How the sales funnel works

Rodrigo Sanchez
12/03/2021
Do you know what a sales funnel is? Does your company already have this strategic model? How does it work? To answer these and other questions, we have gathered important information on the topic to help you understand a little more about it. Sales funnel: what is it? There is a lot of talk about the term, but after all, what is a sales funnel? Also known as a pipeline, the sales funnel is the process that the consumer goes through from the company's perspective. It is a strategic model divided into stages, in which a path will be designed, or triggers activated, that potential customers will follow towards the purchase. Each step along this path will have an impact on the consumer. It will be a step-by-step process that will allow your company to get closer to your ideal customer, who will better understand your offer and make a purchasing decision based on a series of marketing actions, such as marketing emails, blog posts, videos, paid ads, etc. In the sales funnel, the consumer will be classified even before becoming a lead (someone who has already shown interest in the business) until they become an actual customer, which is when they complete the deal. The funnel will be closely associated with the purchasing journey, which is the consumer's view of the brand. At each stage of the funnel, the consumer will receive a type of support on their journey. Hence the importance of the company understanding what a persona is, to define what the appropriate actions will be in its sales funnel to reach its ideal customer. Each brand’s persona will be extremely important to give structure to the funnel. Sales funnel: stages The sales funnel is divided into top, middle and bottom. Every time a consumer advances to a stage of the funnel, they demonstrate a deeper commitment to their purchase goal. In the sales funnel, they start as visitors, continue as leads, become an opportunity and finally a sale. To help you with this process, it is very interesting to have digital marketing tools, such as RD Station, a marketing automation tool that has services such as creating landing pages to capture leads, conversions, sales, among others. Understand the stages of the sales funnel! Top of the funnel (ToFu) This is the first stage, known as the top of the funnel. At this stage, consumers are still just visitors, they are at the stage of learning about and discovering the problem they have, many have not yet realized that they have a problem, they have started some research on a certain topic in the consumer journey. At this stage, visitors make their first contact with the brand and discover that they have a need or pain to be resolved, which they were previously unaware of. This is the stage of consciousness, of awakening! It is time to offer valuable and educational content, blog posts, social media posts and evolve into materials that can generate a conversion, the consumer will leave some data that will be valuable for the continuity of the relationship, such as e-Books or infographics, accessed after filling out a form. By collecting this data, such as name, email and other data relevant to your business, the visitor becomes a Lead and advances to another stage in the sales funnel. Middle of the funnel (MoFu) Continuing with the sales funnel and its stages, we arrive at the second, where the visitor is already a lead, who seeks to resolve his “pain”, but does not yet know how to do so. This is the interest phase. The function of this phase of the funnel is to help the lead with more technical and specific tips, as they now know what they are looking for. Good material for this stage of the lead, in addition to texts and videos, are templates and spreadsheets, which will make leads leave more specific information on the forms, such as their telephone number. This information will help you further segment this contact base, dividing them by needs and enabling even more refined marketing strategies. Always remember to respect the lead's right to choose, so that it doesn't seem like a solution at any cost sale. The tip is to mature and qualify the lead so that it is ready and motivated to advance to another stage in the sales funnel. Bottom of the funnel (BoFu) At the BoFu stage, qualified Leads are ready to be approached by the sales team. At this point, they are classified as opportunities, because they have not yet made the purchase decision, but are in the evaluation phase. The best action at this point is to demonstrate that your brand is the best partner for them, as the relationship of trust established during the previous phases will count a lot. Now your company is a reference, a brand you can do business with. The sales funnel closes when the purchase is made. At this point, they become actual customers, which is the bottom of the funnel. What is the relationship with the purchasing journey? Now that you understand what a sales funnel is in digital marketing and how to create a sales funnel, it's time to understand its relationship with the purchasing journey. In short, the sales funnel is responsible for supporting the personas’ purchasing journey. Both are linked in a direct relationship. While the funnel model shows the customer's product acquisition journey from the company's point of view, the purchase journey identifies the product from the customer's point of view. The four stages of sales (learning and discovery, problem recognition, solution consideration and purchase decision) are intended to represent the steps that the customer takes until acquiring a certain product or service. For example, the lead may receive content, such as marketing emails or other content that will lead them towards discovery, interest, evaluation and purchase decision. But to work the funnel well, you need to understand the lead's needs in their purchasing journey to work on the correct actions at each stage of the funnel. For example, there is no point in sending more superficial materials to leads that are further along in the funnel; they will certainly want more technical and specialized information to close the deal. The opposite is also true, sending very rich content to leads who are not yet mature in their buying journey can be a waste of energy. Another example of a way to understand the lead journey is to check the most visited pages and posts (prices, contact, etc.). With each page checked, it is possible to understand the stage of the journey that the lead is at. Furthermore, the information provided by leads on landing pages at all stages of the funnel will also be very important for segmenting the actions that will reach them on their purchasing journey. Studying the steps these consumers take on their