December 25, 2024
Every organization wants the same thing—more deals, and more revenue. However, without the right strategies and processes, many fall short.
This is where the sales funnel comes into play—a time-tested blueprint to drive results and maintain robust pipelines.
Surprisingly, the ‘funnel’ metaphor didn’t officially appear until 1924, alongside the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). What began as a straightforward sales tactic has since transformed, powering digital advertising and modern marketing well into the 21st century.
Now, let’s break down the B2B sales funnel—its stages, the high-impact content to use at each, and the questions that will keep your prospects moving forward.
A sales funnel is the visual roadmap of your B2B buyers’ journey, illustrating the lead-to-sale process. It gives you a clear picture of how potential customers interact with your business, from initial curiosity to the final decision.
Interestingly, modern B2B buyers don’t move through your funnel as linearly as you think. They move zigzag, going up, down, and sideways—sometimes getting close to buying, only to back off and reappear later.
And that’s totally okay! It’s just how today’s buying process works, and knowing this can help you better adapt to their journey.
To navigate this, marketers can accordingly create a proper marketing action plan to address customers’ potential demands by tracking their journey.
The sales funnel is the backbone of a winning growth strategy—blending the power of marketing and sales to attract, engage, and convert leads into loyal customers. Marketing sparks interest, drawing in potential buyers, while sales nurtures these leads and seals the deal.
Without marketing, your audience wouldn’t even know your business exists, and without sales, those leads wouldn’t turn into revenue.
The impact of a well-structured sales and marketing funnel is undeniable. Funnels provide a framework to engage buyers effectively, guiding each stage with tailored questions and insights to move them forward.
To track how buyers progress through these stages, we use a strategic sales pipeline (also critical for managing and refining each step in the journey.)
The terms “sales funnel” and “sales pipeline” are often used interchangeably, but they’re not the same—and understanding the difference can elevate your strategy.
A B2B sales funnel maps the customer journey, outlining each stage from initial awareness to final purchase.
A typical funnel stages are: Awareness ➔ Interest ➔ Evaluation ➔ Engagement ➔ Action. (Stay tuned! We’ll break down the six critical stages of a B2B sales funnel in the next section.)
On the other hand, a B2B sales pipeline represents the internal process your sales team follows to turn prospects into customers, visualizing your company’s activities and workflows.
Its stages typically include: Prospecting ➔ Lead Qualification ➔ Pitching ➔ Negotiation ➔ Deal Closing ➔ Retention.
While the funnel and pipeline are distinct, their stages often align. For instance, the “Interest” stage in the funnel parallels the “Qualification” stage in the pipeline.
Mastering these frameworks together provides a comprehensive view of both the buyer’s journey and your sales process. It can also help identify where prospects may stall and refine your approach, driving better outcomes and a more seamless customer experience.
Sales funnels are powerful models that map the buyer’s journey, but they’re not one-size-fits-all. While some companies use broad phases like the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel, others may prefer more defined stages like awareness, interest, consideration, intent, evaluation, and purchase.
It’s worth noting that, unlike the clear-cut stages of a funnel, real buyer journeys can be complex and nonlinear—especially in B2B. A prospect might jump from awareness to evaluation, then backtrack to consideration. Or, occasionally, they may skip directly to purchase to trial a product first.
Let’s walk through the common stages of a typical B2B sales funnel.
Objective: Build brand awareness and attract a large audience.
Awareness is the first stage of a typical B2B sales funnel, where potential buyers first become familiar with your brand.
At this point, they might not know exactly what products or services you offer, but they’re starting to form an impression of your company. Maybe it’s through an insightful blog post (like this one), a compelling LinkedIn update, or a targeted social media campaign—whatever sparks that initial connection.
Traditionally, this stage has been the domain of marketers, but times have changed. Thanks to social media platforms like LinkedIn, sales reps are now key players in building awareness too. They can share valuable insights, practical advice, and solutions to common industry pain points, positioning the brand as an authority worth paying attention to.
