If you’ve been in the business for any length of time, you’ve probably faced the scenario. An existing client referred a potential client to you.
The prospect is promising—it’s a mid-sized business that needs your services to help promote growth among their own clientele. You had a phone call and then a follow-up meeting to chat through the company’s goals and how your services align with them.
But since then, your lead has fallen off the radar…leaked out of the sales funnel, so to speak.
And that’s a problem. Whereas marketers were once tasked with only the top of the funnel, things like brand awareness and metrics, they’re now responsible for moving prospects through the entirety of the funnel.
Times have changed. Now, marketers who only focus on the top of the funnel risk their budget and their jobs.
Every CEO expects marketing to focus on growth, not just brand awareness. In fact, 70 percent of CEOs believe that CMOs should be leading revenue growth, and the majority name revenue as the primary mandate of marketing.
Moreover, companies are now facing challenges in the marketing field that can be overcome with growth marketing. Generating leads is the biggest challenge for many marketers, but just as important are challenges like proving the ROI of marketing activities.
Plugging the leaks in your sales funnel can mean better leads, better data, long-term customers, and the ability to prove ROI combined with retention.
Retention & the Sales Funnel
So, what’s the big deal about retention, anyway?
Well, it’s really the backbone of growth marketing. Successful marketing is not just about the top of the funnel and customer acquisition. It is also about acquiring customers who will stick around long-term.
Growth without retention is not really growth.
And you should be focused on growth now more than ever. In fact, the typical SaaS business loses 2–3 percent of their customers every month, so they have to grow by 27–43 percent annually in order to compensate for that loss and maintain the same level of revenue.
That’s just to keep things where they are—not to increase revenue.
That’s why retention is a critical make-or-break factor in many companies. With improved retention, losses are reduced and revenue grows.
On the flip side, the more customers you lose, the more new leads you have to generate.
The Fix for Your Sales Funnel
Start by identifying your top marketing channels.
Marketing strategies typically include multiple channels, which differ based on industry, audience, or business model. Rather than trying to maximize acquisition across all channels, determine your top three—then work to be a rockstar in those three.
Pull your efforts away from the less effective channels. Then, identify weaknesses.
Before you use growth marketing, you need to figure out where bottlenecks exist in your sales funnel. Determine where your funnel inhibits customer growth.
For most people, the common bottlenecks exist at awareness and conversion.
The widest part of the funnel might not seem like a bottleneck, but it is. Companies often fail to establish that much-needed initial trust. Creating and maintaining that trust is an essential part of proving your worth and value to a prospect.
The middle of the funnel is where you lose customers. This is all about relationship-building and nurturing, areas where marketers can struggle at times.
But taking the time to tighten up your sales funnel and patch up any leaks is key to moving prospects through the funnel and turning them into customers.
If you need help with your existing sales funnel, or would like to create one, schedule a free strategy session with our team.
