When is a lead not a lead? How long should it remain in the sales funnel? Does the relationship keep building with spend? Do we care that a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) has remained just that for years? What stage of the funnel is an ongoing sales conversation that didn’t originate in marketing? It may sound ambitious but we will try to answer these today with some real-world experiences over the last 5 years. So, let’s dive into sales funnels and waterfalls to flywheels and bowties.
Sales funnels
All B2B marketers and salespeople recognise basic sales funnels. Although there are variations of this simple depiction of a buyer’s journey, it largely progresses from Awareness > Consideration > Decision. Other permutations might depict a longer process from Awareness > Interest > Consideration > Intent > Evaluation > Decision. Funnel Velocity (FV) describes the time taken to progress from Awareness to Decision (i.e. a sale). You may also track the Conversion Rate (CR) at every stage up to the Decision and the Average Order Value (AOV) or Lifetime Contract Value (LCV).
Some also depict a sales funnel as marketing at the top, sales in the middle and customers at the bottom. However, there are other, more detailed and nuanced models beyond the sales funnel. We will now look at these in turn.
Beyond basic sales funnels
We will now look at three models that attempt to move us beyond basic sales funnels. These include:
- Demand waterfall;
- Flywheel model;
- Bowtie model.
Demand waterfall
The demand waterfall takes the sales funnel and gives it structure. This includes clear definitions, stages of qualification and defined hand-offs between marketing and sales functions. The flow may progress from Inquiry > Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) > Sales Accepted Lead (SAL) > Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) > Closed Won. This adds a more formal process that emphasises the criticality of sales-marketing alignment, tracking and prioritisation of leads and conversion into a sale.
The happy path is that marketing’s pull and push activities generate inquiries. Those that are ‘nurtured’ then appear to display relevant interest in a product or service. If sales agree, based on pre-defined criteria, it gets handed over for sales to further qualify. Such a lead may be scored at various stages of the waterfall to denote importance and priority. Ultimately, the deal is done and the lead converts to a sale.
Unfortunately, this more structured and data-oriented model still lacks flexibility. So, let’s move on.
Flywheel model
Rather than a one-time deal, the flywheel model aims to treat customers as the gift that keeps on giving. No longer does it focus on a single decision (buy) or closed won (buy), it focuses on building a deeper relationship and account growth. This model considers 4 interest groups of Strangers, Prospects, Customers and Promoters, indicating a deepening of the business relationship into advocates. This is enabled by an inner, faster moving circle of activity to Attract, Engage and Delight. The end goal is growth through acquisition, retention, expansion of wallet share and then referrals and advocacy to attract new strangers. It recognises that there is a stage beyond the sale and that the account requires ongoing ‘work’ to grow by delighting customers once you have them.
However, the assumption that customers will continue to accept this ‘whirlpool’ of ongoing sales and marketing motions means that we will look at one more model.
Bowtie model
Unlike the previous models, the bowtie model appreciates the customer journey. That is, it recognises the pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase stages of an end-to-end customer experience. Crucially, many of the other models completely ignore the post-purchase leg of a customer journey. If sales are mainly transactional, the ‘one-night-stand’ approach represents the simple sales funnel. To guarantee some action, the demand waterfall gives it much more structure and precision. The flywheel model hints at more of a relationship but is also focused on regular action. The bowtie model appears to offer a development of the thinking into the recognition that there is more to this relationship.
It passes through recognisable funnel stages of Attract > Nurture > Convert > Engage but then has a second inverted funnel depicting Adopter > Loyalist > Advocate > Ambassador. The central connector represents closed won, feedback, improvement and an evolving customer experience. Arguably, this is much more difficult to achieve, since neither the customer journey or customer experience is completely owned by marketing and sales.
Problems with current sales funnel approaches
Ultimately, there are flaws to each of these models. What if a ‘lead’ has been in the funnel for 3 years but has never progressed to decision, closed won, engage or growth? Is it still a lead? Should it ever have progressed beyond an inquiry? How about a simple request for pricing (RFP)? Sure, it looks like a straight inquiry but it doesn’t need marketing qualification.
Where is a friend-of-a-friend sales contact that we have a chat with in the funnel, waterfall, flywheel or bowtie? The awareness was created by sales (or another department in some cases), sales may accept it as a lead if the conversation develops (intangible?) and it may not be engaged or nurtured by marketing at all. Where does a lead go that never converted or a lapsed customer from 5 years ago? Does it enter a nurture cycle, stay in the funnel, move back to inquiry, support growth and improve customer experience? Possibly or not at all, it just isn’t clear and many treat it differently.
B2B marketing and sales needs a bespoke solution
We believe that there is work to do and a one-size-fits-all model doesn’t work for the plethora of scenarios we have seen. Furthermore, many sales funnels and models are regularly reported on at a senior level, so a fat funnel suggests that things are going swimmingly. However, many a marketer has fallen due to their fantastical funnel, wishful waterfall, flywheel fantasy or bowtie bombast. When sales, or other departments, turn on marketers trumpeting their achievements, it is partly down to such ‘forced’ models that leave them open to criticism.
In conclusion, we can support business leaders with strategic review, planning and execution on the end-to-end marketing and sales process, customer journey and lifecycle management. Without sitting in any one department, we get it done in a way that fits your business. This may include a hybrid approach or different funnels for different scenarios.
If you would like to reach out to discuss your sales process, simply reach out for a free, no commitment introduction. Alternatively, why not message us via our LinkedIn account for a more personalised response.
Finally, check out our transformational service pillar. You can also read more about who goes into the top of the sales funnel and why typical B2B marketing motions are growing old.