By Ed Pierce, President of ITA Communications. Fleet.
The Sales Funnel is a proven representation of progress in the world of sales, and it is a common illustrative of the sales pipeline for management. However, the funnel has been useful among marketers in depicting the advancement of marketing opportunities, too.
Curiously, there has been scant consideration of a Sales & Marketing Funnel beyond the basic four elements of customer relationship building — Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Yet, in the world of B2B, it takes a combination of interacting sales and marketing tactics to drive sales. These functions are so closely related that they often instigate unwarranted confusion.
Separating one feature from the other is a daunting task simply because both functions are closely intertwined. However, the marketing funnel guides potential customers through the entire journey; from the first time they interact with a brand, all the way to the point where they develop the urge to buy a product or service.
A marketing funnel helps prospects get to know a brand. It also enables businesses to visualize their buyer’s journey through a sales support marketing strategy in a system measuring lead generation and lead nurturing.
Besides, marketing is a broad function that encompasses diverse commercial activities and is generally associated with sales as one of its core activities. The sales funnel can be defined as a guide to a sales prospect from the takeover stage (marketing) to conversion. That said, it’s good to remember that sales and marketing share one funnel, and together, sales and marketing are how B2B business is won!
The following Sales & Marketing Funnel depicts this integrated view:
Too many B2B companies treat marketing – advertising, the website, brochures, even the budget – as a discrete line item. Yet, as the sales and marketing funnel reflects, the benefits of marketing and sales strategies, especially when the buying cycle is long, are too interwoven to attribute specific contributions. More importantly, there’s no need for a commercial enterprise to create artificial marketing and sales silos.
By expanding management’s “funnel vision,” the interactivity between the two, or better yet, the synergies created by an integrated sales and marketing approach, give companies a competitive edge, speed the sales process, and improve sales funnel throughput.
As always, if you have a specific marketing issue or question, contact me at ITA Fleet Communications, Phone: 484-957-1246. Email: [email protected].