The goal here is not to push products but to promote the brand and cultivate trust. Every piece of content at this stage, whether it’s an article, social media post, or video, is crafted to educate and engage, setting the stage for future interactions and lead generation.
Preferred Awareness Stage Content: Informational blog articles, social media posts, and podcasts can help you effectively connect with prospects.
Objective: Keep potential customers engaged.
At the ‘Interest’ stage, your potential customers are beginning to see how your offerings can solve their problems, but they’re not quite ready to make a purchase. They’re actively seeking more information to understand how your solution can improve their business or experience.
This stage is about strengthening the relationship with prospects by clearly outlining how your product can tackle their challenges. Think of this as guiding them through the maze of options and showing them why your solution stands out.
Preferred Interest Stage Content: Use content like tip sheets, eBooks, and guides to provide easy, actionable insights that highlight how your offering can make a difference, without pushing a direct sale.
Objective: Convince prospects to consider your solution.
Buyers are digging deeper into your product’s features, implementation process, and cost to see if it aligns with their needs. At this point, they are classified as MQLs (marketing qualified leads) and are actively considering solutions to their problem.
It’s time to shift your sales and marketing efforts and focus on the product itself, using tools like email campaigns, free trials, and case studies to nurture interest. SDRs can engage with prospects to discuss their challenges, explore fit, and provide valuable insights without pushing for an immediate commitment.
Preferred Consideration Stage Content: Product demos, case studies, reviews, testimonials.
Objective: Foster a strong buying intent.
Your offerings have caught the buyer’s attention, and they’ve shown interest—now what?
This stage is crucial, as it represents the shift from mere interest to a strong intent to purchase.
Buyers start to show clear signals of readiness to buy, such as signing up for a free trial, attending a webinar, or scheduling a demo.
This is where sales teams play a key role—by providing personalized insights and solutions that directly address the buyer’s specific needs, they can offer the decisive push toward conversion.
For example, Sybill invites prospects and leads to experience its solutions firsthand by offering free trials alongside in-depth demos.
Preferred Intent Stage Content: Focus on creating collaterals like whitepapers or product demos.
Objective: Help prospects understand your product’s value.
During the evaluation stage, buyers actively test your solution through demos or hands-on use, comparing it to other options on the market. This is the critical phase where the final purchase decision is made.
At this point, the buyer has already experienced demos, reviewed case studies and testimonials, and received pricing proposals. Now, they’re focused on weighing their options and deciding which brand to move forward with.
Sales conversations during this stage should emphasize urgency—reminding the buyer of the business-critical nature of their decision. This is when your negotiation tactics, discounts, and discussions around service-level agreements (SLAs) come into play.
As a sales team, your goal is to guide the prospect toward a decision by keeping their interest high and ensuring they have access to the right information at every touchpoint.
This stage, much like the closing phase, involves finalizing details through discovery calls, introductory meetings, and tailored discussions to seal the deal.
Preferred Evaluation Stage Content: Content like pricing pages, case studies, comparison tables, thought leadership articles, video testimonials, and featured product reviews can help you guide your customers to the next stage.
Objective: Close the deal.
Bravo! You’ve successfully navigated your prospects to the final stage of the funnel. Now, it’s time to talk dollars and close the deal.
The “Purchase” stage is the culmination of all your efforts. It’s a victory, but it’s only the beginning of a long-term partnership.
This is the moment you’ve been working toward—when a potential customer pulls the trigger and becomes a paying client. It's exhilarating, especially in B2B sales, where lengthy sales cycles are the norm.
At this critical juncture, the sales team takes full control. Streamline the buying process by removing roadblocks and eliminating friction to ensure the path to purchase is clear and easy.
However, closing the deal is just one part of the journey. Building strong relationships and focusing on customer retention are vital for long-term success in the B2B world.
Preferred Purchase Stage Content: Create and publish/distribute content like video testimonials and onboarding plans.
Objective: Fostering customer loyalty and nurturing relationships for the future.
Post-purchase engagement is essential for building a strong B2B sales pipeline and ensuring customer satisfaction. Happy clients are more likely to stick around—even when things go wrong—while dissatisfied, ignored customers are quick to churn.
