{"id":1480,"date":"2019-12-14T16:14:50","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T16:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/britopian.com\/?p=1480"},"modified":"2024-01-02T00:56:40","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T00:56:40","slug":"b2b-sales-funnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britopian.com\/influencer-marketing\/b2b-sales-funnel\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create a B2B Sales Funnel That Delivers Business Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"
There are three ways to think about the B2B sales funnel. First, you have to look at it from the buyer\u2019s standpoint and try to predict their journey. More on that is below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second, you must look at it from a B2B sales ad marketing funnel perspective and build digital marketing programs<\/a> to reach them in disparate channels. And third, there’s reality. No one knows the psychology of why buyers do what they do. We have to rely on data and indicators to help make more intelligent decisions to reach buyers at every stage of the marketing funnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A B2B sales funnel is a process enterprise brands use to understand how potential buyers (business and IT decision-makers) decide which products and services to buy. The insights are used by marketing and sales teams to build content marketing programs to reach these buyers at the different stages of the buying process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are hundreds of versions of the sales funnel stages. This post isn’t meant to reinvent the wheel or introduce a new sales funnel model. For the most part, they’re all the same. But to establish a baseline, let\u2019s quickly walk through the traditional sales funnel\u2013the awareness stage, consideration stage, preference stage, purchase, and loyalty (or advocacy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The awareness stage targets top-of-the-funnel digital marketing programs. Content here creates brand awareness<\/a>, thought leadership, and top-of-funnel messaging. At this phase of the B2B sales funnel, buyers seek information that helps them understand their needs and challenges related to a particular industry or market segment. In some cases, they might just be looking for new technology that will help them scale and drive innovation within their company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The consideration stage of the B2B sales funnel helps potential customers consider your product or service as an option to solve their business or technology problems. They will most likely be doing more research, comparing products and specs to each other, and cross-referencing that against their business requirements. The middle of the marketing funnel is when your potential customers will show interest but are not yet ready to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The preference stage of the sales funnel is where your potential customers are almost ready to decide on the purchase. They have already narrowed down 2-3 options and seek third-party validation from their peers, colleagues, analysis reports, the media, and influencers. The bottom-of-the-funnel stages is essential to generate quality leads and focus on customer relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The purchase stage is before potential buyers sign a contract and use your product or service. It’s not uncommon for buyers to ask a friend or colleague for validation right before signing the contract, so enterprise companies must continue to push messaging that reinforces their value proposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last stage in the B2B marketing funnel is loyalty. I prefer to call it advocacy. A happy and loyal customer will continue purchasing your product and renew their contract yearly. The customer advocate will do that and tell everyone they know about it. One of the main benefits of doing business is creating brand advocacy<\/a> by providing good products or services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n True success happens when sales and marketing can map their digital programs to the B2B sales funnel. This means they must understand B2B buyers’ behaviors at each phase of the marketing funnel. The B2B buyer’s journey is unique because every buyer is different. They use Google differently, they have conversations with various people differently, and they seek advice in forums, on social media, and over the phone differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few ways modern B2B companies can optimize the different sales funnel stages with content marketing. To be consistent, let’s use the classic sales funnel outlined above as an example\u2013awareness, consideration, preference, purchase, and advocacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat is the B2B Sales Funnel?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Optimize Your Marketing Funnel for the B2B Sales Pipeline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Building Brand Awareness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n