How a "Sales Funnel" Really Works

The metaphor of a “funnel” is an appropriate way to look at the process of selling. At the top of the funnel, the widest part, we feed in unqualified prospects. As part of the sales process, we winnow away at the unqualified prospects, gradually qualifying them until customer come out of the small end. Not unusually, what comes out the tip of the funnel is a smaller flow than what goes in.

There are two dynamics of the sales funnel that need to be understood. The first is that the funnel, containing both unqualified prospects as well as those that are more qualified, needs to be viewed as a whole – that is, the sales process – the funnel – works on all prospects in the process. This means that a sales person or a sales organization has to address each type of prospect. Jim Cecil, an expert in on ‘nurture marketing’ estimates that 60% of all leads will eventually buy if followed up on properly. But all too often, leads that might be productive are dropped after only four ineffective contacts. Haste makes waste.

The second dynamic is that of how we move prospects from the wide end to becoming a customer at the tip – how we control the flow. Generally speaking this is also a question of prospect nurturing and cultivation – educating the prospect and presenting them with successively more involving offers. The entire cultivation process is about building trust and confidence in the process.

What about your sales funnel? Are you constantly putting new material into the wide end? Do you have a well-defined process for qualifying and moving prospects into customers? Are you abandoning good prospects too early? Examine your own ‘sales funnel’ and see if you don’t find some good opportunities to boost sales and profits.

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