“If 50 million believe in a fallacy – it is still a fallacy”
– Prof. Samuel Warren Carey

What makes a healthy sales funnel?

Most people might debate quality and quantity, some might believe that it’s having all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed. But what is really needed?

  • Do you know how many leads you need to input into the top of your funnel to produce the revenue that you require in the way of orders? Do you really know your conversion rates from one phase of the funnel to the next?
  • Do you know the rate of progression of those leads through the funnel? The speed at which the buyer is able and willing to move from initial engagement to order placement.
  • Do you have a clear definition of your Ideal Client Profile in order that your team is engaging with those most likely to buy from you?
  • Have your sales team built the correct level of relationship with the different stakeholders and decision makers at the client? Are the right people in your organisation speaking with the right people in the client organisation?
  • Do you have opportunities that are rated at >90% probability to close that fail to materialise due to lack of budget or a competitor taking the business?
  • Do all members of your team use the same criteria to apply a percentage probability to an opportunity? Do they rate an opportunity from both a selection point of view (I want to buy from you) and a funding point of view (I have budget approved and released to place the order)?
  • Are there clearly defined actions, with dates committed to them or are there just vague ideas about what is going to happen next?
  • Do you have a clear definition of what constitutes a lost or “stuck” opportunity or do they hang around in the funnel, causing confusion and giving false hope?
  • Do the steps in your sales funnel align to the buying journey steps of your clients?

And the fallacy – that many misunderstand what constitutes a healthy sales funnel. They don’t understand conversion and progression rates and track these as health indicators for the funnel. They often don’t realise that funnel is misaligned with the buyer’s journey steps and is therefore unhealthy from the start.

If you are unsure about any of these questions, then you urgently need to run a health check on your sales funnel. This is the life blood of your company and one that needs to be healthy, functioning and one in which you have confidence.

Remember – if you don’t feed your funnel with the right kind and quality of RAW LEADS, progressing at the correct rate – then your revenue machine will either CLOG UP or worse, produce a PILE OF JUNK.

To learn more, please contact Leslie Hines of our Revenue Performance Management team or email our community.