Sales Funnel Management Process: Complete Guide for Marketers

8 Min Read

A powerful sales funnel is a catalyst for long-term growth. It guides prospects through each stage of the purchasing process and can mean the difference between a near-miss and a long-term business relationship.

So if you’re looking to improve your sales processes and create better relationships with your customers, mastering sales funnel management is vital. In our detailed guide, you’ll learn why it’s crucial for your company’s success and how to accomplish it with ease.

What Is Sales Funnel Management?

Sales funnel management is the overseeing and improving a potential customer’s buying journey, from their first interaction with your business to making a purchase. Each funnel stage represents a different phase of that journey.

Brand awareness marks the entrance to the funnel. The desire to learn more falls in the middle, and loyalty lies at the end of the funnel. The better you can manage each of these stages, the smoother your customer’s journey will be.

Before we continue, if you’re looking for an article with more of a B2B slant, check out our B2B sales funnel piece.

Sales Funnel vs. Marketing Funnel

The marketing and sales funnels are distinct parts of the customer journey, though there is some overlap between the two. Like your sales funnel, your marketing funnel should revolve around making people aware of your brand and its products or services.

However, the outcomes are different. The marketing funnel ends with a customer taking a desired action that preps them for the sales team to take over, such as signing up for a newsletter. The sales funnel, as its name suggests, has a singular goal: getting people to buy something.

The marketing funnel feeds into the sales funnel and provides your team with qualified leads that they can nurture. You’ll need both funnels to achieve long-term growth.

• Learn more about sales funnels vs marketing funnels

Benefits of Sales Funnel Management

By getting better at funnel management, you can unlock many advantages. Some of the primary benefits of a sales funnel are:

1. Improved Lead Qualification

Virtually every experienced salesperson has wasted time working on a lead who never had any real purchasing intent. A great sales funnel helps prevent such scenarios through better lead qualification. You can vet prospects and make sure they genuinely want to learn more about what you have to offer.

2. Increased Sales Efficiency

Use your funnel to identify any parts of the sales journey that might be frustrating potential customers. Remove barriers that could slow down the purchasing process or cause people to give up on your products altogether.

3. Enhanced Customer Relationship Management

The funnel doesn’t end at the sale. Stay connected with your customers so you can encourage them to renew their subscriptions or buy more products from your company later on.

4. Better Sales Forecasting

Proper sales funnel management gives you insight into where prospects are in their journey, allowing for more accurate sales forecasting. You’ll be able to predict your revenue with greater confidence based on how many high-quality leads are in the pipeline and what stage of their journeys they are in.

5. Optimized Marketing Strategies

By analyzing your sales funnel, you’ll gain valuable insights into how your marketing efforts are performing. With that information, you’ll be able to help promote better teamwork between your sales and marketing teams.

Stages of Sales Funnels

The sales funnel consists of five distinct stages. Effective journey management requires that you understand what each stage entails and how best to connect with prospects during those steps in their purchasing process.

The sales funnel stages are as follows:

Stage 1: Awareness

Awareness sits at the top of the funnel. It’s the phase in which people learn about your business and its products or services. They’re often seeking information to solve a problem or meet a need, and in response, you want to grab their attention through content and advertising efforts.

Stage 2: Interest and Evaluation

In the middle of the funnel, you’ve piqued the person’s interest by providing a glimpse into your products or services. They are eager to learn more and may be comparing your offering with that of your competitors. It’s important to make detailed information easy to find and interact with.

In the business-to-business (B2B) space, you should focus on case studies, webinars, and product demos. If you target consumers, use creative advertisements that are fun and engaging to share more about your offer.

Stage 3: Desire

In the desire stage, your prospect is leaning toward purchasing your product or service. A few alternatives may still be in contention, but they feel strongly about your offering. Now’s the time to offer incentives or deliver personalized follow-ups to prime the prospect to take that final leap.

Stage 4: Action

At the bottom of the funnel, the prospect becomes a customer by making a purchase. At this point, your sales process should be frictionless. Offer a smooth checkout or contract-signing experience, and keep your new customer in the loop about their order’s status.

Stage 5: Loyalty and Re-Engagement

As mentioned earlier, the funnel doesn’t end just because a customer has made a purchase. The last of the five stages focuses on retaining customers and encouraging repeat business. That could involve follow-up emails, loyalty programs, or personalized offers to keep them engaged with your brand. Re-engaging customers who may have gone quiet is also key to maximizing their lifetime value.

How to Build a Sales Funnel

Your first step when building a sales funnel involves identifying your ideal customers. Make a list of the pain points they may be facing and the ways in which your product or service solves such challenges.

Next, create great, tailored content that meets the needs of prospects at every stage. You should focus on awareness and education when targeting prospects in the first and second stages. By stages three and four, audience members are primed for more direct messaging that spurs them to action.

With plenty of great content, it’s time to get those assets in front of prospective customers. Use a variety of marketing tactics and channels, including your website, social media, and Connected TV (CTV) advertising.

Getting leads into your sales funnel is only the start of the process. You need to manage their journey by consistently nurturing them with follow-up content. Personalized offers and fun, memorable ads are great tools for keeping them progressing through the funnel. Hand things off to your sales team to close the deal, then circle back with personalized marketing efforts to make your new clients feel appreciated.

Measuring Sales Funnel Success

Some key sales funnel metrics to help determine how effectively you are managing your sales funnel include the following:

• Conversion Rates: The percentage of people who move all the way through the funnel 
• Lead-to-Close Time: The time it takes to convert a lead into a customer 
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): The total revenue a person generates over their relationship with your business 
• Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): The amount of money you spend to acquire a new customer

You can get creative with these metrics to obtain more granular data about the customer journey. For example, you could track conversion rates between each stage of the sales funnel.

How to Optimize a Sales Funnel

Optimization is key to making sure your funnel runs smoothly and efficiently. Here are some sales funnel optimization tips to do just that:

• Ensure your messaging resonates with your target audience
• Use automated tools to keep people engaged
• Identify where leads are dropping out of the funnel
• Tailor your communications to each lead’s specific needs

Use these strategies to establish a fast and efficient funnel that keeps prospects motivated to learn more about your brand and make a purchase.

Sales Funnel Examples

You’ll need to tailor your sales funnel based on the needs of your business. For example, an ecommerce business might use targeted ads to raise awareness and offer special promos to create desires. They could follow up with personalized emails to drive action and periodically check in with new customers to encourage repeat business.

A software-as-a-service (SaaS) company might offer a free trial at the awareness stage. During the trial, they will nurture the client with email campaigns to encourage conversion.

• See more practical sales funnel examples

Performance TV: A Full-Funnel Solution

Managing your sales funnel can be challenging, but full-funnel marketing solutions like MNTN Performance TV can help you engage with prospects at every stage of their journey. MNTN provides comprehensive OTT advertising solutions, helping you nurture leads and promote loyalty after sales.

MNTN’s platform allows you to create performance marketing campaigns that target precise audiences. You can move your prospects from awareness to the action stage while building trust and nurturing long-term relationships.

Explore MNTN Performance TV today. Request a demo to get started.

Sales Funnel Management: Final Thoughts

Effective sales funnel management is essential for driving growth and making your business more efficient. By understanding your customer’s journey and optimizing each stage of the funnel, you can build better relationships and close more deals.