If you're a B2B marketer, you will definitely be familiar with the marketing funnel and how buyer behaviour changes throughout the funnel BUT have you analysed your sales & marketing teams' alignment in parallel to the funnel. If your B2B organisation is struggling to generate and convert leads then read on about how to implement a full funnel marketing approach.
THE THREE STAGE FUNNEL
In its simplest form, there is the top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU), and the bottom of the funnel (BOFU). The exact definitions of these stages are fluid, but for the most part, the top is problem awareness, the middle is solution consideration, and the bottom is the product decision.
According to Forrester Research, 74% of B2B buyers conduct more than half of their research online before making an offline purchase, i.e. being at the BOFU and the product decision stage. It is therefore imperative that:
- The Marketing team has mapped out the buyer journey and has created an inbound marketing campaign to drive traffic to the organisation's website including elements such as Blogs, SEO, Social Media and Email Nurture Campaigns for leads to enter the Top-of-the-funnel (TOTF) and progress down the funnel.
- The Sales & Marketing teams are completely aligned in the Middle-of-the-Funnel (MOTF) and understand what constitutes a Marketing and Sales Qualified Lead (MQL and SQL) and how to prioritise them. They also have a clear idea of roles and responsibilities and transparency here. (Often a connected marketing automation and CRM platform will help them communicate internally).
- Equal importance is given to all three stages of the funnel - it is important not to place emphasis on one stage of the funnel or to argue which is now the more important function - sales or marketing - see below a recent Linked In Post. They are both equally important and a smooth progression from each stage is vital. It can be seen that many commentators are suggesting a lesser role for sales in the sales & marketing funnel due to the impact of the digital environment but the efficacity of the sales in this stage is critical.
Finally, it is also important that your B2B organisation takes a closed loop approach to the funnel so customer feedback and other data driven insights are fed back in to improve overall funnel perfomance.
Ambitious companies wanting to grow and embrace the digital age, can really progress by visualising and applying this funnel to their sales & marketing functions. Improvements can quickly be made - by doing anything from setting up performance metrics for each team through to something as simple as setting more regular sales & marketing meetings.
At Resourceful Marketing, we are inbound marketing experts who can help you implement a full funnel integrated sales & marketing approach. If you'd like our help, we are offering a FREE full funnel consultation session. 
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