and retaining customers.<\/strong><\/p>\n You probably already get sales, but if you understand the process by which sales take place, you can increase conversions.<\/p>\n In a B2B sales funnel, first, you have to identify your buyer personas<\/a>. <\/p>\n Then you can create targeted marketing campaigns designed to attract them.<\/p>\n Understanding what buyers are looking for and creating content<\/strong> to make them realize your product or service fills a gap in their inventory means more conversions for your business.<\/p>\n In other words, a sales funnel breaks the buying process down into smaller chunks. Each chunk is designed to attract a customer.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Therefore, honing in on each part of the process will ultimately mean more sales for your business.<\/p>\n Nearly all B2C sales funnels contain only four stages, usually called AIDA: Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action.\u00a0<\/p>\n The individual consumer doesn’t need a salesperson to make a sale, and the sales cycle is much shorter.<\/p>\n However, the B2B sales funnel has two additional stages: Intent and Evaluation. <\/strong><\/p>\n The expanded funnel from four to six stages is because of B2B’s unique characteristic of providing products or services to other businesses.<\/strong><\/p>\n Although a sales funnel for B2B will be unique in specific ways, it’s still important to understand the basic structure of a successful sales funnel. <\/p>\n Here’s a brief rundown of the five stages.<\/p>\n At this stage, a lead is first becoming aware of your brand and product <\/strong>catalog. <\/p>\n They may also still be discovering their pain points, as well as the possible solutions out there. <\/p>\n The goal at this stage is to enlighten the prospect<\/strong> about all these things, spark an interest in your brand, and make them aware of your larger brand purpose<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once a lead is aware of your brand, they progress to the interest stage. <\/p>\n This is the point where they start learning what your company is all about, checking out your service offerings, and potentially starting to consume your online content.<\/strong> <\/p>\n Strategies like keyword-rich blog posts, social media content, and email outreach can be helpful here.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to underestimate this phase, honestly. Some brands just spam a bunch of blog posts and cross their fingers, but most people can spot generic content from a mile off. What seems to work better (from experience and enough trial and error) is showing your actual company personality\u2014maybe telling a story about a recent challenge, or sharing behind-the-scenes bits that don\u2019t always make it into typical marketing blasts. Folks want to know there\u2019s a real, thinking team on the other end.<\/p>\n And if your content is too polished, too \u201csalesy,\u201d it just gets tuned out. The right mix is hard to hit\u2014balancing expertise with a bit of vulnerability, even admitting things you\u2019re still figuring out. That sort of openness is surprisingly rare in B2B, but when it\u2019s done right, it\u2019s memorable.<\/p>\n At this stage of a sale funnel, prospective customers are still evaluating their options<\/strong> to see which option is the best fit for them. <\/p>\n At this point, use tactics like testimonials<\/a>, reviews, newsletters, and ebooks to show them why your <\/em>product is the solution they’re looking for.<\/p>\n Your lead has decided to buy at this point and likely only needs an extra nudge to pull the trigger on a purchase.<\/strong> <\/p>\n Make your product irresistible with strategies like limited-time specials and offers, retargeting efforts<\/a>, targeted email correspondence, etc.<\/p>\n During the loyalty stage of a sales funnel strategy, you’ve successfully converted your customer. <\/p>\n Now the focus is on retaining them and making sure they become a repeat buyer<\/strong>. Marketing options like loyalty programs, discounts, re-engagement email content, etc., are super helpful at this point.<\/p>\n Creating a solid sales funnel for B2B is only part of what it takes to start reaping the rewards of your efforts. The rest is about optimizing your sales funnel so it’s as efficient at leading consumers toward a final decision<\/strong> as possible. <\/p>\n Here are some tips to keep in mind.