 WHAT IS SALES FUNNEL?

The sales funnel (also known as a revenue funnel or sales

process) refers to the buying process that companies lead
customers through when purchasing products. The definition also
refers to the process through which a company finds, qualifies,
and sells its products to buyers.

For example: The people at the top of the sales funnel walk by your
store. A certain percentage of them decide to walk in, that’s the next of the
funnel. A customer sees a rack of T-shirts on clearance. He or she thumbs
through the rack, now they’re at the next step of the funnel. Then the
customer selects four t-shirts and walks to the check-out. They’re at the
last step. If all goes well, they finish the purchase and reach the bottom of
the funnel.

A sales funnel can exist as-

Retail store
Sales team
Website
Email
Personal consultation
  4 MAIN STAGES OF SALES FUNNEL

t’s easy to remember the four sales funnel stages by the acronym AIDA:
Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action. These four stages represent
your prospective customer’s mindset.

Awareness:
This is the moment at which you first catch a consumer’s attention.
It might be a tweet, a Facebook post shared by a friend, a Google
search, or something else entirely. Your prospect becomes aware of
your business and what you offer.
When the chemistry is just right, consumers sometimes buy
immediately. It’s a right-place, right-time scenario. The consumer
has already done research and knows that you’re offering something
desirable and at a reasonable price.
More often, the awareness stage is more of a courtship. You’re
trying to woo the prospect into returning to your site and engaging
more with your business.
Interest:
 When consumers reach the interest stage in the sales funnel, they’re
doing research, comparison shopping, and thinking over their
options. This is the time to swoop in with incredible content that
helps them, but doesn’t sell to them.
If you’re pushing your product or service from the beginning, you’ll
turn off prospects and chase them away. The goal here is to establish
your expertise, help the consumer make an informed decision, and
offer to help them in any way you can.

Decision:
The decision stage of the sales funnel is when the customer is ready
to buy. He or she might be considering two or three options —
hopefully, including you.
This is the time to make your best offer. It could be free shipping
when most of your competition charges, a discount code, or a bonus
product. Whatever the case, make it so irresistible that your lead
can’t wait to take advantage of it.

Action:
At the very bottom of the sales funnel, the customer acts. He or she
purchases your product or service and becomes part of your
business’s ecosystem.
Just because a consumer reaches the bottom of the funnel, however,
doesn’t mean your work is done. Action is for the consumer and the
marketer. You want to do your best to turn one purchase into 10, 10
into 100, and so on.
In other words, you’re focusing on customer retention. Express
gratitude for the purchase, invite your customer to reach out with
feedback, and make yourself available for tech support, if applicable.

 SALES FUNNEL VS MARKETING FUNNEL

There is a slight difference in sales funnel vs marketing funnel. It turns out that
these terms can be interchanged, and breaking them up is tough. 

Marketing Funnel Sales Funnel

A marketing funnel is the On the other side, the sales funnel is

high-level strategy to guide the process whereby you plan to get
customers from absolutely people to take action — either logging
unaware of your brand to in to your email list, purchasing a
actual, loyal customers.  product, or participating in an event.
The phase of the marketing It’s a series of sites that are made to
funnel, therefore, start at seamlessly persuade a customer to go
raising awareness and make it from point A (i.e. be inquisitive about
to the end with conversion. your product) to point B (i.e
purchasing your product).

In that way, a sales funnel is actually a

part of the marketing funnel.

 HOW TO CONVERT A LEAD INTO VALUABLE

CUSTOMER?
 Practice active listening:
First and foremost, as the prospect is sharing their concerns, I will make
sure I am using active listening skills to take in what they’re saying.

While the prospect discloses their objections, listen to understand, not

respond. Avoid interrupting them while they are speaking, and give them
space to voice their concerns and objections freely.

Repeat back what you hear:

Once the prospect has stated their objections, repeat back what I have
heard to ensure I am understanding correctly. Not only will this help clarify
their points, but it will also help the prospect feel heard and valued, which is
important for building trust.

Validate the prospect’s concerns:

After confirming I understand where the prospect is coming from, continue

building trust by empathizing with the prospect, and validating their point of
view. No, that doesn’t mean you have to talk down on your product or
recommend a competitor.
For example, if you are selling automation software and your prospect is
worried about their ability to implement your software into their complex
system, you could say, "I understand, implementing new software can feel
like a daunting task. Thankfully, we have an incredible tech team that has
experience working with similar organizations, and can handle a seamless
transition for you."

Ask follow-up questions:

When I hear objectives, I want to do all you can to keep the conversation
going in a natural way. If I hear my prospect pulling back, asking follow-up
questions can be a tactful way to keep them talking.
Don’t ask questions that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no".
Make sure you ask open-ended questions that allow your prospect to
continue expressing their thoughts on your product. The more information
they provide, the more you have to work with to potentially turn the sale
around.

Leverage social proof:

Depending on the nature of the prospect’s concern, sharing the story of

another customer who had similar reservations and went on to see success
with your product can be a successful approach.
If I am in B2B sales, I can also share relevant information about the
prospect’s competitors and any success they’ve seen from overcoming a
similar objection.

Set a specific date and time to follow-up:

If the prospect asks for more time to think things over, give them the time
and space to weigh their options. However, don’t leave them hanging. Set
up a specific time and date to follow-up in the near future so too much time
doesn’t pass, and offer to answer any questions they have in the meantime
as they deliberate.

Anticipate sales objections:

Ultimately, the most effective strategy for handling sales objections is to

anticipate them happening. When one is prepared to have objections come
up, it’s far less likely to be thrown off the game.
Having a set of neutral recommendations ready to offer prospects when
objections arise can keep sales moving. Because I listened to the buyer
and explored their rationale rather than giving a knee-jerk response, they're
usually willing to hear out if there is a solution to be offered.
Keeping track of the objections one receive most often is also helpful. Once
knowing what to expect, one can devote extra time to practicing and
refining the responses.
  SALES FUNNEL WITH AN EXAMPLE
Imagine that you own an ecommerce business that sells vintage signs. You
know that your target audience hangs out on Facebook a lot and that your
target customers are males and females between 25 and 65 years of age.

You run a fantastic Facebook Ad that drives traffic to a landing page. On

the page, you ask your prospect to sign up for your email list in exchange
for a lead magnet. Pretty simple, right?

Now you have leads instead of prospects. They’re moving through the
funnel.

Over the next few weeks, you send out content to educate your subscribers
about vintage signs, to share design inspiration, and to help consumers
figure out how to hang these signs.

At the end of your email blitz, you offer a 10 percent coupon off each
customer’s entire first order. Bang! You’re selling vintage signs like crazy.
Everyone wants what you’re selling.

Next, you add those same customers to a new email list. You start the
process over again, but with different content. Give them ideas for gallery
walls, advise them about how to care for their signs, and suggest signs as
gifts. You’re asking them to come back for more.

There you have it:

Awareness: You created a Facebook ad to funnel (pun intended)

people to your website.
Interest: You offer something of value in exchange for lead capture.
Decision: Your content informs your audience and prepares them for
a purchase.
Action: You offer a coupon your leads can’t resist, then begin
marketing to them again to boost retention.