If you have a business and you aren’t using a sales funnel, you should be. Sales funnels are valuable and effective tools. Although they have only recently become mainstream, sales funnels aren’t new. By definition sales funnels are simply tools to help you visualize where prospects are in their buy cycle. It is referred to as a funnel because of its shape. A sales funnel is wide on top and smaller at the bottom. This is because all prospective customers are captured at the top. The top of the sales funnel includes all levels of engagement, regardless of intent to purchase. As prospects move through the buy cycle, they move through the funnel. The number of prospects actually shrinks as it moves through the funnel. At the bottom of the funnel are the high-quality prospects that will be turned into sales. This is always a smaller number of prospects than at the top of the funnel. When done properly, these prospective customers can even be turned into repeat customers for your business.

Sales Funnel As A Tool

A sales funnel may be purchased or built. However, each sales funnel is unique to a business. This is because the sales funnel should be built from the sales process it represents. For instance, a business with five stages in its sales process will have five stages in its sales funnel. The sales funnel stages should duplicate the sales process for each individual business. The sales funnel is used to gently guide prospects through the buy cycle. It is both a visualization and a process. It is how people move from prospects to customers in a business. Some sales funnels are shorter than others. Not everyone makes a purchase on their first encounter. Many sales funnels include email marketing and retargeting efforts. This helps capture pass through business that may have otherwise been lost.

Optimize Your Sales Funnel

Regardless of the number of stages in your sales funnel, it should be split into three levels. There should be a clearly defined top, middle and bottom. This helps isolate and identify exactly where prospects are in the funnel. It also shows you how they are engaging with your company. If you really want to use your sales funnel to drive conversions, you must optimize it. You can’t get away from optimization. Optimizing each stage of your sales funnel helps maximize its performance. The top of the funnel is for driving traffic. You should know exactly where your traffic is coming from and which sources are best. Isolate sources of the largest amount of traffic as well as highest-quality traffic. Concentrate on maximizing those sources. The middles of the funnel is where your conversions are. This is the harder work. Concentrate on building trust and conveying urgency through your content. That is how you ultimately make the sale. The bottom of the funnel is customer acquisition. You’ve made the sale, now you want to hold on to the customer. This is where you reinforce their decision to buy and introduce additional products that compliment the previous purchase. This section is best optimized with follow-up efforts, case studies, news and customer service.

The Truth Is In The Sale

Most people assume the conversion is the bottom of the sales funnel. This accounts for massive failure utilizing sales funnels. It also accounts for not achieving the success people expect. Their sales funnel is short and mislabeled. Many times, it is not optimized. It can also be optimized incorrectly because it isn’t set up the right way. Know your sales funnel and optimize each stage. This is the best way to use sales funnels to drive conversions.  Still in doubt? Let us help you! Contact Growth Ledge Agency.

Photo by Shengjun Shi on Unsplash