journeys is an increasingly important strategy for gaining a competitive advantage. To do this, it is possible to evaluate social media, use structured and unstructured data, and passive measurement to understand the choices that are made throughout the purchasing journey. Understanding each generation of consumer is also another important conversion “weapon”. For each generation, more personalized actions are valid. Let's learn a little more about the stages of the purchasing journey to better understand Stage 1: learning and discovery When the potential customer is still not fully aware that they have a “pain”. The objective at this stage of the sales process is to spark their interest in a subject and make them realize that they have a problem or a good business opportunity. For this reason, the most recommended materials are more comprehensive and general content. Stage 2: Problem Recognition At this stage, the buyer identifies that they have a problem or business opportunity and begins to research more about the subject and its possible solutions. You need to have more specific materials and content that show this buyer the consequences of not solving the problem they discovered in the previous journey and that there are solutions - and that you have these solutions! Step 3: Solution Consideration The buyer begins to evaluate some alternatives to solve the problem or opportunity. Now it’s time to create a sense of urgency so that this potential customer identifies the solution to the problem or opportunity and doesn’t want to wait to resolve it. Stage 4: Purchase Decision The lead is comparing the available options and researching which one is best for their context. It is important at this stage to highlight the competitive advantages of each of the solutions. To do this, success stories and customer testimonials can help you. The evolution of the sales funnel: hourglass shape Digital marketing never stops evolving! And, with the sales funnel, it couldn’t be any different. Currently, the design of the sales funnel has changed and there is a new format: the hourglass. This format takes into account the customer's post-purchase process, as the consumer's journey does not stop at the moment of purchasing the product or service. If you want to perpetuate this relationship and make it continuous, you need to provide after-sales support. If before only the sales team was responsible for this journey, today this process has evolved! It is essential to have a marketing, sales, implementation and customer success team (which will guarantee the success and satisfaction of the customer after the purchase). In fact, selling more to a customer who already knows your brand becomes much easier. To do this, you can use cross sell and up sell strategies. Understand: Cross sell: this is cross-selling, or selling additional products to what the customer is purchasing. For example, when you're at McDonald's, you buy a sandwich combo, and the attendant asks if you want to have a dessert too. Up sell: Here, you offer the customer an upgrade of the product or service they are already purchasing. You show how he can improve his purchase, always linking it to a great condition. McDonald's continues to be a great example, when the attendant asks if you would like to buy a large fries, instead of a medium one, for an extra real. Another important piece of information for those who sell services is that selling again to people who already know you has a much lower customer acquisition cost. Not to mention that satisfied customers are promoters of your brand and this is essential to maintain an extremely profitable sales cycle and keep your company healthy and growing. How to make a sales funnel: step by step Want to know how to set up a sales funnel? So follow these tips: Map the purchasing journey: to do this, you can talk to the personas and understand what desires and “pains” they encounter throughout the purchasing journey. · Define the milestones of the sales process: that is, find out at what point this potential customer changes stage in the funnel, and think of strategies to make this happen effectively. Define the stages: in general, the sales funnel is divided into 5 major stages - visitors, leads, opportunities, customers and after-sales. Optimize and scale the sales funnel: once the process is complete, you need to think about how to continue to convert new customers. It is interesting to look for digital marketing tools that help in this process, as mentioned at the beginning of the text. What is content marketing? The funnel is a concept that is already widespread in the sales world, but it still raises doubts about how to put it into practice. Although it is a common practice for salespeople and managers who need to convert more customers at each stage of the process, just structuring your steps is not enough if you have a funnel. To go further, it is necessary to merge the sales funnel with your digital marketing planning and have effective strategies to assist the sales team. And that's where content marketing comes in, which is the creation and sharing of materials that help in prospecting and educating future customers. Through content, it is possible to engage the public and win them over to your brand. Content can be in the form of blog posts, e-books, videos, whitepapers, infographics, templates and more. Everything will depend on the established marketing strategy and you will often find that a spreadsheet that your team already uses on a daily basis can become an excellent resource for capturing leads or moving them to the next stage in the sales funnel. What is Inbound Marketing? In a very loose translation, Inbound Marketing is attraction marketing. The main difference between traditional marketing (Outbound Marketing) is that, in the latter, it is the customer who seeks out the company, and not the other way around. Actions are carried out with the aim of attracting potential customers to your blog or website and, based on this attraction, all the relationship work is carried out, through personalized content, with the potential customer. The content aims to transform your company into a reference in a specific subject related to your market and influence the purchasing decision of future customers. CRM (Customer Relationship Management): how to manage a sales funnel The best way to manage your funnel is to map the process in advance, using a sales CRM, and understand which functions could be automated or monitored in a comprehensive manner (activity management). Once this is defined, it is time to look for a tool that meets these requirements. If you have any questions about how the sales funnel can work in your company, get in touch with us!

