Your sales funnel is simply the entire journey your target customers go through to eventually buy from you, from becoming aware of their problem to investing in your products or services.
By taking charge of it, you’ll finally control your lead generation (instead of wondering where the next purchase is coming from) and sell more. But to do that successfully, you must first understand the key B2B sales funnel stages.
You might be tempted to treat them like a B2C funnel. Don’t! B2B comes with additional challenges (and opportunities too, luckily).
Let’s go through them so that you can plan the right B2B sales pipeline stages for your company.
What makes a B2B sales funnel unique?
Some marketers insist B2B and B2C are the same because they’re really H2H, as in “human to human”.
Sure, we are still selling to people, but it’d be reckless to pretend that there isn’t a difference between B2C and B2B sales funnels. With the latter, there are some additional things to keep in mind or do:
- B2B usually involves multiple stakeholders and decision-makers with different concerns and priorities (like managers, finance, and HR), not just one person buying something for themselves
- B2B customers tend to care a lot more about ROI, so there’s a bigger emphasis on case studies, testimonials, and data
- While there are some things you can do to shorten B2B sales funnels, they’re still longer. B2C can even be immediate, like showing a strong ad to an impulse buyer. On the contrary, B2B sales take +100 days on average!
- It can be harder to stand out from competitors, especially in a saturated B2B market. So, you’ll need to prove you know what you’re talking about (for example, through thought-leadership content)
- It’s vital to nurture your leads consistently, with the right touchpoints and personalisation
- What happens after that initial purchase matters too, because long-term relationships are key for B2B companies (but guess what? This offers you interesting opportunities too, like upselling)
5 key B2B sales funnel stages
Now that you’re clear on what makes a B2B sales funnel different, let’s plan one that overcomes its main challenges and harnesses its unique opportunities.
The best part? ScoreApp, our quiz building platform with a big focus on lead generation, can maximise each of your B2B sales funnel stages.
1. Awareness stage
Your potential customers understand their biggest problem or need, and in some cases, they also find out about your company.
So, the main goal is to reach them and trigger that “aha moment”, especially through content that educates them or entertains them (let’s ditch the myth that B2B is boring!).
For now, you’re basically getting people’s attention and boosting your brand awareness.
Example tactics
- Educational blog posts (for example, “Why am I not getting clients through my website?”)
- Thought-leadership content that sets you apart from competitors
- Social media content and videos
- Podcasts
- Collaborations
- Paid ads
- SEO
Key B2B sales funnel metrics
Impressions, traffic, and engagement
How ScoreApp can help
To reach, educate, and engage more people, you could create a shareable ScoreApp quiz that helps them become aware of their problem.
For example, a content marketing agency could lead with “Why is your growth stagnant?”, targeting businesses that are still relying on referrals because they haven’t got a marketing strategy in place.
2. Interest stage
Once you’ve got their attention, you must retain it and stay in touch with these leads.
Your target customers (who are now clear on their problem) are starting to look at how it can be solved. They might also want to find out more about your company.
So, while you make this easier for them, focus on capturing their contact details, too. Without this, you can’t get full control of your B2B lead generation sales funnel.
Example tactics
- Educational blog posts (for example, “How can I reach more customers on Google”)
- Whitepapers
- Lead magnets
- Guest posts
- Webinars
- Industry-specific events
- Email marketing
Key B2B sales funnel metrics
Lead magnet downloads, new subscribers, and click-through rates
How ScoreApp can help
You can either have a separate quiz for people who are already problem-aware or use your initial lead magnet to educate them through insightful results and emails.
For example, the quiz titled “Why is your growth stagnant?” could show businesses (= not problem-aware yet) that this is caused by their lack of a marketing strategy.
Now that they’re problem-aware, educate them with relevant content by connecting your ScoreApp quiz with your email marketing platform.
And because your quiz can segment your new leads based on their answers, you’ll get to do this automatically and in a personalised way throughout your remaining B2B sales funnel stages. Smooth and effective!
3. Consideration stage
Time to help your potential customers make the perfect choice… which may or may not be your B2B product or service!
