Today, marketers who spend the majority of their time at the top of the sales funnel risk overlooking the enormous opportunities at the bottom of the funnel.
Think about it.
Those who limit themselves at the top of the marketing funnel by trying to capture as many leads as possible are missing the point of inbound marketing. Marketing should be more than simply generating contacts and seeing that big number. It is about consistently flowing your message to the bottom of the funnel where the buyer is closest to the sale and spending more time aiding in the sales conversion.
Why wouldn’t you want to focus more of your time and energy on where the buyer is closest to generating your business revenue?
The idea of focusing on the bottom of the funnel is to start closest to the sale, then work backwards. You cannot rely on the content made for the top of the funnel to stick with the lead far down the sales funnel. This means that you must create creative, valuable materials that will give your prospect a reason to finish the sale.
Below are a few strategies that you can use to ensure that your bottom of the funnel is receiving its necessary attention.
1. Create content that speaks to your prospects most common objectives.
One of the most essential steps to focusing on the bottom of the funnel is to create content that targets those who have shown a strong interest in your company. As with clothes, one size does not fit all. A new level of engagement is required at the bottom of the funnel when you are trying to convince a qualified prospect to commit to your product or service.
Choosing the right content to create is simple if you have a clear image of what you want your prospect to achieve in this step of the buyer’s journey. There are various offers that you can make to these prospects and they include:
- Offer a Free Trial: A common objective of prospects is to find out if the product or service actually works well and will benefit the prospects if they complete the purchase. Before committing right away, prospects want to experience the product or service and see for themselves if expectations are met. A free trial offer can make a sale much more likely if the prospect’s expectations are met.
- Create a Live Demo: If your prospect’s objective is to learn more about the product or service from a knowledgeable employee, a live demo option may be the best content to provide. A live demo allows the prospect to receive a detailed review of how the product or service works, have any questions answered, and allow for an opportunity to share their previous experience or overall expectations. This enables the prospect to visualize how it would work for them.
- Present a Coupon or Discount: Whether this comes as a coupon code or as a complimentary service, some buyers need that extra push to know they are getting the best bank for their buck. Offers and discounts are a great way to delight prospects by creating value by offering a cheaper deal.
- Propose a Free Consultation: If your prospects want to put a face behind the brand, a free consultation will offer them the personal contact they are looking for before a purchase. The no-obligation advice and reviews can increase the chances of making a sale. Letting the prospect know your company on a personal level can establish a relationship and make for a lasting impression.
2. Ensure that the sales team has the content they need to close as many deals as possible.
As stated in HubSpot’s State of Inbound Report, “There’s a disconnect between buyer expectations and traditional sales tactics. New technologies are shifting the buyer’s journey, changing where consumers buy and what they want from sales calls. It’s up to the seller to adapt.”
This means that the connection between the sales team and the buyer is widening. To fix this, the sales team must work closely together with the marketing team to tighten the gap between buyers’ expectations and sales tactics.
Without much of a surprise, 70% of the companies surveyed for the report acknowledged that their top priority for the next year is to close more deals.
So what does it take to close more deals? The combined effort from both marketing and sales at the bottom of the funnel. Once inbound marketers gain insight into the buyer’s needs and wants, they must translate this information to the sales team so that sales can engage qualified leads with greater insight and understanding of buyers.
According to the State of Inbound Report, establishing urgency and connecting with prospects troubles sales the most. By focusing on the bottom of the funnel, marketing can make it easier for sales to establish urgency and connect with prospects more effectively. Working together to communicate and gain a better understanding of the buyer can allow sales to close more deals.
3. Allow the sales team more time to build relationships and prioritize high value leads.
To free up time for the sales team to focus more on building relationships and prioritizing high value leads, use lead nurturing, automated actions and data entry in their CRM.
Lead nurturing is the process of developing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel. This means that the bottom of the funnel lead nurturing is just as important as at the top of the funnel. As stated earlier, marketing must work closely with the sales team to make the process easier for the sales team. By working together to nurture the lead from the start, the sales team can have the freedom to prioritize those leads that offer the most value to the company.
Automated actions and data entry can also help the sales team manage their time to build better relationships with prospects. Instead of spending time completing data entry, using automation can help the sales team be more productive.
Creating things like workflows can support your sales team and make sales activity more efficient. This will free up time for the sales team and allow them to focus on their most value-added activities by instantly sending notifications and updating fields as leads move through the funnel.
Pulling It All Together
Focusing more on strengthening the bottom of the funnel through more targeted content, teamwork with the marketing team and free time can allow your business to close more deals. In today’s world, your company will lose all its time and effort if the bottom of the funnel is receiving the least amount of attention. Use the strategies above to ensure that you’re staying ahead of the game in your industry.