How the sales funnel works

You know what is sales funnel? Does your company already have this strategic model? How does it work?  

To answer these and other questions, we have gathered important information on the topic to help you understand a little more about it.

Do you know what a sales funnel is? Does your company already have this strategic model? How does it work? To answer these and other questions, we have gathered important information on the topic to help you understand a little more about it. Sales funnel: what is it? There is a lot of talk about the term, but after all, what is a sales funnel? Also known as a pipeline, the sales funnel is the process that the consumer goes through from the company's perspective. It is a strategic model divided into stages, in which a path will be designed, or triggers activated, that potential customers will follow towards the purchase. Each step along this path will have an impact on the consumer. It will be a step-by-step process that will allow your company to get closer to your ideal customer, who will better understand your offer and make a purchasing decision based on a series of marketing actions, such as marketing emails, blog posts, videos, paid ads, etc. In the sales funnel, the consumer will be classified even before becoming a lead (someone who has already shown interest in the business) until they become an actual customer, which is when they complete the deal. The funnel will be closely associated with the purchasing journey, which is the consumer's view of the brand. At each stage of the funnel, the consumer will receive a type of support on their journey. Hence the importance of the company understanding what a persona is, to define what the appropriate actions will be in its sales funnel to reach its ideal customer. Each brand’s persona will be extremely important to give structure to the funnel. Sales funnel: stages The sales funnel is divided into top, middle and bottom. Every time a consumer advances to a stage of the funnel, they demonstrate a deeper commitment to their purchase goal. In the sales funnel, they start as visitors, continue as leads, become an opportunity and finally a sale. To help you with this process, it is very interesting to have digital marketing tools, such as RD Station, a marketing automation tool that has services such as creating landing pages to capture leads, conversions, sales, among others. Understand the stages of the sales funnel! Top of the funnel (ToFu) This is the first stage, known as the top of the funnel. At this stage, consumers are still just visitors, they are at the stage of learning about and discovering the problem they have, many have not yet realized that they have a problem, they have started some research on a certain topic in the consumer journey. At this stage, visitors make their first contact with the brand and discover that they have a need or pain to be resolved, which they were previously unaware of. This is the stage of consciousness, of awakening! It is time to offer valuable and educational content, blog posts, social media posts and evolve into materials that can generate a conversion, the consumer will leave some data that will be valuable for the continuity of the relationship, such as e-Books or infographics, accessed after filling out a form. By collecting this data, such as name, email and other data relevant to your business, the visitor becomes a Lead and advances to another stage in the sales funnel. Middle of the funnel (MoFu) Continuing with the sales funnel and its stages, we arrive at the second, where the visitor is already a lead, who seeks to resolve his “pain”, but does not yet know how to do so. This is the interest phase. The function of this phase of the funnel is to help the lead with more technical and specific tips, as they now know what they are looking for. Good material for this stage of the lead, in addition to texts and videos, are templates and spreadsheets, which will make leads leave more specific information on the forms, such as their telephone number. This information will help you further segment this contact base, dividing them by needs and enabling even more refined marketing strategies. Always remember to respect the lead's right to choose, so that it doesn't seem like a solution at any cost sale. The tip is to mature and qualify the lead so that it is ready and motivated to advance to another stage in the sales funnel. Bottom of the funnel (BoFu) At the BoFu stage, qualified Leads are ready to be approached by the sales team. At this point, they are classified as opportunities, because they have not yet made the purchase decision, but are in the evaluation phase. The best action at this point is to demonstrate that your brand is the best partner for them, as the relationship of trust established during the previous phases will count a lot. Now your company is a reference, a brand you can do business with. The sales funnel closes when the purchase is made. At this point, they become actual customers, which is the bottom of the funnel. What is the relationship with the purchasing journey? Now that you understand what a sales funnel is in digital marketing and how to create a sales funnel, it's time to understand its relationship with the purchasing journey. In short, the sales funnel is responsible for supporting the personas’ purchasing journey. Both are linked in a direct relationship. While the funnel model shows the customer's product acquisition journey from the company's point of view, the purchase journey identifies the product from the customer's point of view. The four stages of sales (learning and discovery, problem recognition, solution consideration and purchase decision) are intended to represent the steps that the customer takes until acquiring a certain product or service. For example, the lead may receive content, such as marketing emails or other content that will lead them towards discovery, interest, evaluation and purchase decision. But to work the funnel well, you need to understand the lead's needs in their purchasing journey to work on the correct actions at each stage of the funnel. For example, there is no point in sending more superficial materials to leads that are further along in the funnel; they will certainly want more technical and specialized information to close the deal. The opposite is also true, sending very rich content to leads who are not yet mature in their buying journey can be a waste of energy. Another example of a way to understand the lead journey is to check the most visited pages and posts (prices, contact, etc.). With each page checked, it is possible to understand the stage of the journey that the lead is at. Furthermore, the information provided by leads on landing pages at all stages of the funnel will also be very important for segmenting the