Sales funnel in practice: See how to implement this tool and profit more!
After the rise of social networks and the digital market, purchasing relationships have never been the same again.
After all, it is possible to buy anything with just one click. And the competition that was already scary is now everywhere, even when it comes to entertainment.
Although it represents more decision-making power for the consumer, it requires more personalized strategies from sellers. And that's where the sales funnel comes in.
To help you find the customer looking for your product, approach them at the right time and use a narrative that converts into sales.
Customizing this tool and applying all the necessary actions at the right time is very important to understand your customer's purchasing process, because it can optimize your company's sales and generate more efficient results, which can be achieved through triggers that will take the visitor from stage to stage of the funnel, until they become your customer.
What is a Sales Funnel?
The sales funnel is a representation of the steps a potential customer goes through in their purchasing journey, from the first contact with the company to closing the deal or making a sale.
It is divided into 3 defined steps to guide the potential customer through their purchasing journey within the company.
Using the right triggers, the customer goes through each stage of the funnel and advances, with increasing awareness that they need to purchase your product or service.
It is worth remembering that the sales funnel is not something fixed. It is cyclical, that is, your leads can skip steps and go back and forth in the funnel. Nowadays, the funnel is known as dynamic, but the graphic representation in funnel format helps in understanding the steps and structuring a plan for each one of them.
Well, now that you know what is a sales funnel, we need to make a concept clear, before talking about the sales funnel stages.
definition of personas
The persona is the representation of your ideal customer and is the one who will go through the sales funnel until the moment of purchase.
Therefore, before designing your funnel, you need to know it very well. To do this, think of a person who would be the personification of your ideal customer.
Is this person a man or a woman? Is it both? What does he/she do for a living? How old is he/she? How much does he/she spend on products in his/her segment?
What defines the purchase? Price, deadline or need? Where is the purchaser? Is the purchaser looking for a product or does he not even know he needs it yet?
There are a lot of questions, we know. And maybe you don't have the answers to all of them. But understand that the more information you have about your persona, the more personalized your approach will be.
How to define your persona?
So, research what your persona needs or wants, their pains, their daily problems, what bothers them deeply or what they vehemently desire.
After that, look at your product or service and ask yourself:
— Does it solve this problem? If the answer is yes, bingo! If not, one of two things: either you need to reevaluate your product or your persona is wrong.
This is, without a doubt, the first thing to do, because in addition to helping you plan more assertive strategies, that is, ones that speak the language of your persona, it prevents you from offering solutions to customers who are not yet ready to buy.
See the infographic below to find out how to define your persona:
Well, now that you've seen the importance of creating a persona, let's understand how each stage of the sales funnel works:
Sales Funnel Steps
The sales funnel stages are strategically designed for each phase of consumer awareness. The first of these is the top of the funnel:
top of funnel
At this point, your potential customer is still a visitor and is realizing that they have a problem,
He read content talking about the subject of interest, about the problems of not solving it, or even about the benefits of solving it.
Now is the time to offer content that helps educate your audience, such as e-books and other more in-depth materials, such as guides and manuals on the subject of interest.
From the moment he provides his data in exchange for your material, he becomes a lead and begins the journey through the funnel.
middle of the funnel
At this point, the lead already knows they have a problem and starts looking for solutions. Your company's role is to provide tips and techniques that will help them.
Let's use a real example? Andreia is 43 years old, has been overweight for two years and already suffers from diabetes, hypertension and sleep apnea. The problem of obesity bothers her a lot and she starts looking for a solution to her problem.
At this point, it is important to offer materials that educate Andreia on the subject: tips, techniques, reports to mature and qualify this lead.
funnel bottom
When they are at the bottom of the funnel, leads are ready to be approached by the sales team, as they already know they have a problem and are considering the solution.
Now is the time to show your authority on the subject and show that your product or service is better than your competitor's.
