The role of CRM in the B2B funnel by SalesForce

As business-to-business sales and marketing people, we spend a lot of time thinking about funnels. We worry when we’re not loading enough prospects in the top. We obsess over the best ways to accelerate them through to sale. And our conversions are never, ever good enough.

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The B2B funnel is a seductive metaphor, implying as it does that a broad universe of candidate customers will drop relentlessly and gravitationally towards becoming a bottom-line sale. Of course, it doesn’t quite work that way – prospects can get stuck at any stage and even exit back out the top of the funnel altogether. But, as a way of looking at a broad journey from ignorance and apathy through to commitment and sale, the funnel is about the best metaphor we have.

The problem of the fuzzy funnel

While the sales funnel is a useful way to view the B2B sales process, it is still almost universally difficult for most sales and marketing professionals to say with any certainty how many prospects can be found at any stage of the funnel.

There will be some broad numbers at the top (normally corresponding to the size of the company’s marketing database). Then there will be those prospects who’ve engaged with any recent marketing campaign, they might be lumped together into a mid-funnel group. While any that are beginning to be actively engaged with sales will be at the bottom of the funnel.

As useful tools go, this kind of funnel-vision isn’t going to help a great deal.

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Recipe for a better B2B funnel

Any really useful solution will need to show sales and marketing precisely which prospects are at any individual stage of the sales funnel. It will help them determine what needs to happen next. And it will deliver clarity about when that action has happened.

Fortunately, many B2B companies already have the answer: their CRM system. While CRM has generally been more of a focus for sales than marketing, it offers the possibility of turning the sales funnel into a far more actionable tool –if, that is, it is set up correctly.

Why you should never bet on a sale

CRM has been around for a long time. Over that period, it’s moved from a glorified rolodex to a fully integrated system that delivers throughout the sales cycle. In some companies, however, it still needs to come fully into the 21st century.

The tell-tale sign will be how prospects are assigned a probability of being closed and delivering revenue. Traditionally, this has often been done on a gut-feel probability. Had a good meeting? Increase it to an 80% chance of a sale. Had a bad meeting? Drop it to 30%.

This is precisely why so many traditional sales forecasts are so inaccurate. Fortunately, there is a better way.

Opportunity stages – a more accurate way to predict sales success

Thankfully, old-school guesswork is now being replaced by something far more accurate: opportunity stages.

With opportunity stages, the sales process is divided up into a series of easily observable phases. They will differ from company to company, market to market. But, for example, a sale may have 6 stages:

1. Prospect downloads content and opts-in for further contact
2. They complete an ROI assessment
3. They have an initial consultation with sales
4. They get a proof of concept
5. Sales scopes out a potential solution
6. They negotiate costs and agree the sale

Every company will be different – selling high-speed rail infrastructure will be more complex that selling air-conditioning. But hopefully you get the point.

The birth of a better B2B funnelThe example above is, of course, entirely fictitious. But you can see that it will be absolutely obvious when a prospect crosses from one stage into a new one. Once they do, all sales and marketing’s efforts can be focused on what needs to happen to move them to the next stage, and the next, and the next.

The key is that CRM can help you track every opportunity through every step of the funnel. That means you know what content to send each prospect; what interactions you really want to have; and what next steps are most important.

As you will no doubt have noticed, this is in reality a B2B sales funnel. Importantly, however, it is one with hard numbers attached and which is far more clearly actionable than what many businesses use today.