actions that will reach them on their purchasing journey. Studying the steps these consumers take on their journeys is an increasingly important strategy for gaining a competitive advantage. To do this, it is possible to evaluate social media, use structured and unstructured data, and passive measurement to understand the choices that are made throughout the purchasing journey. Understanding each generation of consumer is also another important conversion “weapon”. For each generation, more personalized actions are valid. Let's learn a little more about the stages of the purchasing journey to better understand Stage 1: learning and discovery When the potential customer is still not fully aware that they have a “pain”. The objective at this stage of the sales process is to spark their interest in a subject and make them realize that they have a problem or a good business opportunity. For this reason, the most recommended materials are more comprehensive and general content. Stage 2: Problem Recognition At this stage, the buyer identifies that they have a problem or business opportunity and begins to research more about the subject and its possible solutions. You need to have more specific materials and content that show this buyer the consequences of not solving the problem they discovered in the previous journey and that there are solutions - and that you have these solutions! Step 3: Solution Consideration The buyer begins to evaluate some alternatives to solve the problem or opportunity. Now it’s time to create a sense of urgency so that this potential customer identifies the solution to the problem or opportunity and doesn’t want to wait to resolve it. Stage 4: Purchase Decision The lead is comparing the available options and researching which one is best for their context. It is important at this stage to highlight the competitive advantages of each of the solutions. To do this, success stories and customer testimonials can help you. The evolution of the sales funnel: hourglass shape Digital marketing never stops evolving! And, with the sales funnel, it couldn’t be any different. Currently, the design of the sales funnel has changed and there is a new format: the hourglass. This format takes into account the customer's post-purchase process, as the consumer's journey does not stop at the moment of purchasing the product or service. If you want to perpetuate this relationship and make it continuous, you need to provide after-sales support. If before only the sales team was responsible for this journey, today this process has evolved! It is essential to have a marketing, sales, implementation and customer success team (which will guarantee the success and satisfaction of the customer after the purchase). In fact, selling more to a customer who already knows your brand becomes much easier. To do this, you can use cross sell and up sell strategies. Understand: Cross sell: this is cross-selling, or selling additional products to what the customer is purchasing. For example, when you're at McDonald's, you buy a sandwich combo, and the attendant asks if you want to have a dessert too. Up sell: Here, you offer the customer an upgrade of the product or service they are already purchasing. You show how he can improve his purchase, always linking it to a great condition. McDonald's continues to be a great example, when the attendant asks if you would like to buy a large fries, instead of a medium one, for an extra real. Another important piece of information for those who sell services is that selling again to people who already know you has a much lower customer acquisition cost. Not to mention that satisfied customers are promoters of your brand and this is essential to maintain an extremely profitable sales cycle and keep your company healthy and growing. How to make a sales funnel: step by step Want to know how to set up a sales funnel? So follow these tips: Map the purchasing journey: to do this, you can talk to the personas and understand what desires and “pains” they encounter throughout the purchasing journey. · Define the milestones of the sales process: that is, find out at what point this potential customer changes stage in the funnel, and think of strategies to make this happen effectively. Define the stages: in general, the sales funnel is divided into 5 major stages - visitors, leads, opportunities, customers and after-sales. Optimize and scale the sales funnel: once the process is complete, you need to think about how to continue to convert new customers. It is interesting to look for digital marketing tools that help in this process, as mentioned at the beginning of the text. What is content marketing? The funnel is a concept that is already widespread in the sales world, but it still raises doubts about how to put it into practice. Although it is a common practice for salespeople and managers who need to convert more customers at each stage of the process, just structuring your steps is not enough if you have a funnel. To go further, it is necessary to merge the sales funnel with your digital marketing planning and have effective strategies to assist the sales team. And that's where content marketing comes in, which is the creation and sharing of materials that help in prospecting and educating future customers. Through content, it is possible to engage the public and win them over to your brand. Content can be in the form of blog posts, e-books, videos, whitepapers, infographics, templates and more. Everything will depend on the established marketing strategy and you will often find that a spreadsheet that your team already uses on a daily basis can become an excellent resource for capturing leads or moving them to the next stage in the sales funnel. What is Inbound Marketing? In a very loose translation, Inbound Marketing is attraction marketing. The main difference between traditional marketing (Outbound Marketing) is that, in the latter, it is the customer who seeks out the company, and not the other way around. Actions are carried out with the aim of attracting potential customers to your blog or website and, based on this attraction, all the relationship work is carried out, through personalized content, with the potential customer. The content aims to transform your company into a reference in a specific subject related to your market and influence the purchasing decision of future customers. CRM (Customer Relationship Management): how to manage a sales funnel The best way to manage your funnel is to map the process in advance, using a sales CRM, and understand which functions could be automated or monitored in a comprehensive manner (activity management). Once this is defined, it is time to look for a tool that meets these requirements. If you have any questions about how the sales funnel can work in your company, get in touch with us!

