Your business is built on sales generated by satisfied customers. You can increase your sales by tracking, analyzing, and improving your sales funnel. The key to improving your sales is to understand the sales funnel and how you can manipulate it for your business. There are many strategies that you can implement to increase your sales and optimize your sales funnel.
Utilizing the Sales Funnel
The sales funnel is the process of converting potential sale leads into actual sales. There are 5 steps in the sales funnel for any business. Customers can enter and leave the sales funnel at any time. An example of a successful marketing campaign is when customers don’t leave the sales funnel or abandon their purchases.
- Awareness
- Customers first find out about your brand through the internet, sponsored ads, reviews from friends and family, the news, etc.
- Initial contact can happen in a positive, negative, or neutral light
- You want to control the first time a customer interacts with your brand and ensure that it’s a positive experience
- Discovery
- Customers decide if they’re interested in your product
- Gain exposure by posting on social media or sponsoring ads
- Evaluation
- After the initial discovery, customers will look at your products and decide if they’re right for them
- Your task is to answer customers’ questions, soothe their concerns, and stand apart from the competition
- Intent
- Customers are getting ready to purchase your product or service
- Customers may not purchase right away, and might instead stop after putting items in their cart
- Purchase
- Customers complete their purchase
- If customers contact customer service, act quickly to not lose their interest or sale
- Loyalty
- Customers refer your product or service to friends and family
- They become repeat customers