<\/p>\n As a B2B marketer, you can make your content a lot more effective by optimizing it for maximum results. <\/p>\n Start by<\/strong> segmenting your content<\/strong><\/a> delivery strategy to ensure each piece reaches precisely the audience it’s intended for.<\/strong><\/p>\n Then take things to the next level by embracing methods like multi-channel messaging and thought leadership<\/strong> improvement.<\/p>\n On average, only 27% of B2B leads<\/a> are appropriately qualified before they’re passed to the sales team for further nurturing.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, unqualified leads are significantly less likely to convert<\/strong>, meaning your sales efforts aren’t as effective as they could be.<\/p>\n Implement a dedicated lead qualification strategy<\/strong> to improve conversions and better target the most valuable leads right from the get-go.<\/p>\n Each portion of your sales funnel for B2B needs to be designed with the unique needs of those specific leads in mind. <\/p>\n A consumer at the top of your funnel (TOFU) is still in the awareness phase of their<\/strong> buyer journey<\/strong><\/a>, so create content that educates them<\/strong> on how your product can meet their needs and encourages them to reach out.\u00a0<\/p>\n Think about tutorials, how-to and step-by-step guides, etc.<\/p>\n Once leads move to the middle of your B2B sales funnel (MOFU<\/a>), they’ve progressed to the intent phase of their journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is the point where B2B sales reps should be digging into the nitty-gritty details with prospective customers<\/strong>, determining their needs, and using what they learn to nudge them toward a purchase.<\/p>\n The key to success here is to focus on discovering customer pain points<\/strong> and emphasizing how your product can help resolve them.<\/p>\n First off, creating a sales funnel will help you know your public.<\/p>\n In turn, you can make sure your product or service meets your customer’s needs and solves their problems.<\/p>\n Amazon Business recently revealed that 91% of business buyers<\/a> prefer online procurement to offline, which means more chances to gather insights and data to understand your target audiences. <\/p>\n Taking the time to get the pieces of the sales funnel working properly<\/strong> will mean increased sales for your business.<\/p>\n Don’t assume that the sales funnel has to be linear. <\/p>\n The more modern trend is to incorporate a variety of aspects of the mostly digital business into the classic sales funnel approach.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Rather than looking like a funnel, your approach may look more like a squiggly line.<\/strong><\/p>\n While you will generally follow the outline above, don’t be afraid to stray a little to the left or right if your product or service offers something unique.<\/p>\n Getting everyone on the same page will streamline the process.<\/p>\n Utilize spreadsheets, communicate expectations<\/strong>, look forward and make predictions or adjustments based on how things are going.<\/p>\n Some members may be more suited to front-end tasks, whereas sales managers can take over in the middle or end stages of the sales process. <\/p>\n Project managers then take over, making sure to nurture established client relationships.<\/p>\n Communication comes in the form of:<\/p>\n The conversion rate can tell you a lot about whether your sales team is doing its job effectively.<\/p>\nWhat Is a B2B Sales Funnel?<\/h2>\n
Why use the B2B sales funnel?<\/h2>\n
How Does a B2B Sales Funnel Work?<\/h2>\n
What Are the Stages of a B2B Sales Funnel?<\/h2>\n
The 5 Stages of Sales Funnels<\/strong><\/h3>\n
1. Awareness<\/strong><\/h3>\n
2. Interest<\/strong><\/h3>\n
3. Desire<\/strong><\/h3>\n
4. Action<\/strong><\/h3>\n
5. Loyalty<\/strong><\/h3>\n
How Do You Optimize a B2B Sales Funnel?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Optimize your marketing content<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Qualify and target your leads<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Use TOFU to raise awareness<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Maximize the efficiency of your MOFU<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The Benefits of a Sales Funnel for B2B Business<\/h2>\n
Tips on How to Create a B2B Sales Funnel<\/h2>\n
Build an established sales process<\/h3>\n
Let your sales team specialize<\/h3>\n
Foster communication throughout the process<\/h3>\n
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Monitor the actual success of your team<\/h3>\n
Find balance<\/h3>\n