Sales Funnel – What is a Sales Funnel? How is it used?
Acquiring new customers can involve a long sales process in which the customer is identifying solutions to their problem, evaluating alternatives, and coming to a conclusion as to their desire to purchase. A sales funnel helps us visualize these processes. The stages of the funnel are defined as follows:
Awareness: A prospective customer becomes aware that a solution exists to solve their problem. This awareness may occur through a number of different marketing channels, such as a search engine, print media, or social media.
Interest: The prospective customer is conducting research to determine if the solution is suitable for solving their problem.
Evaluation: The customer is comparing feature sets and evaluating a competitor’s product offerings.
Decision/Negotiation: The customer has decided on the product or service and is now engaged in the negotiation process.
Purchasing Decision: The customer has made their purchasing decision.
In the next series of posts, we will discuss some of the different tools and strategies that can be employed to guide a prospective customer through the sales funnel and ultimately to a successful purchase decision.
