Artificial intelligence and automation have become crucial for providing extraordinary and memorable customer service. Integrating AI into the CRM makes it easier for companies to manage their tasks efficiently. Salesforce is among the most popular CRM available and it has evolved a lot over the years and with it, the methods for converting leads into sales have also changed.
What is a Traditional Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel refers to the path that companies hope potential buyers take to become loyal customers. The concept can be used for aligning activities, processes, marketing, and sales targets using the funnel strategy.
It is a fundamental concept in marketing and sales cloud as it assists in creating healthy leads and improving conversion rates.
Stages of a Sales Funnel
The stages of the sales funnel can vary as companies often customise it to make sure it can serve them well. But the traditional model consists of the following phases
- Awareness
- Interest
- Desire
- Action
Consumer behaviour is not that simple, and that is why companies have to make some changes to ensure that it works for them and helps in attaining the desired results.
Managing the Sales Funnel
There are two ways of managing it efficiently, and they are:
- Make sure that you regularly reassess and update the funnel strategy. It will ensure that you can make the necessary changes to the strategy and make it suitable for your growing and evolving business.
- Optimise the funnel strategy to ensure the journey of the prospect is not rushed at all. You can improve the sales tools, efficiency of sales and marketing, and enhance resources by optimising the funnel sales strategy.
Benefits of Managing the Sales Funnel
The importance of the sales funnel has only increased with time. Salesforce has integrated it in its design to make sure organisations can get the best results. The potential customers move down the funnel as they become more aware of services or products offered by the company. The awareness increases through interacting with sales representatives along with sales material and marketing.
Here are some benefits of the sales funnel.
Understanding Knowledge and Interest of Prospects
Using a proper and well-defined sales funnel template allows the companies to understand prospects’ interest in their services and products. It also gives an insight into their knowledge of the company and what they are offering. Tracking customers through the funnel provides valuable information to the organisation that can be used to improve its services. Link Salesforce to Google Sheets to get deeper analytics about your contact and leads as well as visualize crucial data to gain insights about your buyer persona.
Avoid Losing Prospects
After identifying the potential customers, the companies work hard on making sure that they can turn them into their clients. With so much competition it is easy to lose the prospects to other companies. Sales funnel strategy makes sure that you stay with the prospect throughout their journey and offer the best service. The quality of service and prompt communication are key to earning customer loyalty.
Determining Frequency and Type of Campaign
With this strategy, you can keep an eye on the position of the prospect in the funnel. The information is valuable because it helps in determining the perfect timing and frequency of the marketing campaign.
Choosing the right frequency and time for the marketing campaign is crucial for its success. If the campaign does not reach the target audience and engage them then it is useless. By knowing the position of the prospects down the funnel, the marketing and sales team can give priority to leads that are solid and find the best answers to prospects’ concerns and queries. It also assists an organisation in deciding the most suitable type and frequency of the campaign.
Aligning Marketing and Sales
The funnel journey cannot be successful if the sales and marketing are out of sync. Aligning these two aspects is critical for a smooth funnel journey. There must be an agreement on a common language throughout the journey to ensure all the teams involved in the funnel journey are on the same page. The marketing team must be aware of the progress of the prospects and know when it has moved from the marketing phase to the sales funnel.
Two common terms used during the funnel journey are MQL and SQL.
- MQL stands for marketing-qualified lead. When the marketing team finds a lead that is ready to talk to the sales team, they should mark it as an MQL.
- SQL means sales-accepted lead. It means that the lead has been accepted and the journey of the lead is now complete. If the lead is not accepted then its status will not change and it is referred back to the marketing team.
Conclusion
The sales funnel is used by companies to convert potential clients into loyal customers. It focuses on the people and provides perfect opportunities to build a long-lasting relationship with the customers with the help of valuable data-driven insights. Companies can use it to learn more about the best ways of connecting with customers and use the knowledge to grow their clientele.
