Any stage of it is characterized by the fact that it is possible to change the conversion, that is, the ratio between clients who have concluded a deal or moved on to the next stage, and potential clients who have abandoned the product. In particular, at the stage of accepting applications, some of them may be rejected after a detailed review.
The funnel should not have an excessive number of stages. Optimally, from five to seven, which allows for the necessary management of each of them.
Each stage corresponds to certain business processes with specified behavior patterns. In the B2B sales segment, there are about 30 of the latter, of which no more than 10 are key. All these patterns are indicated in the company's sales book, according to which trainings are systematically conducted for employees of the relevant department.
Each stage of the funnel has at least one quality indicator, which allows a sales specialist to clearly assess the stage’s completion.
Projects move along the sales funnel, and they usually imply several decision-making centers, which can be located in different organizations. Therefore, when using a CRM system, several project cards are created with the decision maker indicated, and they must be linked to each other, combined into one card if necessary, otherwise an objective analysis of the funnel is impossible.
CRM systems for project sales funnel
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The CRM system should have a function for monitoring the project completion time for each stage. When the period is longer than planned, the manager should receive a corresponding notification. The availability of this data plays an important role when concluding long-term contracts.
Projects moving along the funnel should be classified by marginal profitability into categories A, B and C (large, medium, small). It should be noted in the project card, and each of them is accounted for separately in the funnel.
The funnel should illustrate the amount for each project, its share at each stage. This makes it easier to determine priority tasks.
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Project Sales Funnel Stages and Metrics
Project-based B2B sales chinese thailand data package require proper staff training. It is advisable to include several main stages in the funnel:
application from potential buyers;
determination of need;
assessment of possibilities;
working with objections;
coordination of project parameters;
economic justification;
signing of the contract and transition to the direct implementation of the project.
For any stage of the funnel, the head of the sales department defines a quality criterion that makes it possible to objectively assess the quality of work with a potential buyer.
Project Sales Funnel Stages and Metrics
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Practice shows that the following indicators are most relevant:
Application from potential clients – the number of projects accepted for work in comparison with their total number, share in percent (quantitative indicator).
Needs identification – the number of needs identified for each potential client that can be correlated with the competitive advantages of the product and the company (at least three, a qualitative indicator).
Assessment of possibilities – the number of solution options that are available to the company and also correspond to the client’s needs (at least three, a qualitative indicator).
Working with objections – yes or no (qualitative indicator).
Coordination of project parameters – discount amount, as a percentage (quantitative indicator).
Economic justification – it must be communicated to the client and accepted by him (qualitative indicator).
Signing of a contract and transition to direct project implementation – the share of signed contracts as a percentage of the total number of projects in the funnel, starting from the first stage (quantitative indicator).
The funnel may vary depending on the work with a specific business and differ from the standard template, but if it is built correctly, this dissimilarity is minimal, and the conversion reaches 40-50%. At the same time, contracts that were not concluded due to production restrictions are not taken into account. If the indicator is much lower, then there are problems in the work of the sales department, there is significant potential for growth.
A sales funnel is not a magic wand that will definitely close a deal. Each of its stages corresponds to a business process that includes specified forms of behavior. A correctly built funnel allows you to determine which of them require improvement.
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