Every business owner or sales executive dreams of growing their business. Unfortunately, doing so, let alone keeping their business profitable, has become more challenging now than ever. However, that dream can still be made into reality by developing a well-structured sales funnel model.

Interestingly, the sales funnel remains controversial. Still, many businesses rely on this model to attract new customers and hopefully gain their loyalty.

What is a B2B Sales Funnel?

A B2B sales funnel illustrates how prospects or leads are drawn and nurtured by the marketing and sales teams to convert them into paying customers. This is why various resources refer to sales funnels as the “customer’s buying journey.”

Imagine a funnel with its broadest part at the top. In the B2B sales funnel, prospects are drawn using both pull and push marketing strategies and “poured into” the funnel.  

The middle of the funnel represents the stages of the purchasing process. As prospects move to the narrowest part of the funnel, they begin to diminish for various reasons. Some may be stuck at one stage, while others may have dropped out altogether.  

The narrowest part of the funnel depicts the purchase stage. A prospect that has moved towards this part of the funnel is more likely to make purchases. So in this part of the funnel, purchase orders may be made, and deals may be closed. The prospect leaves the funnel as a new customer. 

How to Build a B2B Sales Funnel

You do not have to follow any specific rule when structuring a B2B sales funnel. But, you can create an ideal B2B sales funnel that works for your business. 

To do that, you have to analyze lead behavior and engagement throughout the stages of the buying process:

The Awareness Stage

At this stage, a B2B customer is actively looking for a known pain point or problem that they want to be solved. They scour through promotional ads, videos, blogs, etc. 

Suppose your company offers a solution for their pain point. In that case, they will be more likely to move towards the next stage. As the seller, your focus should be on improving your visibility to generate more leads.  

The Interest Stage

Prospects that move through the interest stage find your solutions relevant to their needs. Therefore, they would start doing further research and assessing their options. This is the best time to start a trusting relationship with your lead. Also, this is when the nurturing begins.

It’s best to focus on engaging with your leads. Provide the resources they may find interesting and valuable. Find out more about your leads through first-party data and third-party intent data. This allows you to fine-tune the content and information you must offer them. Provide the resources they may find interesting and valuable.

The Consideration Stage

At this point, you have captured your buyer’s attention. Your lead will share various products or solutions and their reviews with company stakeholders. They would begin interacting more with your sales team to determine how your solution can be integrated into their business. 

Be prepared to do pitches or product demonstrations. Show how your solutions address their pain points and add value to their business or operations. 

The Decision Stage

Your lead would start weighing the pros and cons of your solutions and comparing them with your competitors’. Remember that in B2B, the buying decision is made by a group of individuals or stakeholders. Win your leads over by allowing them to individually share their reservations with your offers. Cast away their doubts by re-establishing how your solution addresses their pain points. 

How to Simplify Your B2B Sales Funnel

Your sales team engages with prospects throughout the buying process. How they engage with your leads can make or break deals. This puts them under a lot of pressure and stress, affecting their performance.

A complex buying process causes prospects to lose interest and your sales team’s work to pile up. Instead of selling, they may be doing more non-sales-related tasks. Using tools that streamline communication and analyze qualified leads helps in simplifying the process. As an additional benefit, optimizing a sales funnel reduces costs and prevents time from being wasted. 

Who Is Your Ideal Customer Profiles

As previously mentioned, you need to constantly analyze your sales funnels to determine what works, what doesn’t, and how you can make your sales process better. But to do that, you must first optimize your sales funnel to draw leads in. Otherwise, your sales funnel serves no real value.

You cannot market to everybody. Therefore, you must know who your ideal customer profiles are. This way, you can come up with more appropriate and high-quality content. Here’s how to know your target audience:

• Check your client database. Find similar characteristics among your existing clients and consolidate the data.

• Create a list of your best clients. Your best customers may be those you’ve been serving the longest, provided the most profit, used the most services, etc.

• Find trends. Review your list and find patterns such as industry, location, company size, etc.

• Rank priorities. Map out your Ideal Customer Profiles by evaluating your list.  

Set up CRM

CRM technology promotes the effective management of sales funnels and is a total game-changer. It makes data more accessible and communication across departments more streamlined. Its automation allows sales reps to easily track leads and sales, improving productivity and efficiency.

Future Proof Your B2B Sales Funnel and Pipeline

The purpose of a B2B sales funnel, and sales pipeline is to drive new leads into purchasing. But more importantly, your ultimate objective should be growth.

There is no such thing as a perfect sales funnel or pipeline. People’s needs change over time, and your current sales and marketing strategies may fail in the long run. Fortunately, there are ways to future-proof your B2B sales funnels and pipelines.

The most important thing to do is continuously nourish your relationships with your customers. Show them you only want their best interests by personalizing solutions and simplifying processes. 

By keeping the tips we have shared with you above, we are confident that you’ll be able to meet your lead, sales, and marketing goals with more ease.