Of course, you’ll want to make the right ones see that YOU are the bridge between their current problem and their ideal outcome. So, answer their questions, reframe their concerns, and show them the value of your solution through sales enablement content.
But at the same time, you should discourage the wrong-fit people from getting in touch. Otherwise, you’d waste a tonne of time, energy, and money talking to them or dealing with returns and complaints.
Luckily, the right content will do both!
Example tactics
- Product-centric and comparison blog posts (for example, “How our video marketing service will boost your visibility”)
- Product pages
- Email marketing
- Case studies
- Testimonials and social proof
- Featured reviews on relevant websites and publications
Key B2B sales funnel metrics
Time spent on your product pages, click-through rates, and case study downloads
How ScoreApp can help
Your post-quiz sequence can do all this for you, through the email content itself and by linking to additional resources, like blog posts and videos.
Plus, because you get to personalise them based on someone’s quiz answers, these emails will be even more relevant and effective.
For example, if someone’s quiz results showed they haven’t got a good social media strategy, your email sequence could focus on that, highlighting how much it’s costing them. At the same time, someone whose main problem is “no website traffic” would get a different nurturing sequence… all automatically!
4. Intent stage
This is when you can expect the first “commitment” from your target customers (and of course, you should encourage it).
They might not be ready to make a purchase yet but they could get in touch or sign up for your free trial.
Example tactics
- Offering demos
- Educational blog posts (for example, to show them whether or not they’re ready for that investment)
- Sharing more sales enablement content
- Email marketing
- Offering free trials
- Sending a proposal
- Inviting someone on a call
Key B2B sales funnel metrics
Number of new enquiries, demos or sales calls booked, free trial sign-ups, and proposals acceptance rates
How ScoreApp can help
Make the right offer for each lead based on their ScoreApp quiz results and how they interacted with your email sequence.
For example, you could recommend the best product for them or invite them on a call with a personalised message that references their situation, problem, or goal. Much more effective than a generic “Are you free for a call?”
5. Decision stage
Almost there! These prospects have a strong buying intent, but you must make it a no-brainer for them to follow through with it.
So, your B2B marketing and sales should work together to smoothen this process.
Example tactics
- Sharing sales enablement content with your sales team
- Lead scoring to tell if someone is ready
- Personalised follow-ups
- Discounts and incentives
Key B2B sales funnel metrics
Close rate and average deal size
How ScoreApp can help
Your sales team doesn’t have to start from scratch!
Give them access to ScoreApp and your email marketing platform: they’ll see each lead’s answers and how they interacted with your email sequence (or if you are the one doing the calls, go through that again to prepare for them).
That way, your salespeople will get to tailor their approach and conversation accordingly.
Or if you sell a B2B product or SaaS, use each lead’s quiz answers to customise your email sequences after they sign up for a trial. You’ll help them familiarise themselves with the most relevant features based on their challenges and goals, until it’s time to upsell a paid plan.
Post-sale: B2B customer retention and advocacy
You’ve got a sale (yay!), but your work isn’t done.
What you do after that purchase will influence how long that customer stays with you, how satisfied they are, and whether or not they recommend you to their peers.
You should also review your B2B sales funnel stages regularly to improve them even further.
So, overall, your goals now are customer retention and funnel optimisation.
Example tactics
- Strong and personalised onboarding
- Customer support
- Loyalty and referral programmes
- Feedback
- Analytics and A/B testing
Key B2B sales funnel metrics
Customer lifetime value and referral rates
How ScoreApp can help
Use your ScoreApp quiz answers to improve your B2B customer experience and relationships.
You’ll get to tailor your onboarding, upsell and cross-sell relevant offers based on someone’s needs and preferences, and get feedback, showing your customers you genuinely care about their opinions.
Take control of your entire B2B sales funnel with ScoreApp
By implementing the right funnel, you’ll finally master your lead generation and turn more of those prospects into clients on repeat.
ScoreApp helps with every single B2B sales funnel stage. So, what are you waiting for?! Create your lead-generation quiz today and for FREE.