To summarize the sales funnel, we can say that it starts with the visitor's awareness of your product or brand. Then, a process of educating the lead about the solutions you offer begins.
Finally, there is consideration and acceptance of your solution, that is, when the customer is ready to consume your product and become a customer of your brand.
How to implement your sales funnel?
The first step to building your sales funnel is to map your personas’ purchasing journey.
The idea is to support this journey so that the persona advances within the funnel, using specific triggers for each stage. The purchase journey is made up of 3 stages, just like the sales funnel:
- Learning and discovery;
- Problem recognition;
- Solution consideration and purchase decision.
Visitors
This is the first stage of the funnel, when your visitors arrive on your page. They can come from a variety of sources: social media ads, posts, blog articles, etc.
At this stage, they are still discovering their problem. To attract them and turn them into leads, you need to convert them with relevant and light content, such as invitations to webinars, forms to download free materials, landing pages or even e-books.
Leads
At this stage, leads need to be nurtured to establish a relationship with your brand. The goal is to get them to move forward in the funnel, armed with plenty of information and eager to learn more.
This lead nurturing can happen by automatically sending content, such as a welcome email, for example.
The focus of the materials at this stage is to talk about the problem and the solution. And often, the student is not even aware that he has a problem. But he will realize this when he reads about what can happen if he does not solve it.
As the lead moves through the funnel, the ideal is to invest in materials that talk about solving the problem.
You can send spreadsheets, more in-depth content and even success stories, showing how your product or service has already helped other people who had the same problem.
What if the lead already wants a solution?
If you received a nurtured lead that is in the process of making a purchase decision, it may be that this lead came from paid campaigns on Google Ads.
These leads may have already been nurtured by a competitor of yours, or a company with a different product but in the same segment.
In these cases, it is worth observing whether it is necessary to qualify this lead, segmenting it by profile and preferences before offering the solution.
Job opportunities
Typically, the marketing team signals to the sales team that that lead already has a significant relationship with your brand.
This becomes clear when the lead signals that they want to talk to you, by requesting a quote, for example. At this stage, it becomes an opportunity.
This opportunity can be listed in a ranking, called lead scoring, which awards points to the lead according to their behavior and the way they react to the marketing strategies to which they are exposed.
In this sense, the use of some triggers will give points to the lead and at a certain point in the relationship with your brand, he will be ready to be approached by the sales team.
Note that, within this ranking, there will be hotter opportunities, which have already shown interest in buying and others that should be worked on more by sellers.
Clients
When you make your first sale, that opportunity becomes a customer. This means that you have understood their pain points and offered appropriate solutions to solve them. In addition, you have proven yourself to be a reliable partner to the point of being chosen over your competitors.
And anyone who thinks this is the end of the sales funnel is mistaken. The work continues, and the focus now is to build customer loyalty, encouraging the purchase of other products and even referrals from new customers.
Sales funnel stages after the turnaround to opportunity
Knowing the purchasing journey and its main points allows you to better plan the sales stages, which begin with customer qualification and can shorten the sales cycle after the lead becomes an opportunity.
At this point, the ideal is for the lead to go to a platform Customer Relationship Management (CRM), in which the salesperson will mature the opportunity for sale. This is one of the digital marketing tools that will help you sell more, don't ignore it.
Generally, closing a sale occurs after 5 to 7 steps have been taken, which will help develop the customer's interest in your product.
Prospection
Prospecting is the act of looking for customers for your products or brands based on the design you made of your persona.
At this stage, the goal is not to sell, but to take the persona to the next stage of the funnel. To do this, you need to adjust your sales pitch so as not to run the risk of selling too early.
At this stage, offer your potential customers website content, such as articles and videos explaining your product or service.
Qualification
At this stage, the salesperson opens a dialogue with the lead to identify what they need and whether the company can actually solve this problem. This perception is essential to verify whether this lead has the potential to become a customer.
Here, the following questions are investigated:
- Does the lead already have your product?