In fact, a 5% increase in customer retention can boost revenue by 25-95%, ultimately increasing your customers’ Lifetime Value (LTV).
Plus, delighted customers are more likely to become your brand advocates, offer testimonials, and leave glowing reviews. With enough loyal supporters, word-of-mouth will help establish you as the go-to brand in your industry.
No one enjoys those dry, back-and-forth exchanges that leave everyone feeling drained. Not only are these types of calls painful, but they also hurt your sales performance.
Asking questions that encourage longer, more thoughtful answers can significantly boost your sales conversion rates. With deeper conversations, you can build stronger relationships with your prospects and ultimately close more deals.
Let’s break down some open-ended questions you can ask to transform your typical B2B sales funnel into a conversion funnel.
At this stage, you're just starting to make an impression. Your goal is to capture attention and start a conversation about the challenges your prospects are facing. Consider asking questions like:
These questions can help you identify their motivation, and blockers your solution can potentially remove to help give you a sense of the buying process and help you prepare for further conversations.
Now that they’re interested, it’s time to dig deeper, build rapport, and help them see the unique value your solution brings to the table. To better position your offerings and align with your customer’s needs, ask questions like:
The finish line is in sight. Here, your job is to eliminate any final hesitations and seal the deal by confirming that your solution is the right fit. Without beating around the bush, be straightforward with your approach.
These questions can help you keep the conversation flowing and the momentum going, ensuring you're always in tune with their needs.
The B2B sales funnel may be nearly a century old, but it’s far from obsolete.
Despite the constant talk about the funnel’s replacement by newer models, the reality is clear: the sales funnel must evolve, reflecting the modern buyer’s journey and the latest marketing insights to remain an indispensable tool in the ever-shifting B2B landscape.
As long as it adapts, the sales funnel will continue to be an invaluable framework for driving business growth.
The key is building an effective sales funnel catering to your business needs as well as your customers – ultimately driving conversion.
Every organization wants the same thing—more deals, and more revenue. However, without the right strategies and processes, many fall short.
This is where the sales funnel comes into play—a time-tested blueprint to drive results and maintain robust pipelines.
Surprisingly, the ‘funnel’ metaphor didn’t officially appear until 1924, alongside the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). What began as a straightforward sales tactic has since transformed, powering digital advertising and modern marketing well into the 21st century.
Now, let’s break down the B2B sales funnel—its stages, the high-impact content to use at each, and the questions that will keep your prospects moving forward.
A sales funnel is the visual roadmap of your B2B buyers’ journey, illustrating the lead-to-sale process. It gives you a clear picture of how potential customers interact with your business, from initial curiosity to the final decision.
Interestingly, modern B2B buyers don’t move through your funnel as linearly as you think. They move zigzag, going up, down, and sideways—sometimes getting close to buying, only to back off and reappear later.
And that’s totally okay! It’s just how today’s buying process works, and knowing this can help you better adapt to their journey.
To navigate this, marketers can accordingly create a proper marketing action plan to address customers’ potential demands by tracking their journey.
The sales funnel is the backbone of a winning growth strategy—blending the power of marketing and sales to attract, engage, and convert leads into loyal customers. Marketing sparks interest, drawing in potential buyers, while sales nurtures these leads and seals the deal.
Without marketing, your audience wouldn’t even know your business exists, and without sales, those leads wouldn’t turn into revenue.
The impact of a well-structured sales and marketing funnel is undeniable. Funnels provide a framework to engage buyers effectively, guiding each stage with tailored questions and insights to move them forward.
To track how buyers progress through these stages, we use a strategic sales pipeline (also critical for managing and refining each step in the journey.)
The terms “sales funnel” and “sales pipeline” are often used interchangeably, but they’re not the same—and understanding the difference can elevate your strategy.
A B2B sales funnel maps the customer journey, outlining each stage from initial awareness to final purchase.
