Having a healthy B2B sales funnel is the lifeblood of any company, big or small. But building and maintaining it to convert leads into revenue, is difficult. It is time-consuming and needs special skills.
Successful companies ensure that their sales funnels optimize their business by reaching the right audiences, providing useful content, and approach new lead/follow-up on existing ones in a timely manner. A conversion-centric sales funnel is also a great way to build customer loyalty which will make upselling easier. That being said, what is the recommended road map for building a B2B sales funnel?
- Capturing your (potential) customer’s attention
Your (potential) customer invests only a short amount of time to explore different options. This means that you have to grab his/her attention quickly. Your sales reps must present your services and products in an appealing way with a call to action that works. Waiting for a customer to be ready to buy just does not work. As we explained in our previous blog post, it’s all about capturing the attention of the right kind or customers based on your Ideal Customer Profiles. By designing content based on these buyer personas, your B2B sales funnel will easier to manage.
- Strengthen your relationship with your customers
Your customers want to know that you are there for them. To build a trusting relationship, it is important to demonstrate various times during the sales cycle the added-value of your offering. Since customers value consistency, your sales team must provide good content (e.g., datasheets) at each stage of the sales process from day one. Furthermore, the sales reps must build strong relationships with prospects by keeping them aware of what the company can offer. This can be done is various ways; sending interesting and engaging content by email is a good way to educate them about the offering and the company in general.
- Build a positive first impression
When it comes to building a B2B sales funnel, first impressions are crucial. Your sales team needs to show the (potential) customer that it understands the customer’s pain points. This requires the sales reps to should go back to what was done during the first stage by looking at the prospecting process. By analyzing the data gathered at this first (awareness) stage, the top challenges of a prospect can be understood. This allows a sales rep to focus on solving the prospect’s problem during the first direct contact (call). For maximum success, it is recommended to have an engaging script in place.
- Nurture your leads from start to finish
As mentioned above, you need to pay attention to your (potential) customers. Even after a number of successful calls and emails, there is still a chance that no sale will be concluded. Especially larger purchases are made by a sales rep nurturing and supporting the prospect all the way to the closing phase. A way to do that is by reconfirming commitments and keeping the customer posted by follow-up calls and emails. Once the prospect is converted into a paying customer, your sales team must create a lasting and positive relationship with your customers. A satisfied customer will quite likely make repeat purchases (upselling) and is a great source for referrals.
- Why outsourcing your B2B sales funnel makes excellent business sense
As outlined above, building and maintaining a B2B sales funnel is complicated and requires a skilled and experienced sales team. Hiring sales reps is a long and costly process, which is especially a problem for startups and SMBs/SMEs. Furthermore, training new salespeople and ensuring that they obtain the appropriate contacts and market knowledge consume time and resources. Furthermore, in-house sales staff is known to suffer from burnout, due the pressure of being available around the clock to respond to customers immediately. By outsourcing your B2B funnel, you will have an efficient and effective alternative to your in-house sales team. At Prosperio.io, we help companies to concentrate on their core business activities by providing our expert outsourcing services for your sales and prospecting.
Interested in learning more? Call us at + 1 800 755 60 20 or send an email to info@prosperio.io
