Every B2B company wants more sales, but it’s not always easy to achieve this. But you know what can make this process easier? A B2B SALES FUNNEL.
It helps close deals faster!
Understanding what makes for a great sales funnel is important for increasing revenue and customer satisfaction.
B2B sales are challenging. It’s not only about acquiring new clients but also about guiding them through the sales process, even post-purchase.
Interestingly, about 87% of marketers tailor their content to their customers’ specific buying stages. If this isn’t part of your strategy yet, now is the time to adopt it.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the B2B sales funnel. We’ll explore its various stages and how you can set one up to find and retain your ideal customers.
Now What Is a B2B Sales Funnel?
A B2B sales funnel tells you how a customer goes from knowing about your solution to buying it. It’s like a roadmap of a prospect’s steps to become a customer.
The funnel includes stages like awareness, interest, evaluation, engagement, and action.
The best part?
It breaks the sales process into manageable steps, making it easier to spot and address any issues prospects have in moving forward.
What’s The Difference Between a B2B Sales Funnel And a B2B Sales Pipeline?
It’s common to get confused about sales funnels and sales pipelines, but they’re actually different.
The sales funnel tracks a buyer’s journey from awareness to action, while the pipeline outlines the steps sales teams take to convert leads.
In a business-to-business sales funnel, there are stages such as Awareness, Interest, Evaluation, Engagement, and Action.
In contrast, a B2B sales pipeline includes Prospecting, Lead Qualification, Pitching, Negotiation, Deal Closing, and Retention.
The funnel is more about the buyer’s journey, and the pipeline is about the sales team’s process. I hope it’s clear now!
What Is The Difference Between B2B and B2C Sales Funnel?
The complex B2B sales funnels are much more complicated than in B2C sales because the sales cycle is longer. This means there are more stages in the middle for buyers to assess whether the product fits their needs.
Here is a comprehensive comparison of the two for your better understanding.
| B2B | B2C | |
| Audience | Focuses on businesses looking to solve specific problems and make strategic investments. | Focuses on individual consumers looking to fulfill personal needs or desires. |
| Segmentation | Divide the purchasing funnel based on service types to better engage prospects at each stage. | Focuses more on demographics and consumer behavior to tailor the sales approach. |
| Marketing | Relies heavily on content like case studies, white papers, and thought leadership to build trust and educate prospects. | Utilizes social media, ads, and quick updates to create awareness and drive interest. |
| Strategy | Requires detailed planning for each stage to ensure a smooth transition through the sales cycle. | Often more straightforward, focusing on quick engagement and immediate conversion. |
| Adaptation | Continuously adapt strategies to attract and retain business clients, often through personalized approaches. | Shift strategies based on consumer trends and the rise of digital marketing and online shopping. |
6 B2B Sales Funnel Stages You Must Understand
When talking about B2B sales funnels, it’s clear there’s no one-size-fits-all model. Different businesses might sprinkle in a few extra steps that make sense for their unique sales cycle and how they operate internally. But generally, they all navigate through three main stages to keep things moving smoothly.
- Top of the Funnel (TOFU) – Awareness Stage: This is where potential customers first learn about your brand or products.
- Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) – Consideration Stage: Here, potential buyers consider your solutions and value proposition to determine whether you can solve their problems.
- Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) – Conversion Stage: This is the final stage in which prospects decide to purchase your products or services for their business.
These stages are the basics of a B2B sales pipeline, but many sales teams break down the customer journey into six phases for a more detailed approach.
Awareness
The “Awareness” stage is the first step in the B2B sales process. It’s when people first come across your brand.
They may not be familiar with your products or services initially, but this phase is about making that initial introduction.
In the past, the marketing team usually took charge of this stage, but nowadays, thanks to social media, sales teams also play a role.
To engage potential customers at this stage, share content that introduces your brand, such as blog posts and social media updates. This approach helps build familiarity and lays the groundwork for further engagement..
Interest
The “Interest” stage is the second part of the B2B sales funnel.
At this point, potential customers are starting to get curious about your products or services. They’re not ready to buy yet, but they want to know more about how you can solve their problems.
Usually, the marketing team handles this stage, but sales reps can jump in when needed.
