If you’ve noticed your business growth slowing down, you might be tempted to pump more leads into your sales funnel. That makes sense, as more leads can feel like you’re making progress. But, that’s not necessarily how it works. You might not actually have a lead generation problem, and therefore pumping more leads into your funnel isn’t going to boost growth. You might have a conversion problem, which means focusing on your conversion strategy. Rather than chasing new leads, put the existing ones to good use. Marketing might bring in a significant amount of traffic, but unless your sales funnel is able to convert that traffic into sales and revenue, you’re not going to move forward.
Marketing and Sales: Are Yours Disconnected?
You might be bringing in lots of leads, but are you closing them? Your marketing efforts might be working, but are you just as successful in sales? There’s a lot that goes into modern marketing, and tools, techniques and strategies have evolved a lot in recent years. If your marketing efforts are working, you’ll notice that you’re generating awareness, building a loyal audience and attracting leads. But, that doesn’t mean that more sales are guaranteed. Unless you have a strong connection between marketing and sales, you’re not necessarily going to see the results you want to see.
There’s a lot of things that can go wrong between marketing and sales, such as leads being passed on too early. If marketing hands leads over to sales before they’re ready to buy, they’re likely to fall through the net. Similarly, if your sales team doesn’t follow up fast enough, there’s a risk of leads getting bored and going elsewhere. You might also find that your messaging isn’t aligned between the two; your marketing team promises one thing, but your sales pitch says the opposite. Even strong leads don’t turn into buyers straight away, not without a bit of timely and strategic nurturing.
This disconnect between marketing and sales is something that all businesses struggle with, and it’s not reserved for brand new startups or inexperienced SMEs. Good marketing creates interest, but only a structured, aligned strategy can turn that interest into sales. If you’re struggling, it’s time to improve your sales funnel.
More Leads Won’t Solve the Problem and Here’s Why
A lot of business owners make the mistake of assuming that more leads equals more revenue. But, that’s not the case. In fact, more leads can actually highlight problems, showing you that your sales funnel needs to be improved. Your website might be generating hundreds of leads per month, but you’re probably only converting a small percentage. You don’t need more leads to increase sales, you just need to increase that percentage. By improving your sales funnel, you bring in more customers, without having to spend more to generate leads.
How to Improve Your Sales Funnel and Conversion Strategy
If you’re not trying to improve your sales funnel, why not? To make the most of your existing leads – and stop wasting opportunities to make sales – you need to focus on sales funnel performance, but increasing the number of leads you have.
- Audit Your Sales Funnel – It’s impossible to fix problems that you can’t see, which is why you need to audit your sales funnel. Take a deep dive into your sales funnel, from the initial point of contact with a lead to the closed deal, and try to work out where leads drop off. The more you know about your sales funnel, the easier it is to make effective improvements.
- Refine Lead Qualification – Ask any sales expert, and they’ll tell you that not all leads are created equal. Without clear qualification criteria, your sales team could end up chasing dead ends and leads that are unlikely to be lucrative. This is why it’s a good idea to implement lead scoring, segment your audience and make sure only leads that are ready to be converted are handed over. The rest won’t go to waste, they just need to be nurtured until they’re ready.
- Put Lead Nurturing Campaigns Into Action – A lead that isn’t ready to buy right now could be your best customer in six months, so make sure you stay in touch. You don’t want to miss out on a successful lead, simply because they weren’t quite ready to buy. Use automated workflows, personalised emails and informative, valuable content to keep them engaged until they’re ready to commit. Every interaction should build trust and move them closer to buying.
- Align Messaging Across Your Teams – Don’t fall into the trap of having disconnected marketing and sales teams, which tends to be caused by misaligned messaging. Your marketing and sales messaging should feel like a seamless continuation, slowly guiding a lead from one stage to another. Make sure your sales reps know what promises and offers leads have seen, so they can follow on from there. Use shared resources and collaborative meetings to stay on the same page.
- Follow Up with Speed and Consistency – When it comes to closing a deal, speed matters. Leads are most engaged in the first few hours after converting, so don’t leave it too long to make a sale. Make sure your sales team follows up quickly and consistently, not just once, but multiple times. You need to be persistent and professional, without being pushy.
Improve Sales Funnel: Why Partner with Profici?
At Profici, we understand that improving a sales funnel doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not a case of searching online and immediately putting plans into action. That’s why we help businesses to bridge the gap between lead generation and conversion. Real business growth happens after a lead has been captured, and that’s what we focus on. We’re not here to focus on marketing, nor are we here to do nothing but close deals. We’re an end-to-end sales and marketing partner, providing the support you need to make your sales funnel work for you. From generating interest to closing deals, we support your entire customer journey.
- Improve Sales Funnel – We build clear, structured sales funnels that guide leads from becoming aware of your business to taking action, and we help you to identify where your process can be improved. Then, we get to work making those improvements.
- Lead Nurturing Systems – Leads don’t nurture themselves, and not every lead will automatically be ready to convert, which is why we put the right systems in place. We set up the tools, automation and content needed to keep leads warm and moving forward, until they’re ready to bite.
- Sales Resources – There’s a lot that goes into sales, but we make sure that your team has everything you need. From messaging and scripts, to systems and processes, we make sure they have everything they need to follow up effectively and close as many deals as possible.
- Marketing and Sales Alignment – If you’ve spent any time marketing and selling, you’ll know that the two don’t align automatically. That’s why we prioritise bringing both sides together, aligning goals, messaging and processes, making sure that no leads get lost between the two.
- Analytics and Reporting – There’s no point improving your sales funnel and investing in a better conversion strategy if your efforts aren’t working. This is why analytics and reporting is so important. We track what matters – including lead quality, funnel performance and conversion rates – to ensure that you’re on the right check.
Get the Most Out of Your Sales Funnel and Conversion Strategy
Every lead you capture is a potential sale, but boosting your sales isn’t about generating more leads. It’s all about converting more of what you already have. At Profici, we’re here to help you close the loop between marketing and sales, and eventually close more deals. Whether you need better lead nurturing, improved sales follow-ups or sales funnel support, we’ve got you covered. Get in touch to find out more.
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