With your funnel created, the next step is to use it to start tracking leads. This will allow us to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
Consistent Top-of-Funnel
A funnel isn’t of much use if you don’t have people to put through it. Start by addressing and prioritizing sales issues from the top and work your way down. Here are a few factors to explore if this is the problem for you:
1. Test different Copy
You might not be using the right language or messaging that resonates with your customers, gets them interested, and motivates them to take action.
2. Explore different Channels
Trying to find your clients on Instagram? Perhaps they’re more active on another platform. Not every organization needs to be on every social media platform. Are you meeting your prospects where they are?
3. Target different Customers
Are you defining them correctly? Are there different target markets to branch into? Perhaps there is another segment that is less resistant or more eager to adopt your offerings.
4. Develop Evergreen Content and Consistently Promote it
Don’t limit yourself to posting only when inspiration strikes and create content that can be reused. Given the vast amount of content online, repetition is necessary for visibility, rarely will your post be seen by the same person over and over again.
5. Failure to Capture Leads
Many organizations are overwhelmed with doing a lot, but are you ensuring your activities are serving their purpose? Publishing a blog or organizing an event without a clear CTA means missing out on the opportunity to identify those interested in more. Every piece of content you put out or activity you do should tie back to your funnel and help you move (and track) prospects from one stage to the next.
6. Not Prioritizing Sales
This is often an issue for smaller organizations and founding teams that are not comfortable with sales. Although they know it’s important, their activities don’t reflect it. Selling becomes a byproduct squeezed into their day whenever possible (which they’ll often find excuses not to do) instead of something they build a routine and rhythm around. If this is you, instead of trying to fit it into your day, structure your day around it to avoid procrastination.
7. Make it a Habit
Service-based businesses often experience cyclical revenue due to fluctuations in project loads. They become engrossed in ongoing projects, neglecting sales efforts, and then scramble for new sales when projects conclude. Establish a routine for prospecting even during busy project phases to maintain a steady flow of opportunities.
8. Explore a different Growth Engine
We’ve been taught and trained on the most common – Paid, but it may not be the most effective for every offering or organization.
Conversion Rate Between Stages
Identify stages with poor conversion or high drop-off rates. For example, if you’re noticing that people get stuck at the demo stage with a low conversion rate from demo to proposal, investigate what might be causing this issue.
1. Right Target Audience but Wrong Messaging?
2. Wrong Audience?
Even within your target audience, there may be non-ideal customers. Define red flags to help you more easily identify habitual procrastinators, allowing you to prioritize your efforts accordingly.
3. Wrong Timing?
You might get both the above right but still end up targeting them at the wrong stage of their decision-making process and communicate the right messages to them at the wrong time (recall gradualization). For instance, you may be advancing too quickly and trying to close them too soon when, in fact, they aren’t ready. They need to spend more time in your marketing funnel to be nurtured or have their concerns properly addressed first. This could be either because you aren’t properly identifying and qualifying them or lack proper sales/marketing processes to nurture them.
4. Underperforming SDRs?
Is it possible that a particular inexperienced SDR is negatively impacting the conversion numbers?
5. Bad Techniques or Poor Resources?
This is the sales version of wrong messaging and stems from a lack of or poor techniques. Perhaps they lack experience or confidence, are afraid to ask for a sale, have the wrong mindset and approach, aren’t setting clear next steps, are disorganized and poor at following up, or are weak at handling objections. Your sales team might need better training or resources to deliver a more effective demo.
6. Wrong Process?
Or, should you consider revising the stage itself? Could a demo be unnecessary, and prospects might benefit from experiencing a free trial to test the product themselves? This is why I advocate for a User Journey Funnel rather than a Process-oriented Funnel.
Time to Convert Between Stages
You might have an excellent conversion rate from workshop attendees to consultation requests. However, this step might take a long time, thus extending your overall sales cycle. Explore the potential reasons for this. One solution could be to speed up the process by sending a follow-up email to workshop attendees with a link to schedule a consultation.
Refer back to Shorter Sales Cycle(s) for more ideas.
Funnel Leak
Occurs when someone exits your funnel. For instance, if someone adds an item to their e-commerce shopping cart but doesn’t complete the purchase. It’s important to address those who don’t convert and find ways to guide them back into the funnel.
Retargeting
Have you ever noticed that after visiting a company’s website, their ads seem to follow you everywhere on Facebook, Google, and more? This is possible through the use of “cookies“, which capture data from website visitors. These cookies, stored on your computer, allow advertisers to remarket to you, encouraging you to revisit their site. Moreover, it enables them to customize the content displayed to you. For example, on your return visit, they might skip the introductory video and show you the full website since you’ve already gone through the tutorial.
Follow-up on Action Abandonment
If you’ve captured their email, consider sending a reminder about the items left in their cart. You can also include them in an email drip campaign to further nurture their interest in your solution. Additionally, circle back in the future to schedule a demo. If they were seeking a quote, you might even want to follow up with a call. Don’t assume you’re being pushy; they might have accidentally closed the window or hesitated due to an unaddressed uncertainty.
