B2B Sales Funnel: Complete Guide for Marketers

by The MNTN Team

8 Min Read

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing professionals need a clear grasp of this industry’s specific sales funnel so they can create more holistic strategies for capturing new clients. Whether you’re new to B2B marketing or looking to optimize your existing processes, the following guide can help you better understand and leverage the B2B sales funnel.

What Is a B2B Sales Funnel?

A B2B sales funnel comprises the journey that potential business clients go through from the moment they learn about your offerings to the point that they make a purchase. Prospective clients enter the funnel at the awareness stage and (assuming they like your products or services) progress to the bottom of the funnel — where conversion and loyalty lie.

A well-structured B2B sales funnel can help businesses understand what stage their prospects are at at any given time so all marketing and sales efforts can be tailored accordingly. It’s important to present prospects with materials relevant to the stage of the funnel they are currently in.

B2B Sales Funnel vs. B2B Marketing Funnel

Marketing and sales funnels are related, but they are not the same. The B2B marketing funnel focuses on generating and nurturing leads through targeting marketing activities like email campaigns, social media, and Connected TV (CTV) advertising.

In contrast, the B2B sales funnel focuses on converting those leads into paying customers through the sales process.

To help you visualize the difference, imagine the marketing funnel feeding into the sales funnel. After you’ve connected with prospects through your marketing efforts, the intended outcome is that they enter into the awareness stage of the sales funnel.

Learn more about sales funnels vs marketing funnels.

Benefits of a B2B Sales Funnel

The B2B sales funnel can be an invaluable tool for your organization as it seeks to acquire and retain business clients. Some of the greatest sales funnel benefits include:

1. Increased Lead Generation

A well-structured B2B sales funnel will help you attract more qualified leads. By tailoring your approach to each stage of the funnel, you’ll reach potential buyers at the right time with the right messaging — increasing the likelihood that they’ll engage with your business.

2. Enhanced Customer Insights

A sales funnel visualizes the customer journey and allows you to gather valuable data about your leads as they move through each stage. With that in mind, you can identify points where leads tend to leave the funnel and figure out how to keep them on the path toward a purchase. The ultimate goal is to get as many leads to convert as possible.

3. Improved Sales Forecasting

Because a B2B sales funnel visualizes the entire buyer’s journey, it allows you to better predict sales outcomes. Understanding where prospects are in the funnel enables more accurate sales forecasting, helping your business set realistic revenue goals.

4. Streamlined Sales Process

By using a defined funnel, your sales team can follow a structured process that reduces guesswork. The funnel clarifies the next steps and actions that should be taken at each stage, ensuring a smoother sales cycle.

5. Higher Conversion Rates

Most importantly, a B2B sales funnel can help your marketing team increase conversion rates. When you understand the entire purchasing journey, you can identify and remove points of friction that may be preventing prospects from making a purchase. You can also proactively manage your marketing campaigns to adapt to changing client priorities and pain points.

B2B Sales Funnel Stages

The B2B funnel can be broken down into the following five sales funnel stages:

Stage 1: Awareness

At the top of the funnel, prospects are just becoming acquainted with your business. They may not yet know much about your offerings, but they recognize that they have a problem and need to invest in a solution. You’ll want to capture their attention through brand awareness efforts such as prospecting campaigns on CTV or social media.

Stage 2: Interest and Evaluation

In the middle of the funnel, your prospects are actively seeking more information about your products or services. Your goal at this point is to showcase your brand’s unique value proposition (UVP) and position your business as the ideal partner to help the client overcome their challenge. Whitepapers, webinars, and case studies are powerful marketing tools for nurturing a prospect’s interest in this particular stage.

Stage 3: Desire

Your prospects are now narrowing down their options, and your product or service remains in contention. They’ll compare your offerings to competitors and evaluate factors such as pricing, features, and customer testimonials. Now is the time for your sales team to step in and nurture the relationship, addressing any lingering concerns.

Stage 4: Action

The magic finally happens at the bottom of the funnel: The prospect makes a purchasing decision. They may commit to a demo, submit a request for proposal (RFP), or sign a contract. In any case, it’s up to you to provide a seamless experience and seal the deal.

Stage 5: Loyalty and Re-Engagement

Despite what you may think, the sales funnel doesn’t end at a conversion. Post-sale, your focus needs to shift to customer retention. You want to keep customers happy so that they renew their contracts or buy from you again in the future. Use re-engagement strategies like regular check-ins or exclusive offers to build and maintain strong relationships with your existing clients to maximize customer lifetime value (CLV).

How to Build a B2B Sales Funnel

Here’s a basic framework for funnel building:

Identify your target audience
Create top-of-funnel content
Generate and nurture leads
Engage your sales team
Provide post-sale support

One of the most important steps in building a B2B sales funnel involves creating great content. You need top-, middle-, and bottom-of-funnel content to connect with prospects no matter where they are in their journeys.

Make sure you are using a variety of channels, including Connected TV, social media, and your website. Incentivize engagement throughout the funnel by publishing valuable resources like white papers and case studies. These tools provide real-world insights about your products or services and the value your company offers.

Measuring B2B Sales Funnel Success

You won’t know if your sales funnel is efficient unless you’re paying attention to the right funnel metrics, such as:

Conversion rates
Lead-to-close time
Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
Average customer lifetime value

Each metric provides a piece of the puzzle. You’ll need to regularly analyze several complementary data points to understand the full story.

How to Optimize a B2B Sales Funnel

Funnel optimization is key to maximizing the effectiveness of your sales funnel, so make sure you do the following:

Tailor your content and messaging at each stage
Use personalized follow-ups and automated email sequences
Identify where leads drop out of the funnel and fix the problem
Implement tools that can help streamline processes and improve efficiency

It’s crucial to understand that B2B sales funnels aren’t set-it-and-forget-it, either. You must continuously monitor your funnel and proactively make changes. Client needs and your company’s product offerings will evolve, and your funnel needs to adapt right alongside them.

B2B Sales Funnel Examples

Let’s take a look at a few B2B sales funnel examples that illustrate how businesses across different industries implement funnels to drive conversions:

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Businesses in the SaaS industry often rely on demos, free trials, or freemium models to attract leads at the top of the funnel. They will then nurture them with email campaigns until they’re ready to upgrade.

B2B Manufacturing

Manufacturers may use targeted content marketing at the awareness stage. As prospects reach the middle of the funnel (read: the desire and action stages), manufacturers will deploy personalized outreach to speak to each client’s unique pain points.

Performance TV: A Full-Funnel Solution

Traditional television advertising lacks the attribution, targeting, and measurement capabilities that B2B marketers need to nurture and convert leads. However, MNTN Performance TV has made TV-based ads a viable option for B2B marketers.

With MNTN, TV can now play a significant role at every stage of your funnel. MNTN itself is a B2B advertiser that has achieved great success by using our platform to drive growth.

With MNTN Performance TV, you can engage B2B audiences at the awareness stage and continue nurturing them throughout the funnel with precision-targeted OTT ads. Your ads will be delivered alongside premium and engaging content on popular streaming platforms. More importantly, MNTN allows you to measure campaign performance and consistently optimize your funnel.

Request a demo to get started.

B2B Sales Funnels: Final Thoughts

A well-structured B2B sales funnel is one of the most valuable tools at your disposal. Understanding the stages and benefits of the funnel will help you achieve greater success in your B2B marketing efforts.