To engage prospects in the “Interest” stage, share content like blog posts, email campaigns, webinars, and ebooks.
Evaluation
“Evaluation” is the third stage in the B2B sales funnel. Here, potential customers are seriously considering your product or service and becoming qualified leads. They’re comparing different options to find the best fit for their needs.
Both marketing and sales teams should collaborate during this stage to showcase the company’s offerings effectively. To engage prospects in the “Evaluation” stage, use content like email campaigns, case studies, and free product trials.
Decision
The “Decision” stage is the fourth stage.
This is when potential customers make their final choice on what product or service to buy. They’ve usually narrowed it down to a few options. If your company is still in the mix, that’s great news.
B2B sales teams should take charge during the “Decision” stage. Use the respect and trust you’ve built to influence their decision positively.
To connect with prospects at this stage, share things like video testimonials, case studies, and discount offers.
Purchase
The “Purchase” stage is the fifth step in the B2B sales funnel. Here potential customers finally decide to buy, turning into paying customers. It’s an exciting moment, especially since B2B sales usually have long cycles.
B2B sales teams handle this stage too. Their goal is to make the buying process easy and smooth, cutting out any hassle.
Retention
“Retention” is the final stage in the B2B sales funnel. It is when existing customers decide whether they keep paying for your products or services or not.
It’s important because even a 5% increase in retention can boost profits by 25% to 95%. Incredible, right?
Both sales and customer support teams should handle the “retention” phase together. They need to collaborate to ensure great customer experiences.
To engage prospects in the “Retention” stage, share content like onboarding processes and product training manuals.
If you’re looking for a kickass B2B sales funnel strategy, Jason Whaling shared an effective beginner’s funnel template for generating leads.
- Focus on solving problems to create your B2B digital marketing funnel.
- Use B2B sales funnel metrics to provide unique knowledge that buyers can’t find elsewhere.
- Doing this right builds trust with potential customers and influences purchasing decisions.
10 Step Guide On How To Create A B2B Sales Funnel
Your B2B marketing and sales funnel is unique to your business and market position. Even your closest competitors don’t have the same setup.
So, how do you build a cohesive funnel without a pre-made blueprint?
Step 1: Set Your Goals
Knowing your goals and objectives is vital before starting any process. Remember, writing down your goals can make you 20% more successful.
You might want to focus on:
- Total Sales
- Conversion Rate
- Average Sale Value
- Percentage Of Repeat Sales
- Customer Satisfaction
Also, you don’t need just one funnel. Your goals might change depending on who you’re targeting, so the customer journey will vary too.
Step 2: Understanding Your Target Prospects
Next, take a moment to understand your customers.
- Who are you targeting?
- What are their goals and challenges?
- How can your products or services help them?
Answering these questions helps you create an ideal customer profile (ICP). With your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) in line, you can streamline prospecting.
You’ll easily know if a company is a good fit by comparing it to your ICP, boosting your team’s productivity and performance.
To create an ICP, look at your current customers. What do they have in common? Gather this information into a template and then proceed.
Step 3: Performing Competitor Analysis
Doing detailed market research gives you multiple advantages. First, it helps you understand your customers’ problems, allowing you to meet their needs and build effective sales strategies.
Second, market research highlights where your competitors are lacking, so you can fill those gaps. For example, if competitors aren’t using call-to-action videos at the BOFU stage, you can add them to enhance your customer experience.
Market research can also help you:
- Get New Ideas For Products
- Spot New Trends
- Gather Customer Feedback
- Set Competitive Prices
Check out these insights from a SaaS sales head. Learn why competitor analysis is a necessity and how it can give you an edge.
“I was the first sales hire at a previous company, and I’m currently heading sales at my current one, so maybe my experience qualifies. For reference – I work in B2B SaaS.
I started off doing outbound sales—mostly cold emails and calls. The easiest way for me to get an understanding of who my ideal prospects were was to check out all my competitors and see their case studies and customer logos. Then, I’d use tools to find similar companies or just plain reach out to those companies themselves. apisland
This tremendously helped this Reddit user scale his outbound sales.