Sales funnel: what is it?

There is a lot of talk about the term but, after all, what is a sales funnel?  

Also known as a pipeline, the sales funnel is the process that the consumer goes through from the company's perspective. It is a strategic model divided into stages, in which a path will be designed, or triggers will be activated, that potential customers will follow towards the purchase.  

Each step of this journey will have an impact on the consumer. It will be a step-by-step process that will allow your company to get closer to your ideal customer, who will better understand your offer and make a purchasing decision based on a series of marketing actions, such as marketing emails, blog posts, videos, paid ads, etc.

In the sales funnel, the consumer will be classified even before becoming a lead (someone who has already shown interest in the business) until they become an actual customer, which is when they complete the deal. 

The funnel will be closely associated with the purchasing journey, which is the consumer's view of the brand. At each stage of the funnel, the consumer will receive a type of support on their journey.

Hence the importance of the company understanding what is persona, to define what will be the appropriate actions in your sales funnel to reach your ideal customer. person of each brand will be extremely important to give structure to the funnel.

Sales funnel: steps

The sales funnel is divided into top, middle and bottom. Each time a consumer advances to a stage of the funnel, they demonstrate a deeper commitment to their purchase goal.

In the sales funnel, they start as visitors, continue as leads, become an opportunity and finally a sale.

To help you in this process, it is very interesting to have digital marketing tools, such as RD Station, a marketing automation tool that has services such as creating landing pages to capture leads, conversions, sales, among others. 

Understand the stages of the sales funnel!

