Is the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest relevant in B2B market?
And the answer is certainly yes. We know that it’s a cut-throat competition, if you don’t upgrade, adapt, or evolve, you’ll perish.
Long story short, as a B2B marketer, you need to religiously analyse and meet customers’ requirements- develop products, and offer quality services that outsmart your competitors.
This is what Bob Hooey, the famous inspirational leader, means in his famous quote:
“If you aren’t taking care of your customers, your competitor will.”
However, the conversion stage is the final challenge to acquire new customers; you need to be successful in previous stages to improve customer base. And sales funnel includes all those stages leading the prospect to take the right action- purchasing the product.
The 4 stages of sales funnel are awareness, interest, desire and action. You need to understand the mindset of your customers at each stage of this funnel and motivate them to gradually move forward till the end.
With sales funnel, you could also keep track of the entire flow at each stage. This helps you improvise your tactics to communicate with customers, nurturing and making them sales-ready in the future.
So, how do you make the best use of sales funnel?
Let’s take the example of one of the current statistics of awareness stage- search on mobile for queries such as “where to buy”, and “near me” has exponentially shot up and that too by more than 200%.
It shows users or customers are hungry for relevant information so that they could buy quality products at the nearest store. So, if your organization isn’t a well-known brand, you could still take the motivation from these statistics to make customers aware of your products. The process starts by disseminating the relevant information about your products on various platforms specifically on search engines; the information should appear on top of search results for these keywords, “near me”, and “where to buy”.
This would improve brand awareness among customers and they would instantly rush for your product whenever the need arises. In short, the efficiency of your sales funnel would improve significantly.
This is the top priority for many organizations in the year 2024 and you could find it in the below graph:
Just as you could see in this graph, almost 48% of the organizations stated improving efficiency of the sales funnel is their top priority. It is the second top sales priority after the first- closing more deals. This data shows that organizations want results with increased monetary gains and to achieve their monthly and quarterly targets.
How would you improvise your sales funnel?
And the answer is with better prospecting methods.
In this process, first you need to identify the prospects likely to convert. Then you need to use various sales techniques- engagement through nurturing, maintaining relationships through direct mail, calls, email content and various other processes. There are different prospecting methods through which you could acquire new customers. But very few could make the right difference to your process.
We have shortlisted 5 email prospecting methods for your sales funnel that you could integrate into your process:
1. Cold Emails:
You might know about cold calling (tele-calling prospects with no prior communication). But do you know about cold emails?
These emails also mean outreaching prospects(strangers) through emails. It needs to be one of the most innovative emails as you’d communicate with prospects with no prior communication or contact. But you could still have little information about prospects like the below example:
Here you could see, how the organization introduces its service to the recipient. It has some information about the prospect as they mentioned in email, “I would love to tell…. given your recent public discussions about this topic.”
The organization studied the interests, skills, and vision of its new prospect. They took the next step of contacting the prospect with the mission that their service would meet the prospect’s goals and interests. This is what cold emailing is all about- taking the right opportunity at the right time. And gradually pushing the prospect down the sales funnel passing through all stages with awareness, arousing interest, desire and finally taking action.
The cold emails are a part of the awareness stage where you make your customer aware of your product or service.
2. Videos in Email:
Most customers love images, videos for information than reading. It gives them information along with entertainment. The below email example is one such:
Just as in this email, the organization first thanked the customer for signing up for newsletter. It then proceeded with a video link. This email is what the second stage of sales funnel is all about (arousing interest among the prospect).
Through newsletters, prospects could gather precise information about your product or service. They could know your USP and whether it would resolve their business challenges. So, sending knowledgeable videos to customers who have already signed up for the newsletter would be a complimentary service for them (maintaining their interest level).
As a marketer, make it easier for your prospect to understand your product with best edited videos.
3. Webinar Invitation Emails:
B2B customers want real solutions for their business challenges. You could offer the same with discussions on knowledgeable sessions such as webinars. The prospects would have the technical and business talk on this platform with industry leaders, experts, and many others.
The experienced global professionals would explain your product and how it has resolved the challenges of many organizations from SMBs to enterprises. When prospects have conversations with industry experts or leaders, they trust more often; it is an instinct to trust the person who knows the ins and outs of a product or service.
Find the below example of a webinar invitation email that you could send to your selected prospects:
In this example, you could see the webinar invitation email with 3 CTAs- the strategy is to motivate the customer to register instantly. With a high number of these call-to-action buttons from the beginning till the end of email, the marketer aims to push the prospect to click on them and register.
The majority of these prospects are likely to register and have detailed discussions with the guest speakers. From these prospects, many would surely move on to the next stage- the action.
We should know that B2B buyers have a high budget to invest so they enquire systematically before going for a product or service. If they get suggestions, advice, or information from industry experts, many are likely to follow it.
This email is from the organization Bizzabo, which offers event management software for B2B conferences. They have precisely mentioned the topics that would be covered in webinar: how to select right on-site management software, solutions to improve event experience, and so on. Many speakers would also highlight the benefits of Bizzabo software.
Isn’t this one of the best prospecting methods to convert B2B buyers? It could be used at the desire stage of the sales funnel where customers are dead serious about a product.
4. Educational Content Emails:
These emails offer information such as: how to use a product? What are the features? How prospects could align it with their process? And many answers to innumerable questions…
High-end customers always prefer valuable information to make crucial purchase decisions. B2B marketers should understand that the curiosity of customers is an opportunity to convert them. This is where educational emails come into play; the tactic would finally lead to product purchase!!
You’d be sending these emails to prospects who are almost interested in your product. The final push through the sales funnel is by explaining the easiest way to use the product or the benefits of the product.
You could find the below example of an email:
As you could see in this email, the marketer first started with the generic content with information regarding specific herbal medicine sourced from Southeast Asia. It is used to treat bacterial infections. And later the content is all about informing the reader about how the interest for the herb is increasing exponentially. The statistics from the year 2019-2023 show the same; the graph catches the attention of the reader with comprehensible data.
B2B decision-makers prefer quantitative data to make crucial decisions. So, sending this educational content in emails would motivate them to take the needed action.
5. Social proof email:
These are the proof or content that current users state about your product (good experiences) on different platforms.
Many customers want social proof before purchasing a product or going for a service. So, as a marketer, you just need to collect the same social proof content and insert it in a single email to send to prospects.
The below example is a social proof:
Just as you could see here many users have given positive feedback. When new prospects go through this content, they are more likely to take the next action.
You could quantify the popularity of your product by mentioning how many users have given the feedback. The number that is quantifying is easy to recall for the customer. They would easily remember your brand (high-numbered positive feedback) when the need arises for your product.
Conclusion:
This blog clearly explains the best prospecting methods for your sales funnel. As a marketer, you need to choose the right method aligned with your process. And meet your targets on time with sustainable market growth.