{"id":22401,"date":"2019-12-18T14:41:06","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T20:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vendasta.com\/blog\/?p=22401"},"modified":"2026-01-12T04:09:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T04:09:54","slug":"sales-funnels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vendasta.com\/blog\/sales-funnels\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sales Funnel: Everything You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Intro” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever bought or sold anything, you\u2019ve been part of a sales funnel, whether you knew it or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re part of a business that sells products or services, you work with one everyday, whether you know it or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re not aware of what your sales funnel looks like, or not constantly thinking about how to optimize it, you\u2019re also unaware of how many potential clients and dollars you may be needlessly losing.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_testimonial author=”Chris Camponi” job_title=”Agency Growth Team Lead” company_name=”Vendasta” admin_label=”Chris Camponi Testimonial” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ body_text_color=”gcid-body-color” author_text_color=”gcid-body-color” position_text_color=”gcid-body-color” company_text_color=”gcid-body-color” global_colors_info=”{%22gcid-body-color%22:%91%22body_text_color%22,%22author_text_color%22,%22position_text_color%22,%22company_text_color%22%93}”]<\/p>\n

I’m always thinking about some sort of funnel approach in my daily work. Understanding that you won’t get everyone across the line is inevitable, but having a funnel approach allows us to qualify the best potential prospects to become Vendasta partners.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_text admin_label=”What is a sales funnel?, How is a sales funnel different…?, The Leaky Funnel, Stages of a SF (content marketing)” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

What is a Sales Funnel?
<\/span><\/h2>\n

Most simply, a sales funnel is the route that clients take from knowing nothing about your product,\u00a0<\/span>to making a purchase. This route is divided into different stages based on the processes that consumers go through, and the corresponding sales and marketing techniques that encourage qualified prospects to commit to purchasing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How is a sales funnel different from the buyer\u2019s journey?<\/span><\/h2>\n

The sales funnel and buyer\u2019s journey<\/a> are, essentially, two sides of the same coin, one seen from the seller\u2019s perspective, and one seen from the buyer\u2019s. Perhaps the difference can be best illustrated in two contrasting scenarios:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Mr. Jones needs to buy some groceries after work.<\/strong> At his office, he looks up different supermarkets, reads reviews, checks the hours and locations of a few, and then selects one, gets in his car, and drives directly to his selected destination.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Big Foods has six entrances into their parking lot.<\/strong> There are eight different streets that directly or semi-directly lead to these entrances. Big Foods has noticed that, since two of the roads have been shut down for construction, traffic into their store has decreased. The addition of a boulevard on another street seems to have also caused a slight decrease, as cars have a more difficult time turning into the parking lot. The store talks with city council and the construction company about the problem, comes to an agreement, and in a short while, all access points are open again and traffic into the store jumps back up to its normal levels.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The first of these two scenarios is an example of the buyer\u2019s journey. It\u2019s all of the steps an individual goes through to get to their end purchasing result, regardless of what that end result is or who it\u2019s with.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The second scenario is a metaphorical representation of a sales funnel. Looking at the purchase process from a specific business\u2019s point of view, rather than a customer\u2019s, the sales funnel analyzes and optimizes all possible routes of access to a business and their product. It thinks about how to maximize the amount of customers that make it through each stage of the journey, in order that the maximum amount of customers arrive and complete the final purchase stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

    However, it also incorporates filters at each stage of the funnel so that unsuitable prospects are prevented from moving on, enabling sales efforts to be better focused on prospects that are most likely to purchase the product and find success with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Of course, all of this is much more complicated than simply ensuring parking lot entrances aren\u2019t obstructed by construction. Customers will never run into this problem if they don\u2019t first know that a business exists, or if they aren\u2019t convinced that it would be a good idea to shop there.<\/span><\/p>\n

    And that\u2019s where there is some overlap and confusion between the buyer\u2019s journey and the sales funnel; to have a sales funnel that is strong and friction-free at every single stage, the business needs to think like an individual buyer.<\/span><\/p>\n

    They need to be thinking about factors that would pull a buyer into the funnel, and factors that would cause them to leak out. They need to think about how to cater to a buyer\u2019s needs, and how to keep potential buyers focused and enthralled with their product, rather than getting distracted and sucked into a competitor\u2019s funnel.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The Leaky Funnel<\/span><\/h2>\n