Top of the funnel (ToFu – top of the funnel)

This is the first stage, known as funnel top. At this stage, consumers are still just visitors, they are at the stage of learning about and discovering the problem they have, many have not yet realized that they have a problem, they have started some research on a certain topic in the consumer journey.

At this stage, visitors make their first contact with the brand and discover that they have a need or pain to be resolved, which they were previously unaware of.

This is the stage of consciousness, of awakening! 

It is time to offer valuable and educational content, blog posts, social media posts and evolve into materials that can generate a conversion, the consumer will leave some data that will be valuable for the continuity of the relationship, such as e-Books or infographics, accessed after filling out a form.

By collecting this data, such as name, email and other data relevant to your business, the visitor becomes a Lead and advances to another stage in the sales funnel.

Middle of the funnel (MoFu – middle of the funnel)

Continuing with the sales funnel and its stages, cWe arrive at the second stage, where the visitor is already a lead, who seeks to resolve his/her “pain”, but does not yet know how to do so. This is the interest stage. 

The function of this phase of the funnel is to help the lead with more technical and specific tips, as they now know what they are looking for. 

Good material for this stage of the lead, in addition to texts and videos, are templates and spreadsheets, which will have leads leave more specific information on forms, such as their phone number.  

This information will help you further segment this contact base, dividing them by needs and enabling even more refined marketing strategies. 

Always remember to respect the lead's right to choose, so that it doesn't seem like you're selling a solution at any cost. The tip is to mature and qualify the lead so that they are ready and motivated to move forward to the next stage in the sales funnel.

Bottom of the funnel (BoFu)

In the BoFu stage, qualified Leads are ready to be approached by the sales team. At this point, they are classified as opportunities because they have not yet made a purchase decision but are in the evaluation phase.  

The best thing to do at this point is to show that your brand is the best partner for them, as the relationship of trust established during the previous phases will count for a lot. Now your company is a reference, a brand with whom they can do business. 

The sales funnel closes when the purchase is made. At this point, they become actual customers, which is the bottom of the funnel. 

What is the relationship with the purchasing journey?

Now that you understand what is a sales funnel in digital marketing and how to create a sales funnel, it's time to understand your relationship with the purchasing journey.

In short, the sales funnel is responsible for supporting the purchasing journey of people.  

Both are linked in a direct relationship. While the funnel model shows the customer's product acquisition journey from the company's point of view, the purchasing journey identifies from the customer's point of view. 

The four stages of sales (learning and discovery, problem recognition, solution consideration and purchase decision) are intended to represent the steps that the customer takes until acquiring a certain product or service. 

For example, the lead may receive content, such as marketing emails or other content that will lead them towards discovery, interest, evaluation and purchase decision. 

But To work the funnel well, you need to understand the lead's needs in their purchasing journey to work on the correct actions at each stage of the funnel. For example, there is no point in sending more superficial materials to leads that are further along in the funnel; they will certainly want more technical and specialized information to close the deal.

The opposite is also true, sending very rich content to leads who are not yet mature in their buying journey can be a waste of energy. 

Another way to understand the lead's journey is to check the most visited pages and posts (prices, contact, etc.). With each page checked, it is possible to understand the stage of the journey that the lead is in.

Additionally, the information offered by leads in the landing pages at all stages of the funnel, it will also be very important to segment the actions that will reach them on their purchasing journey.  

Studying the steps these consumers take on their journeys is an increasingly important strategy to gain a competitive advantage. To do this, it is possible to evaluate social media, use structured and unstructured data, and passive measurement to understand the choices that are made throughout the purchasing journey.

Understanding each generation of consumers is also another important conversion “weapon.” More personalized actions are useful for each generation.

Let's learn a little more about the stages of the purchasing journey to better understand

Step 1: Learning and Discovery

When the potential customer doesn’t yet know very well that they have a “pain”.  

The objective at this stage of the sales process is to spark their interest in a subject and make them realize that they have a problem or a good business opportunity.  

For this reason, the most recommended materials are more comprehensive and general content. 

Step 2: Problem recognition

At this stage, the buyer identifies that they have a problem or business opportunity and begins to research more about the subject and its possible solutions.  

You need to have more specific materials and content that show this buyer the consequences of not solving the problem they discovered in the previous journey and that there are solutions – and that you have these solutions!

