Sales Funnels Part 2: B2B Complete Guide

The comprehensive guide towards developing a comprehensive annual strategic B2B funnel system from research/data-informed strategies to build on strategies then into the exact tools to be used for execution.

Step 1: Define your target.

Yes we know. Sounding like a broken record along with all the other gurus but honestly, you need to get deep into the psyche of who your customers are and what they are thinking. What we're telling you as well is to use data-informed decisions when it comes to defining your target. As a B2B if you have zero data (i.e. your target's industries, case uses by these target, their existing vendors, internal processes, estimated lead time, and their social habits), you need to spend a month to gather these data. How you can do so is by first, assessing your existing clientele and where did they come from i.e. what created the awareness for them and their background. Invaluable insights include: previous vendors used, their feedback of the programs used, pain points inspiring the change/use of your product, and potential barriers to making the switch. Then, define the personas' effort and value measurables. E.g. Mid-tier management of X industry using X products are low effort, high value.

Step 2: Develop the awareness umbrella.

Based on the responses you have developed from target persona definition, you need to allocate a larger amount of effort into the awareness. Large awareness then spills into small trickles. Typically for a B2B awareness funnel stage, these are the common tactics used to drive awareness:

ONLINE

1. Social media (content marketing)- B2Bs typically use LinkedIn and Facebook due to the target audience of these social networks.
2. Social buys - Running ads on these social networks to improve reach.
3. Forum-based - Posting ads or free posts of your software e.g. Reddit, Quora.
4. Search engine optimisation/ Answer Engine Optimisation - Basically Google ranking.
5. Search engine marketing - Paid Google Ads.
6. Cold Contact - There are plenty of database tools available such as Apollo.io, LEMList, etc.

OFFLINE

1. Key partnerships - E.g. Accounting softwares work with Accountants for use with their clientele.
2. Offline events/conventions - Putting up booths at relevant conventions. Can be used across different funnel trickles.
3. Human Resources - Hiring key individuals who have access to industry players to bring forth their contact list.
4. Chamber of Commerce - Joining chambers of commerce to outreach to key audiences.
5. Joining key networks - There are key networks relevant to your target audience such as a professional board.

How to implement this across the board? You may use a manual tool such as Google Sheets aligned with Google Calendar. If you have a bigger budget, we would suggest using Motion AI tied with Zapier and your CRM.

Step 3: They're interested. Sustain their attention.

To drive interest, you must have solid fundamentals i.e. good product features backed by content development such as blog posts, workshops, lead magnets, webinars, workshops, etc.

This is the common workflow for campaigns:
1. Online campaigns with hyperlink into:
2. Landing page or blog posting which drives viewer to:
3. Fill out demo/contact form.

Sales however is not linear; Clients may immediately skip the above steps and go into the desire aspect in which they will engage a free trial. It's important to provide access to both for whichever stage they may be in.

Step 4: Get that desire.

When making that demo, it is so important to refine your message and how you approach the clientele. The few key aspects that need to be included are:

1. Company background (as an introduction)

2. Product benefits (not features)

3. Product comparison vs competitors

4. Packaged pricing

5. Support provided

6. MOST IMPORTANT: PROMOTION OFFERED

Promotion offered is the most important that should be placed there in order to provide an urgency with a limited joining offer. This must be compelling enough that it makes your clients truly value this experience.

Remember: This process is to ensure that they know your product is a MUST-HAVE and your offer is UNMISSABLE.

Step 5: Action

There is nothing much to say about this step aside from its time for your clientele to take action. Remember to set follow up sequences and to lock in that client. Remember, when they say yes - the onboarding process is extremely important too so ensure that you have one set up. This may include a signup form and an internal process which allows you to extract important data in order to ensure the client can be integrated in the system whilst making sure your team is prepared to undertake work with the client. An internal workflow system is essential too.

If the use of your service/product may incur specific technical aspects, tutorials and guides need to be provided for your customer's success experience.

Step 6: Post-Action

What makes you different from other service providers now that you have this client? We can confidently say: relationship. If you're operating on a large scale, chances are you would not have the right type of resources to touch base with your client in a one-to-one basis. Especially if your services are priced on a lower tier mass appeal format. But, what you can do instead is to develop the right type of ecosystem to ensure they can always reach for help when needed, they can obtain resources to explore more features of your product/brand, and there are ways to further upsell or continue on this post-purchase customer journey aside from a 1 off purchase.

If you are holding larger scale clientele where a stronger 1-to-1 relationship is needed, consider investing in the right personnel to build a strong connection or relationship with the client. In smaller firms in an indefensible business model position, the founders/directors may opt to do this part of the work.

It is also important to create a community around your product/service. Hence, Aressa.co looks into developing grassroot movements through events. Now think - how can I build a stronger grassroot connection with my clientele?

Looking to build your sales funnel?

Speak with an expert member of the team. Forget guesswork and trying to do everything yourself. Get help from people who have done it successfully.