What you don’t know about your sales funnel

January 30, 2012

We all think and talk about our sales funnel a lot.  We’re always saying things like:

  • We need to keep it full.
  • We need to stay active with the prospects that have been in it for awhile.
  • On average, it takes a prospect X months to move through it.
  • And so on….

But consider the statistic to the right.  60% of your sales efforts are what happens before you have actively put someone into the funnel.  In other words — it’s not you who is doing the selling.

Who is?

  • Your existing customers
  • The customer who left and is working with your competitors
  • Your vendors
  • Your website
  • Review sites
  • Your social presence (or lack thereof)

How much do you know about your pre-funnel sales machine?  Do you know what’s being said?  Maybe the bigger question — how should you be influencing those conscious and accidental sales efforts?

Think about how you shop — whether it’s for work or something for home.  Do you beeline for a salesperson or sales collateral?  Or do you do a little bit of investigating first?

Get out a piece of paper and do this exercise.  Write down the bullet points I have above (starting with your existing customers) and next to each bullet point — describe what you would ideally like a prospect to hear/see/experience from each source.

Then — go to each source and see what’s actually being said/experienced.   I’m guessing you’ll identify some areas that require your attention.

After all — your prospects are paying attention to these sources — shouldn’t you?

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