Step 3: Solution Consideration

The buyer begins to evaluate some alternatives to solve the problem or opportunity.  

Now it’s time to create a sense of urgency so that this potential customer identifies the solution to the problem or opportunity and doesn’t want to wait to resolve it.

Step 4: Purchase decision

The lead is comparing the available options and researching which one is best for their context.  

It is important at this stage to highlight the competitive advantages of each of the solutions.  To do this, success stories and customer testimonials can help you.

The evolution of the sales funnel: hourglass shape

Digital marketing never stops evolving! And with the sales funnel, it couldn't be any different.  

Currently, the sales funnel design has changed and there is a new shape: the hourglass.  

This format takes into account the customer's post-purchase process, as the consumer's journey does not stop at the moment of purchasing the product or service. 

If you want to perpetuate this relationship and make it continuous, you need to provide after-sales support.  

If before only the sales team was responsible for this journey, today this process has evolved! It is essential to have a marketing, sales, implementation and customer success (which will guarantee success and customer satisfaction after the purchase). 

In fact, selling more to a customer who already knows your brand becomes much easier. To do this, you can use cross-sell and up-sell strategies. Understand:

  • cross sell: This is cross-selling, or selling additional products to what the customer is buying. For example, when you are at McDonald's, you buy a combo of a snack, and the attendant asks if you want to have a dessert as well. 
  • Up sell: Here, you offer the customer an upgrade to the product or service they are already buying. You show them how they can improve their purchase, always tying it to a great condition. McDonald's continues to be a great example, when the attendant asks if you would like to buy a large fries, instead of a medium one, for an extra real. 

Another important piece of information for those who sell services is that selling again to someone who already knows you has a much lower customer acquisition cost. Not to mention that satisfied customers are promoters of your brand and this is essential to maintain an extremely profitable sales cycle and to keep your company healthy and growing.

How to make a sales funnel: step by step

via GIPHY

Want to know how to set up a sales funnel? Then follow these tips:

  • Map the shopping journey: for this you can talk to the people and understand what desires and “pains” they encounter throughout the purchasing journey. 
  • Define the sales process milestones: That is, find out at what point this potential customer changes stage in the funnel, and think of strategies to make this happen effectively.
  • Define the steps: In general, the sales funnel is divided into 5 major stages – visitors, leads, opportunities, customers and after-sales. 
  • Optimize and scale the sales funnel: Once the process is complete, you need to think about how to continue to convert new customers. It is interesting to look for digital marketing tools that help in this process, as mentioned at the beginning of the text. 

What is content marketing?

The funnel is a concept that is already widespread in the sales world, but it still raises doubts about how to put it into practice.  

Although it is a common practice for salespeople and managers who need to convert more customers at each stage of the process, just structuring your steps is not enough if you have a funnel.

To go further, it is necessary to merge the sales funnel with your digital marketing planning and have effective strategies to assist the sales team. And that is where content marketing, which is the creation and sharing of materials that help in prospecting and educating future clients.

Through content, you can engage your audience and win them over to your brand. Content can be in the form of blog posts, e-books, videos, whitepapers, infographics, templates, and more.  

Everything will depend on the established marketing strategy and you will often find that a spreadsheet that your team already uses on a daily basis can become an excellent resource for capturing leads or moving them to the next stage in the sales funnel.

What is Inbound Marketing?

In a very free translation, Inbound Marketing is attraction marketing. The main difference between traditional marketing (Outbound Marketing) is that, in the latter, the customer is the one who seeks out the company, and not the other way around.

Actions are carried out with the aim of attracting potential customers to your blog or website and, based on this attraction, all the relationship work is carried out, through personalized content, with the potential customer.

The content aims to transform your company into a reference in a specific subject related to your market and influence the purchasing decision of future customers.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management): how to manage a sales funnel

The best way to manage your funnel is to map the process in advance, using a sales CRM, and understand which functions could be automated or monitored in a comprehensive manner (activity management). 

 Once this is defined, it is time to look for a tool that meets these requirements.

If you have any questions about how the sales funnel can work in your company, get in touch with us! We are ready to help you, as we know that this process must be done with a lot of planning so that the strategy brings real growth results for your company.

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