    The funnel starts with getting as many people as possible to become aware of your business. As you interact more with these potential clients, inevitably there will be mutual agreement that some of them are not a good fit for your business. There\u2019s no one product that applies to the needs of everyone, and there\u2019s no shame in respectfully parting ways with prospects that have landed in your funnel that aren\u2019t actually a good fit.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This is why the funnel tapers as it gets lower; it merely demonstrates a more focused targeting of best qualified prospects. However, a leaky funnel happens when there are prospects that would indeed be a good fit, but whose potential patronage is lost due to an agency\u2019s clumsy sales and marketing efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The leaky funnel is a very real danger if a company is not on top of their funnel strategy. They need to be intentionally ensuring their sales, marketing, and customer success teams are working and communicating cohesively to ensure they don\u2019t lose a prospect at any point of the progression.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Stages of the Sales Funnel (and what to do at each of them)<\/span><\/h2>\n

    While the philosophy behind the sales funnel stays fairly consistent, the way it\u2019s divided into stages can vary. Additionally, the sales funnel can be looked at from more of a content marketing perspective, which tends to divide the stages up\u00a0 differently again.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The Content Marketing Funnel<\/span><\/h3>\n

    When developing content to draw customers into your business, there are three levels at which you can do this. In their acronym form, these levels are called TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU<\/strong> – or \u201ctop of funnel\u201d, \u201cmiddle of funnel\u201d, and \u201cbottom of funnel\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

    TOFU<\/h4>\n

    TOFU<\/strong> content is based on widely applicable topics, and tends to be the most popular. It may not be particularly specific to your product or service, but will be in the same industry. For these reasons, TOFU content is useful for introducing your company to a wide range of people, but it is also likely to pull in a lot of people who have no need for your product or services. While click rates may be higher for TOFU content, bounce rates will often be higher too, and the prospects that are collected will show very mixed levels of qualification.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Blog posts and podcasts<\/a> can be published at every stage of the content marketing funnel, and there are generally forms of gated content that work at each stage too. However, blogs and podcasts on popular topics are particularly useful at the TOFU stage, while informative eBooks can also be effective at catching a wide swath of traffic.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Calls to action (CTAs) shouldn\u2019t be too pushy at this point, and the reason is twofold: many of your readers may not fit the product or service you provide, and as the content will be the first exposure many are having to your company, they likely won\u2019t feel that they have enough information or a strong enough relationship with you to commit to purchasing so quickly. Instead, offer additional content, either in the form of a link to another article, or to related content (perhaps an infographic or case study) that you\u2019ve gated so that you can collect readers\u2019 email addresses and put them on a nurture campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

    MOFU<\/h4>\n

    MOFU<\/strong> content tends to be a bit more targeted towards your products or services, or at least more specifically targeted at the people that your services are geared towards. Of course, this limits the audience of people who will be interested in the specific piece of content, but those that do click on your piece are more likely to be intrigued with your product and be well-suited to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    At the MOFU level, case studies, as well as more targeted eBooks and blog posts can be effective, and gated content with a follow-up nurture campaign works especially well here.<\/span><\/p>\n

    CTAs here can either be gated content, or can be slightly more aggressive, such as directing readers to a sign-up for a demo. This depends on how much information you\u2019ve included on your services in the content that hooked the prospect.<\/span><\/p>\n

    BOFU<\/h4>\n

    BOFU<\/strong> content is very targeted to your product or service, and it\u2019s likely that people who land on this content are already looking for something you\u2019re offering, and may have even found your content by specifically researching your company. These prospects often know what they\u2019re looking for and will be more or less self-qualified by the time they get in touch.<\/span><\/p>\n

    At this point, CTAs can be quite aggressive, as consumers of your content are likely looking for information on your product and may even be looking for ways to get in touch about how to become a customer. Provide links to free trials, sign-up or purchasing pages, coupon codes, demos, or friction-free ways to get in contact with your sales team to take advantage of these readers\u2019 interest and suitability towards your product.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_testimonial author=”Jessica Beuker” job_title=”Managing Editor, Demand Generation” company_name=”Vendasta” admin_label=”Jessica Beuker Testimonial” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ body_text_color=”gcid-body-color” author_text_color=”gcid-body-color” position_text_color=”gcid-body-color” company_text_color=”gcid-body-color” global_colors_info=”{%22gcid-body-color%22:%91%22body_text_color%22,%22author_text_color%22,%22position_text_color%22,%22company_text_color%22%93}”]<\/p>\n