- Does he need the product?
- Can he afford it?
All of this can be done in a phone call, a video conference, by filling out a form on the website, social media and even an introductory email.
Companies that have a large volume of leads and opportunities may find it necessary to have a pre-sales team to qualify leads.
This way, this team can only pass on qualified leads to the sales team, reducing the sales cycle.
Presentation
After qualifying the lead, it's time to put the sales team on the scene, who will show the solution to the problem presented in the previous stage.
At this point, asking the right questions and listening to what the customer has to say is crucial to closing the sale.
Maturation
At this stage, you have already made the presentation, but the client needs to evaluate the available options and the conditions presented.
Therefore, do not pressure him, show that you are on his side and show that you are available to help even if he understands that it is not the time to buy or that he has decided to buy from a competitor.
But before you hand over the sale to your competitor, compare your product or service to your competitors. Present your credentials, show your differences, and let your customers speak for you.
Use testimonials that prove the qualities of your product, or give them an opportunity to test it out. To do this, offer a free sample or a trial period of a basic version of your service.
This way, he can see in practice how your solution works for him and leave him wanting to try the full package.
Negotiation
At this stage, it is normal for customers to ask for discounts or want to reduce the price as much as possible. This is because they have already evaluated the available options, compared the deliverables and prices and are just waiting for the best scenario to buy.
Therefore, you need to know the real value of your product and, most importantly, the value it has for your persona, to avoid depreciating your product.
This is also the time to overcome the most common objections, such as “I don’t have time”, “I don’t have money”, or “I won’t be able to do it”.
Understand that, with in-depth knowledge of your product and its differentiators on the table, it becomes easier to justify a high price to the detriment of all the benefits that the person will have when buying from you. And this will trigger the next phase:
Closure
At this point, reinforce your promise, that is, everything you will receive when you buy your product, the payment terms, the delivery date. In short, all the information necessary to close the deal.
After sales
After closing the sale, it is important to promptly start the after-sales process. This makes it easier to retain your customers and paves the way for new sales, in addition to strengthening your business. marketing of relationship.
Therefore, asking if the customer received their product on time, if they are satisfied and even showing openness to answering questions that may arise during the use of the product, generates a friendly relationship, which can lead to new sales and referrals from future customers.
Guiding the customer through the sales funnel
Make a follow-up is crucial to guiding potential customers through all stages of the sales funnel. This means continuing the relationship, through an email or a phone call. In short, any contact that shows care.
The ideal is to carry out the follow-up at the end of each sales stage, this serves to show the customer the next steps and also to identify when a prospect It is not yet the ideal time to buy. Therefore, he can send the lead back to the marketing team to approach.
However, it is important to remember that all the attention given to the lead will make a difference if it is at the ideal moment to purchase and becomes an opportunity again.
Sales funnel monitoring
To check whether all stages of the sales funnel are working well, you need to pay attention to the numbers. They are the main way to assess whether the strategies used are having the desired effect.
The data will show you the bottlenecks in your sales funnel, i.e. where the inconsistency lies. This will help you improve your strategy at each stage, until the sale is completed.
Metrics are also essential for evaluating your funnel. Therefore, identify:
- When did leads enter the funnel?
- How many leads turned into opportunities?
- How many became customers?
In this sense, a system of CRM sales It is necessary, because it automates a large part of this process and is a great ally of the sales team.
It allows you to create sales stages and facilitates the management of day-to-day activities, in addition to allowing you to monitor the sales team's results. By doing this regularly, your sales funnel can be improved whenever necessary.
Well, now that you know everything about digital marketing bandage funil and how to implement yours, it's time to get your hands dirty.
And if you happen to feel confused about the steps of the sales funnel, don't worry. We are experts in implementing and optimizing the sales funnel:
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Our success strategy is based on the design of your persona's purchasing journey. We gather data and analyze our successful clients from different segments to come up with a methodology that will increase your sales.
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