A typical funnel stages are: Awareness ➔ Interest ➔ Evaluation ➔ Engagement ➔ Action. (Stay tuned! We’ll break down the six critical stages of a B2B sales funnel in the next section.)
On the other hand, a B2B sales pipeline represents the internal process your sales team follows to turn prospects into customers, visualizing your company’s activities and workflows.
Its stages typically include: Prospecting ➔ Lead Qualification ➔ Pitching ➔ Negotiation ➔ Deal Closing ➔ Retention.
While the funnel and pipeline are distinct, their stages often align. For instance, the “Interest” stage in the funnel parallels the “Qualification” stage in the pipeline.
Mastering these frameworks together provides a comprehensive view of both the buyer’s journey and your sales process. It can also help identify where prospects may stall and refine your approach, driving better outcomes and a more seamless customer experience.
Sales funnels are powerful models that map the buyer’s journey, but they’re not one-size-fits-all. While some companies use broad phases like the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel, others may prefer more defined stages like awareness, interest, consideration, intent, evaluation, and purchase.
It’s worth noting that, unlike the clear-cut stages of a funnel, real buyer journeys can be complex and nonlinear—especially in B2B. A prospect might jump from awareness to evaluation, then backtrack to consideration. Or, occasionally, they may skip directly to purchase to trial a product first.
Let’s walk through the common stages of a typical B2B sales funnel.
Objective: Build brand awareness and attract a large audience.
Awareness is the first stage of a typical B2B sales funnel, where potential buyers first become familiar with your brand.
At this point, they might not know exactly what products or services you offer, but they’re starting to form an impression of your company. Maybe it’s through an insightful blog post (like this one), a compelling LinkedIn update, or a targeted social media campaign—whatever sparks that initial connection.
Traditionally, this stage has been the domain of marketers, but times have changed. Thanks to social media platforms like LinkedIn, sales reps are now key players in building awareness too. They can share valuable insights, practical advice, and solutions to common industry pain points, positioning the brand as an authority worth paying attention to.
The goal here is not to push products but to promote the brand and cultivate trust. Every piece of content at this stage, whether it’s an article, social media post, or video, is crafted to educate and engage, setting the stage for future interactions and lead generation.
Preferred Awareness Stage Content: Informational blog articles, social media posts, and podcasts can help you effectively connect with prospects.
Objective: Keep potential customers engaged.
At the ‘Interest’ stage, your potential customers are beginning to see how your offerings can solve their problems, but they’re not quite ready to make a purchase. They’re actively seeking more information to understand how your solution can improve their business or experience.
This stage is about strengthening the relationship with prospects by clearly outlining how your product can tackle their challenges. Think of this as guiding them through the maze of options and showing them why your solution stands out.
Preferred Interest Stage Content: Use content like tip sheets, eBooks, and guides to provide easy, actionable insights that highlight how your offering can make a difference, without pushing a direct sale.
Objective: Convince prospects to consider your solution.
Buyers are digging deeper into your product’s features, implementation process, and cost to see if it aligns with their needs. At this point, they are classified as MQLs (marketing qualified leads) and are actively considering solutions to their problem.
It’s time to shift your sales and marketing efforts and focus on the product itself, using tools like email campaigns, free trials, and case studies to nurture interest. SDRs can engage with prospects to discuss their challenges, explore fit, and provide valuable insights without pushing for an immediate commitment.
Preferred Consideration Stage Content: Product demos, case studies, reviews, testimonials.
Objective: Foster a strong buying intent.
Your offerings have caught the buyer’s attention, and they’ve shown interest—now what?
This stage is crucial, as it represents the shift from mere interest to a strong intent to purchase.
Buyers start to show clear signals of readiness to buy, such as signing up for a free trial, attending a webinar, or scheduling a demo.
This is where sales teams play a key role—by providing personalized insights and solutions that directly address the buyer’s specific needs, they can offer the decisive push toward conversion.
For example, Sybill invites prospects and leads to experience its solutions firsthand by offering free trials alongside in-depth demos.
Preferred Intent Stage Content: Focus on creating collaterals like whitepapers or product demos.
