Need to Fix Your Sales Funnel? Repair the Foundation

Many sales leaders looking for ways to reach their revenue goals faster will say something like:

We need a team that closes more sales.
We need more leads in our sales funnel.
We need to convert more leads into customers.
We need to run better ads.

This way of thinking is a trap.

It’s an easy one to fall into. You look at your team, your funnel, or your outreach and see that they aren’t working the way you’d like. You immediately want to fix them.

But, as long as you’re working to solve your sales organization’s systemic problems by focusing on symptoms instead of the underlying problem, your company will remain stuck.

Imagine you’re building a house. Your screwdrivers and nails keep rolling off your work table. You discover your floor is uneven. You have several options to fix this issue. 1) You can put your tools in a container that stays put on the table; 2) You can prop up your table legs with a book to counterbalance a slant; or 3) Instead of creating a makeshift solution, repair the very foundation of your house, so that the floor is level.

Similarly, to fix your sales funnel, you need to repair your foundation. Here are some questions to ask yourself and your team to begin this inspection. 

1. What value does your company create? The answer to this question is the foundation of your foundation. You need a clear definition of the value that you provide your customers. You may think that this is a no-brainer, but unless you take a thoughtful, in-depth look at how you define and state your value, strategy and messaging, your team may not be as aligned as you thought.
2. Who is your team’s target audience? Once you have a clear statement on your offerings, next you need to define who you’re offering it to. Without a clear understanding of who you’re selling to, you and your team may be wasting time, energy and money selling to the wrong folks.
3. Is your messaging aligned with your value, audience and offerings? Without strong messaging that clearly communicates your value, you’re keeping your company’s purpose a secret from your audience. It can be tough work to create succinct, attractive messaging that articulates the value of your offerings. But without that effort, you’re hiding your light under a bush and preventing leads from entering your sales funnel. 
4. Does your marketing tell your company’s story? Once you’ve got your messaging down, you need to make sure your marketing conveys that message to your audience. If you don’t, you’re still not accurately and effectively getting your word out there.
5. Does your sales team fit your company’s needs? Imagine each member of your sales team sitting next to your ideal client. Do you feel confident in their ability to engage your ideal client? If not, you need to look more deeply into your team members, your team structure, your team’s sales resources and your training processes. Are your sales reps stifling the sales funnel entrance? 
   
6. Do you have a clearly defined sales process? Once you have all of those fundamentals worked out, then, and only then, should you turn to looking directly at how your sales funnel operates. Now, you can get to some of the questions you originally asked – how do we bring in more leads? How do we nurture our leads more effectively? With a firm foundation, the answer to these questions will be more meaningful and the changes you make to your sales process more enduring. You will also be on your way to creating a more scalable, stable and predictable sales engine within your company.
7. Is your sales organization guided by clearly defined and measurable goals? To know if all of your efforts are working, your goals need to be tied to data you can measure. If you don’t monitor your leads, traffic and close rate as they relate to your sales and outreach efforts, you will never get a clear picture of what’s working for your organization — and what isn’t.

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If you put the time and energy into thoughtfully answering these seven questions, you won’t just temporarily repair your sales funnel — you’ll create an adaptable sales organization that will engage your audience, build crucial relationships and boost your revenue.

Ready to get started on creating a high-performing sales engine that drives scalable, stable and predictable revenue growth? Check out our article on defining your value, or take the sales engine diagnostic.