Building an efficient sales funnel is essential for any company that wants to increase its conversions and improve the overall performance of its sales process. The sales funnel is nothing more than a representation of the path taken by a potential customer from the first contact with your brand to the completion of the purchase. When well structured, it can not only generate more sales, but also optimize the efforts of the sales and marketing team
To remain competitive in the market, a company needs to seek customer satisfaction, establish business partnerships, improve management, have a well-trained team, "not to be afraid of competition and to embrace new technologies", affirms Raphael Lassance, Partner of the Sales Club, largest ecosystem specialized in sales solutions for companies.
Thinking about it, the entrepreneur listed 6 steps to build a successful sales funnel. Check it out:
1. Understand your target audience
The first step to creating an efficient sales funnel is to deeply understand your target audience. Knowing who your potential clients are, what are your needs, pains, wishes and behaviors, it is essential to direct your communication effectively. For that, create personas, what are fictional representations of your ideal clients. This will help understand how your offer can solve the problems of these people and at what stage of the funnel they are
2. Define the stages of the funnel
A traditional sales funnel is divided into three main stages: top, middle and background. Each of them corresponds to a different stage in the customer's buying process. When defining these steps, it is possible to create specific strategies for each of them, increasing the conversion probability at each stage
- Top of the funnel (attraction):In this phase, the goal is to attract visitors to your website or sales page. The idea is to educate and provide relevant content to solve common problems or questions of your target audience. Effective strategies include blogs, videos, social media and paid ads
- Middle of the funnel (consideration):Here, the lead already knows your brand and is considering options to solve their pain. The focus should be on nurturing this lead with more in-depth content, like e-books, webinars, case studies and educational materials. It is time to build a relationship and highlight the differentiators of your offer
- Bottom of the funnel (decision):The lead is ready to make a purchase decision. The goal now is to convince you that your solution is the best option. Offer commercial proposals, product demos or special discounts to encourage conversion. Testimonials, success stories and guarantees are also essential to strengthen trust at this moment
3. Automate and optimize the process
The use of marketing automation tools can be decisive in building an efficient sales funnel. With these tools, it is possible to nurture leads with segmented email campaigns, schedule follow-ups and create automated workflows to move leads through the stages of the funnel more efficiently. Furthermore, it is important to constantly monitor and analyze the performance of each stage of the funnel to identify areas for improvement
4. Monitor the lead's behavior
Each lead has a unique behavior throughout the funnel. Some CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools can help track the journey of each lead, allowing the sales team to know exactly at which stage it is and what the most effective approach is to continue the negotiation
5. Train your sales team
The sales team must be aligned with the sales funnel and clearly understand how each stage works. Offering regular training on best practices for lead qualification and closing techniques is essential to ensure that your team is ready to act effectively at each stage of the funnel
6. Evaluate and adjust constantly
An efficient sales funnel is not static. It is essential to monitor the results with metrics and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to assess what is working and what needs to be adjusted. Conversion rates, average closing time, customer acquisition cost and return on investment (ROI) are some of the data that should be analyzed to optimize the funnel