Step 4: Aligning Sales & Marketing Teams
Your B2B sales and marketing teams need to work together because much of their work overlaps. Problems arise when marketing hands off leads to sales or the other way around.
For example, marketing might nurture leads until they’re ready to buy and then pass them to sales. If sales don’t close the deal quickly, those leads might go elsewhere, costing your company a sale.
Craig Rosenberg says, “Sales and marketing alignment is about one shared goal: revenue that is delivered or over-delivered every quarter. There will always be tension, but that tension can be positive if there is a culture of clear expectations and communication.”
Know that if your sales and marketing teams collaborate from the start, they’ll generate leads much faster.
Remember, you must tell a story before you sell one, and combining your sales and marketing teams does it perfectly.
Step 5: Proper Communication At Each Stage
Prospects can’t move through the sales funnel without the right guidance to speed up their buying decisions. They might look for info from:
- Your Sales Team
- Free Resources On Your Website, Social Media, Emails, Etc.
- Review Sites For Unbiased Opinions
For example, use reviews or case studies to engage potential clients in the evaluation stage, SDR-run qualifying questions in the interest stage, and product-focused blog posts in the awareness stage. This will definitely give you the desired results.
Step 6: Selecting The Right Channels
Alright, let’s pick your channels to connect with your ideal customers!
You’ve got options: in-person visits, cold calls, emails, texts, social media, content marketing, outsourcing lead generation, and SEO.
Here’s the best part: you don’t have to stick to just one.
Using multiple channels helps you reach more people in different ways, which can lead to more opportunities and sales. But always make sure that your sales team can handle the channels you choose first.
Once you know which channels you’ll use, match them to different stages of your sales funnel. Here’s a quick guide:
- Awareness Stage: Cold call leads to introduce your company.
- Interest Stage: Host webinars to solve your audience’s problems.
- Evaluation Stage: Send email sequences to promote your offerings.
- Decision Stage: Share case studies to prove your product’s value.
- Purchase Stage: Make onboarding plans via phone.
- Retention Stage: Visit customers in person to get their feedback.
Step 7: Asset Creation
Great content should remain the same throughout the B2B marketing and sales funnel. Whether it’s a beginner’s guide at the top or a detailed comparison at the bottom, you need the right stuff.
As you plan your B2B marketing funnel, think about what content you need at each step. That’s why two-thirds of marketers are boosting their content budgets.
Step 8: Automate Where Possible
Are your sales reps struggling too much? You can help them out with marketing and sales automation tools. These tools reduce data entry and let reps schedule emails and texts for the best times. Make use of AI to make the mundane work automated relieving your sales team of pressure.
Check out GrowMeOrganic—it’s one of the top automation tools for B2B sales teams.
Step 9: Follow-Up
No matter how great your B2B sales funnel is, you won’t close many deals after just one, two, or even three conversations. 80% of sales need four or more follow-ups.
Think about it: not every lead is ready to buy right away. Even those interested will want to take their time and ensure they’re spending wisely. This is especially true in B2B, where products and services can cost tens of thousands of dollars or more.
So, plan to follow up with prospects multiple times and focus on building strong relationships each time you connect.
Step 10: Progress Tracking
Finally, take a good look at your sales funnel. Is it working well for your sales team? If not, what’s holding it back?
Focus on your b2b sales funnel conversion rates at each stage. They won’t be perfect, but if you see a big drop from one stage to the next, it might be time to tweak your B2B sales funnel strategy or tactics.
Remember, a successful funnel today might not work tomorrow.
Customer preferences, competitors, and economic conditions change, so your sales funnel should adapt to stay effective.
Starting your first B2B sales funnel? Here are some practical steps from a Reddit user. Check it out!
Step 1- know who your target audience is…without this, you might as well not make a funnel.
Step 2- Find product market fit…Your audience is pretty good at telling you what they want and need, after you figure this out move to step 3.
Step 3- Know what you have to offer, and make it irresistible. You can’t market something if you aren’t crystal clear on what that thing is, what deliverables you will give etc.
Step 4- Reverse engineer your offer to create a free giveaway of some sort, checklist, mindset tips, Idk..what’s your niche?
