Why Do B2B Businesses Need A Sales Funnel?

Building the funnel for your prospects to follow is how you'll generate new leads, earn new business, and hopefully retain that business in the long term.

The funnel also keeps the sales process on track and helps your sales team guide their leads from one stage to the next.

Here are 5 B2B Sales Funnel Stages that every business must have to get & retain new customers.

1. Awareness: This isn't always necessarily awareness of you and your products or services. A prospect may become aware of something they need that they can't do themselves—a pain point. But the awareness of that pain point may come from you. For example, via blog posts, social media posts, videos or podcasts. Your ideal customer may not realize what they need until they learn the solution is available.

2. Interest: Once a potential customer identifies their pain point, they'll start researching how to alleviate it. At the same time prospects learn about solutions, they may also learn about specific products and services that can address their pain point. This can happen through product pages, white papers and even conventions.

3. Engagement: Here's where things really start to pick up. Your potential customer has reached out to your sales team in some way. You want to maintain that engagement, so you need to hold their attention. Your team can do this with things like a live product demo or a product discount. One of the best ways, though, is with a detailed proposal that will outline everything you can offer your potential client, and how your product or service will address their need. Above all, you want them to know you and your team understand their pain point, and you're there to resolve it for them.

4. Purchase & Loyalty: Money is exchanged, and now it's time to do your thing and show them how awesome you are. You must consistently deliver and continue to help your customer keep that original pain point at bay. You may also discover new ones along the way, and help alleviate those. It's all about letting your customer know they're important to you, and that you provide the same high level of service regardless of whether they're new or a long-standing client.

5. Advocacy: The best marketing—even in the digital age—is word of mouth. When businesses are happy with the work you do for them, they'll be more likely to spread the word to other businesses they deal with.