The New Sales Funnel

The traditional Industrial Economy sales funnel/buying cycle has a number of tiers with the goal of marketing to progress your target market through each tier of the funnel:

In today’s Connection Economy we still have this funnel, but since customers can now be in relationship with brands (and other customers) over time, the New Sales Funnel looks like:

Marketing in today’s Connection Economy, therefore, no longer stops when people make a buying decision.

The end goal of marketing now is to create products/services that are so remarkable, that customers become such fans, they can’t help but convince everyone else they know to also get on board (and be smart, cool, trendy etc, just like them).

Even though the New Sales Funnel extends 3 tiers on the old, because of the very different end goal, this fundamentally changes who you reach in the original 5 tiers and how you reach them.

You can’t just bolt on an extra three tiers, you need to design all 7 tiers to work towards the same goal.

Begin with the end in mind.

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Fondu_Matt
April 21, 2015 10:42 am

Adam, are there distinct stages for a target’s progress through the stages?

Does someone who progresses from Decision through Fan, True Fan and finally to Ambassador carry more weight in their evangelism than a customer who vaults directly to Ambassador?

(i.e. Should I be seeking to progress everyone neatly through all stages, seeking all contacts at all levels, or going Get Rich Quick with the vaulter?)

I know who’d I’d listen to more, but fashion perhaps dictates otherwise 😉

Fondu_Matt
April 21, 2015 10:53 am

Sorry, I mangled that first line –
Is there a preferred path for a target’s progress through the stages?

Adam Sugihto
April 21, 2015 11:29 am

Hi Matt,

*Great question* 🙂

The path may vary slightly and a brand can’t be in control of the exact journey a target will take. However, what is important is knowing that the end goal is now different, the messaging used at the top of the funnel must change.

Essentially brands now want to set a new level of expectation for potential customers, that yes we want you on board to purchase (almost treat that like a given), but there’s more to it than that – we’re here to take you on a ‘journey of becoming’. Obviously this opens up larger (but better) questions for the brand itself – questions around purpose, unique identity and leadership.

As for distinct stages, that’s up to brands to define for their own metrics: what is the signal when someone has moved from interest to consideration? (eg. Viewed ‘Pricing Page’). What is the signal when someone has moved from fan to true fan? (eg. Spent x times more than the average Lifetime Customer Value) etc.

Hope that helps!

Adam

Fondu_Matt
April 21, 2015 12:04 pm

I suppose I had High St in mind when I was thinking on this.
We routinely see new cafés open and either go directly to totally full, or sit there like a wasteland, with very little in-between in the opening weeks.
Which, I suspect, is partly a result of highly fashionable Ambassadors raving about a place even though the relationship is pretty shallow so far.

We’ve had bartenders tell us ‘you HAVE to keep changing it up, or else you die’, which is pretty sad, but perhaps that’s either THE business, or at least the sector they were into. I suppose it also depends on why customers have chosen you – what’s the product/service that draws them in? (In that bar’s case: the latest cocktail recipe? The place to be? The vibe? The quality of the flavours? Some of those qualities are temporal, some enduring)

Because [cash flow] you need a market of a particular size to begin with, regardless of its longevity, or of your intentions for that relationship.

But I’m interested in exploring at what point messaging for a crowd at any price migrates to longer-term messaging, and if that’s always a good thing to pursue.

Maybe it’s highly contextual, and you just can’t beat Knowing Your Crowd – and how you speak to them has a lot to do with where you want to take them in the end. Can you migrate a highly fashionable crowd into an enduring one? Is opening hype sustainable? Do you want it to be?

Adam Sugihto
April 22, 2015 9:32 am

Fantastic thoughts Matt and great questions. I can’t comment too much on Bricks and Mortar retail, however I will observe that there is now a meeting in the middle. Purely bricks and mortar businesses are realising they need to be online (& social) and purely online businesses realise they now need bricks and mortar presences (or at the least, occasional popups). I think there’s a fascinating case study to be done for Bricks and Mortar businesses who understand the power of nurturing relationships online and use it to extend their interest far beyond initial hype. I also think similar to the Kickstarter projects that succeed, the big secret to new cafes that survive over time is the same – they have already started with a tribe (usually gained from other ventures)…

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