Step 5- Create the freebie
Step 6- Create the opt-in (landing page)
Step 7- Promote your offer and fill your landing page up with traffic/leads
Step 8- Create nurture emails (i wouldn’t do more than 3 days of that) on Day 3 sell them what you offer.
Step 9- Tag the people in your marketing system as “did buy” or “did not buy”
Step 10- continue nurturing the “did not buy” list.”
5 Mistakes To Avoid When Creating B2B Sales Funnel
❌Absence of Solid CTAs:
A strong call to action (CTA) tells prospects exactly what to do. It sounds simple, but many B2B companies miss this. Studies show that personalized CTAs convert more prospects into leads than weak ones.
Another Secret? A great CTA creates a sense of urgency.
❌A Funnel With Too Many Steps:
If your funnel has too many steps, people might get confused and give up. Keep it simple and straightforward to hold their interest and boost conversions.
❌Poor Website Design:
In B2B, your website is integral in grabbing prospect attention early on. If your home and landing pages are hard to navigate, poorly designed, or have a dull copy, it’s time for a makeover!
❌Not Following Up:
Not all leads are ready to convert right away. They might need a nudge with follow-ups and a compelling reason to take action. If you’re not following up, you’re missing out on potential sales.
❌Ignoring Analytics:
B2B brands have massive untapped data, and sales funnel conversion stats are a big part of it. Analyzing this data can help fine-tune future campaigns, but many companies miss out by not using the right analytical tools.
Want to optimize your B2B sales funnel in 2024? Follow these three do’s shared on LinkedIn by Justin Heuff, Founder and CEO of Codex and Setly.ai.
“Here is the most cost-efficient and quicker way to optimize your B2B Sales Funnel in 2024
💡 Dos
✅ Boost Awareness with TOFU
↳ Increase your brand visibility and let potential customers know you exist.
✅ Optimize Your Content
↳ Engage with potential customers by providing valuable content that sets your brand apart.
✅ Measure Success
↳ Benchmark your performance and continuously improve your strategies.”
While I agree with them, give it a shot, and let me know if it works for you, too!
Conclusion
I’ve given you everything you need to build a killer B2B sales funnel. But let’s be real, it’s not going to be a walk in the park.
The good news? The right B2B CRM can make it much easier.
Take GrowMeOrganic, for example. It helps you track marketing campaigns, store contact details, and analyze funnel metrics. Plus, it has automation tools to schedule emails and manage leads without effort.
Honestly, I wouldn’t even consider building a B2B sales funnel without a solid CRM like GrowMeOrganic. So why not give us a shot? 🙂
Sign up for a free 14-day trial and see what it can do for you. I bet you’ll love it.
FAQs –
- What Is A B2B Sales Funnel?
A B2B sales funnel is a visual representation of the steps a potential customer goes through before making a purchase. It helps businesses understand and optimize their sales process, from initial contact to final sale.
- How To Build A B2B Sales Funnel?
To build a B2B sales funnel, start by identifying your target audience. Then, create content and campaigns to attract leads. Next, nurture these leads through personalized follow-ups. Finally, convert them into customers by offering tailored solutions and closing the sale.
- How To Build A B2B Sales Team?
Hire skilled sales professionals with industry experience to build a B2B sales team. Train them on your products and target market, and use data-driven strategies to track performance and optimize efforts.
- How Do You Create A Sales Funnel For Beginners?
Start by identifying your target audience and mapping out their journey. Then, create content for each stage: awareness, interest, decision, and action, guiding them step-by-step toward a purchase.
- How Do I Create A Sales Funnel In SaaS?
A sales funnel in SaaS begins with defining your stages, like awareness, interest, decision, and action. Then, use tools like CRM software (GrowMeOrganic) to track leads and optimize each stage to guide prospects toward a purchase.
- What Does A Good Sales Funnel Look Like?
A good sales funnel guides prospects smoothly from awareness to decision, with clear stages and metrics to track progress. It should be optimized to minimize drop-offs and maximize conversions at each step.
- What Are The Differences Between A B2B Sales Funnel And a B2B Marketing Funnel?
A B2B sales funnel focuses on converting leads into customers through direct interactions, like sales calls and demos. A B2B marketing funnel aims to generate and nurture leads through activities like content marketing and social media engagement.
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