The sales funnel applied to the work of your salespeople
When we talk about sales funnel, it is very common to associate this concept with Inbound Marketing and the content that is published on blogs and social networks of companies. But this is just one of the ways to build a sales funnel – it's called a qualified lead conversion funnel.
In practice, the sales funnel does not only comprise Marketing, but has a fundamental participation of the team of commercial representatives, who need to work in consonance with the Agency's Marketing team so that it can obtain better results.
The concepts described in the previous items about top, middle and bottom of the funnel, however, are still valid and serve as a working guideline to set up a sales funnel that includes the entire commercial team of your business. Here are two examples of how to build sales funnels to sell more.
Remembering that you must adapt your sales funnel to the company's reality. Some agencies have more staff availability than others, and this should be taken into account when setting up your sales procedures. Look:
The step by step to design your sales funnel
In Marketing agencies, in addition to the qualified lead conversion funnel , it is also very common to use the funnel focused on lead nurturing. The step by step of this funnel usually goes something like this:
The funnel above is an example of recurring practices in Marketing agencies. Your company must build a funnel that meets all your needs, taking into account budgetary limitations and operational capacity.
Note that in the procedure described above, there is an intrinsic collaboration between marketing and sales professionals. While salespeople of different types prospect and negotiate with leads, marketers can advise on the most appropriate type of content to forward to each customer.
In many companies, the sales teams are very segmented, so that a salesperson carries out active prospecting, another representative receives clients who seek the company on their own, a third professional presents the services and a fourth salesperson is responsible only for closing the contract.
With this division, it is possible to manage the journey of more leads at the same time. However, if your company does not have so many available personnel, it is possible to centralize several processes in a single employee.
Is it possible to “rescue” a customer who has given up on a sale?
As we stated earlier, it is very common to lose customers along the funnel stages for a variety of reasons. But is it possible to “rescue” a customer who has abandoned the decision journey before closing a deal? Definitely yes. But for that, it is necessary to try to understand why the customer gave up on the purchase.
Salespeople are used to dealing with customer objections. In a standardized sales process, in which a sales representative is always in contact with the lead, objections can arise and they must be faced by the salesperson with maturity.
A tip is: understand your business very well. This helps build your sales funnel, but it also helps sales reps understand what the company's strengths and weaknesses are.
Whenever the client shows discouragement about a weakness, use strength as a response. Example:
Your agency's services are considered expensive compared to the competition. In this case, it is always necessary to reaffirm the quality, professionalism, sophistication and results that your company can provide to the customer. Depending on the case, if the client seems willing to close the deal, a discount can be made.
The important thing is to systematically follow up with the customer and listen to their feedback, whether positive or negative. Preparation for objections is important, but only after talking to the customer will it really be possible to understand what is going on.
If the lead simply disappears and no longer responds to contacts, one possibility is to keep it on the nutrition ruler. For some time, do not contact us, but keep your email. Then, create a ruler to especially nurture inactive customers, with content specifically designed to provoke a return to the decision journey.
Obstacles and challenges when implementing a sales funnel
Of course, implementing techniques like the sales funnel can also pose obstacles for the company. In fact, the implementation itself is not difficult to do. But your agency may not get it right the first time. Here are the main difficulties that usually appear during this process:
Setting up a good sales funnel requires knowledge of your business, accurate and correct information about customers and strategic planning to handle all these demands.
It's always important to remember that your customer's experience doesn't end with the sale. On the contrary: it is just the beginning. Therefore, in addition to worrying about your sales funnel, it is also essential to design a post-sales funnel that keeps your customer active and loyal for as long as possible.
With a good after-sales funnel, in addition to keeping loyal customers , your company can also turn you into a brand promoter, who recommends your services to other people he knows or to other internet users.
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