    By the time you’ve reached the BOFU stage, your content should be geared towards guiding your prospects to take action. At this stage in the funnel, they know who you are and they understand the products and services that you offer a bit better. They simply need a push in the right direction. It’s like a third date – you’ve wined them and dined them, and now you’re ready to be exclusive.<\/p>\n

    [\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_text admin_label=”The traditional sales funnel stages, how to create a sales funnel, the flywheel” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

    The Traditional Sales Funnel<\/span><\/h3>\n

    As mentioned above, there are several different ways of dividing up the sales funnel. They all hold to more or less the same philosophy, some just emphasize certain elements that aren\u2019t applicable to all industries, or that others combine with other stages. For this sales funnel, we\u2019ve included the following five stages:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Awareness<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Interest<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Consideration<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. Purchase<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. Advocacy<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Each title outlines the main goal of promotion at each level. At the first stage, <\/span>awareness<\/strong>,<\/b> potential customers may not even realize they have a problem, or may not realize the scaling potential your product or service opens up for them. Your goal here is to promote that awareness, to educate about the overall state of the industry and the prospect\u2019s place in it. This will largely be done through content marketing efforts, but could include sales calls, networking events, or tools such as Vendasta\u2019s Snapshot Report<\/a> as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

      The goal in the second tier is to promote <\/span>interest<\/strong>, mostly in the type of solution that you have to offer (this may involve more education on the problem you solve). Examples of this may include an explanation of the benefits of your type of solution, or a discussion about why this solution is better than others. Most of the methods used in the awareness stage of the funnel can be used at this point as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

      In the third tier, you want to encourage <\/span>consideration<\/strong> of your specific offering. This may involve sharing comparison pages, benefits analyses, case studies, testimonials, providing links to demos, having sales people personally reach out to prospects, and more. Basically anything that gets people thinking your company is the one that they want to partner with, more than any other.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Though it’s important at every stage, in the consideration stage in particular, you’ll want to use sales CRM (customer relationship management) software that prioritizes your leads, identifying who to reach out to and when so that you’re achieving the best results. Vendasta’s CRM<\/a> includes a Hot Leads feature<\/a> that sends you a notification anytime a potential client is looking into your company so that you can get in touch immediately and take advantage of their interest before they get distracted by someone else’s product.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Now the moment of truth, the <\/span>purchase<\/strong> stage. To get people to cross this hurdle, make the process as friction-free as possible. Offer them a free sign-up, free trial offer, or perhaps a coupon code. Have one of your sales people get in touch (ideally they already have been before this stage) to answer any questions they have, or to gently nudge them along.<\/span><\/p>\n

      While it may feel like your job is done once the client has made a purchase, don\u2019t forget about promoting <\/span>advocacy<\/strong> amongst your customers! First, make sure you\u2019re checking in with them regularly, doing all that you can to ensure their success and tackling any gripes they may have. Then, politely ask for their reviews, testimonials, and depending on your industry, you may even offer them referral incentives.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Related Reading: <\/strong><\/span>Inject your sales funnel with a little turbo power. Find out about Product-led Growth<\/span> here.<\/a><\/p>\n

      How to Create A Sales Funnel<\/span><\/h2>\n

      Step 1:<\/span><\/h3>\n

      So you have an understanding of the different stages, and what to do in each of them, but now what? How do you create a customized sales funnel for your agency? Fortunately, there is just one main piece you have yet to tackle.<\/span><\/p>\n

      You have to determine who your ideal customer is, and in turn, what their needs, desires, pain points, and potential areas for growth are. Once you have determined who that is, you need to put yourself in their shoes (you could even interview or survey some prospects who fit the bill) to determine how to optimize each stage of the funnel so that it catches and keeps as many prospects as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

      For example, perhaps you\u2019ve determined that your ideal clients are local cafe owners. Some questions you may ask could include:<\/span><\/p>\n