Objective: Help prospects understand your product’s value.
During the evaluation stage, buyers actively test your solution through demos or hands-on use, comparing it to other options on the market. This is the critical phase where the final purchase decision is made.
At this point, the buyer has already experienced demos, reviewed case studies and testimonials, and received pricing proposals. Now, they’re focused on weighing their options and deciding which brand to move forward with.
Sales conversations during this stage should emphasize urgency—reminding the buyer of the business-critical nature of their decision. This is when your negotiation tactics, discounts, and discussions around service-level agreements (SLAs) come into play.
As a sales team, your goal is to guide the prospect toward a decision by keeping their interest high and ensuring they have access to the right information at every touchpoint.
This stage, much like the closing phase, involves finalizing details through discovery calls, introductory meetings, and tailored discussions to seal the deal.
Preferred Evaluation Stage Content: Content like pricing pages, case studies, comparison tables, thought leadership articles, video testimonials, and featured product reviews can help you guide your customers to the next stage.
Objective: Close the deal.
Bravo! You’ve successfully navigated your prospects to the final stage of the funnel. Now, it’s time to talk dollars and close the deal.
The “Purchase” stage is the culmination of all your efforts. It’s a victory, but it’s only the beginning of a long-term partnership.
This is the moment you’ve been working toward—when a potential customer pulls the trigger and becomes a paying client. It's exhilarating, especially in B2B sales, where lengthy sales cycles are the norm.
At this critical juncture, the sales team takes full control. Streamline the buying process by removing roadblocks and eliminating friction to ensure the path to purchase is clear and easy.
However, closing the deal is just one part of the journey. Building strong relationships and focusing on customer retention are vital for long-term success in the B2B world.
Preferred Purchase Stage Content: Create and publish/distribute content like video testimonials and onboarding plans.
Objective: Fostering customer loyalty and nurturing relationships for the future.
Post-purchase engagement is essential for building a strong B2B sales pipeline and ensuring customer satisfaction. Happy clients are more likely to stick around—even when things go wrong—while dissatisfied, ignored customers are quick to churn.
In fact, a 5% increase in customer retention can boost revenue by 25-95%, ultimately increasing your customers’ Lifetime Value (LTV).
Plus, delighted customers are more likely to become your brand advocates, offer testimonials, and leave glowing reviews. With enough loyal supporters, word-of-mouth will help establish you as the go-to brand in your industry.
No one enjoys those dry, back-and-forth exchanges that leave everyone feeling drained. Not only are these types of calls painful, but they also hurt your sales performance.
Asking questions that encourage longer, more thoughtful answers can significantly boost your sales conversion rates. With deeper conversations, you can build stronger relationships with your prospects and ultimately close more deals.
Let’s break down some open-ended questions you can ask to transform your typical B2B sales funnel into a conversion funnel.
At this stage, you're just starting to make an impression. Your goal is to capture attention and start a conversation about the challenges your prospects are facing. Consider asking questions like:
These questions can help you identify their motivation, and blockers your solution can potentially remove to help give you a sense of the buying process and help you prepare for further conversations.
Now that they’re interested, it’s time to dig deeper, build rapport, and help them see the unique value your solution brings to the table. To better position your offerings and align with your customer’s needs, ask questions like:
The finish line is in sight. Here, your job is to eliminate any final hesitations and seal the deal by confirming that your solution is the right fit. Without beating around the bush, be straightforward with your approach.
These questions can help you keep the conversation flowing and the momentum going, ensuring you're always in tune with their needs.
The B2B sales funnel may be nearly a century old, but it’s far from obsolete.
Despite the constant talk about the funnel’s replacement by newer models, the reality is clear: the sales funnel must evolve, reflecting the modern buyer’s journey and the latest marketing insights to remain an indispensable tool in the ever-shifting B2B landscape.
As long as it adapts, the sales funnel will continue to be an invaluable framework for driving business growth.
The key is building an effective sales funnel catering to your business needs as well as your customers – ultimately driving conversion.
