What is in your sales funnel?

Sales funnelRick arrived, late as usual, and said, “The topic of the day
is sales funnels.”


Kate snorted and spat, “Who made you King for the day?”


I said, “Whoa. Let’s find out why he is so concerned before
we send him to the guillotine.”


Rick continued, “I have to understand how products go from
that first glimmer in a prospect’s eye to the final add-on sale and then, over
time, repeat purchases if I’m going to change ROI and Life Time Value of the
products and services I help sell.  But I’m
having difficulty getting some newer clients to understand what is and isn’t in
their sales funnel. I need for them to understand so I can find the places I
can be of most help. It could be just shining the light on the product or service
so the prospect can get that glimmer. Or it could be nurturing the sale in
early middle or late phases. It could be developing offers that are delivered
in mail or e-mail or in person or even in the store whether it is on line or
brick and mortar.


I’m trying to get them to analyze how their sales happen and
how the actions they take fit into the funnel. They keep getting hung up
between on and off-line, proactive and reactive plus automatic versus personal.”


Kate said, “Let me guess, the sales people and the marketing
people keep giving you different viewpoints and within either of those silos
there are differences of opinion.”


Rick replied, “Yeah, it’s as if they speak different
languages.”


“They do,” I said.


Gail picked it up, “The internet made the direct business
easier and harder because it used to be that the sales department asked marketing
for one thing: qualified leads. They grudgingly agreed that brand kind of
helped them but claimed that once someone showed interest the only way to close
them was to have a salesperson in the mix. But guys like you figured out how to
get a sale without having one of those nose-to-nose types in the equation. Then
the internet came along and made it even easier to nurture a lead. That used to
be a sales job. Suddenly, it has become a marketing job and you’ve got people
that don’t know how to recognize where someone is in the sales cycle trying to cater
to them and move them down that funnel.”


Kate nodded and said, “That is really the case. There are
what gamblers call ‘tells’, signals that prospects give you in meetings as well
as how they answer some questions. I’ve noticed that marketing folks are
reticent about asking some of those questions and they seldom notice the signs
that indicate real interest or concerns.”


“So how do we help Rick?” I asked.


Rob drawled, Bein’ the brand guy gives me a slightly
different way of looking at it that may help. Y’all keep talking about the
funnel as if it were the kind you use to put oil in the family flivver. You
talk as if there is only one funnel…yours. Well, I agree there’s only one
funnel but you got the shape and the physics all wrong. Try thinkin’ about it
like it was one of those vortex things they have in convenience stores. Ya
know, they’re sort of wider and flatter. You drop a coin into a slot and a combination
of gravity and centrifugal force rolls it around the edge and it keeps circling
the bowl until if finally gets flushed thru the hole down in the bottom. Now imagine
that there are some other holes along the slope. Your coin, your funnel
approach can be hijacked if you’re not careful.”


“And,” I said, “Rick is just one of the hijackers.”


“So how do we fix it?, Rick asked?


Rob said, “Help your clients understand that together you
can find ways to get folks to stop goin’ around the barn or, failing that,
discover a way to walk along with them listenin’ and looking at the clues they
give ya to move them to your product or service instead of somebody else’s.
First, though, you have to get them to move their thinking from that steep
direct funnel to the flat vortex model.”


Rick said, “I can see how that would work. The right offer
turns the coin from spiraling to plummeting directly into the sale you wanted and
if the offer doesn’t work you need to have information they need or want easily
and readily available so that when they ask for it you note the request and
compare it to what others that have purchased did next.  That is what automated marketing can do for
you and why you need an automated marketing system. And if you turn it upside
down how would that impact your marketing approach?


What problems or solutions do you see with this different kind
of funnel?


Jerry Fletcher is a Contact Relationship Magician. Part of
the magic he brings to marketing strategy is the ability to see standard models
from a new perspective. See more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Need a speaker for a business or association conference?
Jerry is a professional keynoter who speaks internationally. Learn more at www.NetworkingNinja.com