1. OPTIMIZE
YOUR SALES & MARKETING FUNNEL
Brand
Advertising
Email Events
Marketing
PR
Webinars
Sales
Social Tradeshows
Media

2. HOW TO FIND
PROBLEMS…
PROBLEMS … AND CREATE
SOLUTIONS

3. EVERY BUSINESS HAS A
SALES FUNNEL Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects Suspects Suspects
Suspects Suspects
Customers
Customers
Customers

4. Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects Suspects Suspects
Suspects Suspects
BUT EVEN IF YOU ARE MICROSOFT
MICROSOFT,
CISCO, ORACLE, OR GOOGLE
YOUR FUNNEL WILL HAVE
BLOCKAGE
POINTS

5. WE’RE GOING TO LOOK AT HOW TO
FIND AND ELIMINATE THOSE
BLOCKAGE POINTS Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
S t
Suspects Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects Suspects
Suspects Suspects
Suspects
Suspects
Suspects Suspects
Suspects Suspects
Suspects
Suspects Suspects
Suspects Suspects
AND IN THE IN THE PROCESS, HELP
GREATLY INCREASE Customers
Customers
YOUR SALES
Customers
Customers
Customers
Customers
Customers

6. BUT FIRST LET’S LOOK AT SOME
BEST PRACTICES
FOR DESIGNING
YOUR FUNNEL
I CALL THIS “BUILDING A SALES & MARKETING MACHINE”

7. WHAT IS A
“SALES & MARKETING
MACHINE”

8. CLEARLY DEFINED
LEVERS THAT YOU
PREDICTABLE
PULL TO MAKE IT GO
FASTER
SALES & INSTRUMENTED
SCALABLE MARKETING WITH GREAT
MACHINE 9 METRICS
AUTOMATED COST OPTIMIZED

9. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT
BUILDING ONE OF THOSE?

10. STEPS

11. WHY 4 FIRST?
BECAUSE 1, 2 AND 3 ARE NOT OBVIOUS SO WE WILL COME BACK
TO THEM AT THE END AFTER WE HAVE SEEN WHY THEY ARE
SO VALUABLE

12. ALIGN
ALIGN EVERY MARKETING ACTIVITY AROUND ONE GOAL…
CREATING LEADS THAT HELP SALES
CLOSE MORE
DEALS

13. Sales CLOSED
DEAL

14. Blogging
Social Media
eMail
Campaigns
CLOSED
SEO Sales
DEAL
Webinars
SEM
PR

15. RULE NUMBER 1
If it doesn’t create a lead, or
directly contribute towards
closing a sale, it doesn’t belong
g , g

16. Sales
CLOSED
DEAL

17. RULE NUMBER 2
If the cost per lead is too high
high,
it doesn’t belong
Exception to this rule: If you can recover cost through:
• hi h conversion rate to closed deals
higher i t t l dd l
• higher average deal size

18. Sales
CLOSED
DEAL

19. LINK

20. CLEARLY LINK FLOWS FROM
START TO FINISH
$
SEO LANDING FREE EMAIL SALES CLOSE
PAGE TRIAL CAMPAIGN TOUCH
1. At the end of every action, there should be a clear link to the next action
2. The overall flow from start to finish should be carefully designed
3. Every action should contribute clearly to moving the lead through the closed deal

21. AN ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE…
STRUCTURE

22. YOUR CUSTOMER’S
CUSTOMER S
PURCHASING STAGES
PURCHASE
CONSIDERATION
CLOSED
DEAL
AWARENESS

23. AN ORGANIZATIONAL
METAPHOR FOR THE KEY
FUNNEL STAGES
SALES
MIDDLE OF THE FUNNEL
CLOSED
DEAL
TOP OF THE FUNNEL

24. WHAT IS TOP OF THE
FUNNEL?
customer
c stomer is not a are
aware customer has a
they have a problem, or problem and is
that your product looking for a solution
category exists
g y
GENERATE GET FOUND
AWARENESS

25. WHAT IS TOP OF THE
FUNNEL?
RAW LEAD
GENERATE WEBSITE
AWARENESS

26. WHAT IS TOP OF THE
FUNNEL?
RAW LEAD
GENERATE WEBSITE
AWARENESS &
GET FOUND
Inbound marketing
• Blogging
• SEO/SEM
• Social Media
• Influencer Campaigns
• Blogs, Press & Articles
• etc.
Outbound marketing
O tb d k ti
• Cold Calling
• etc.

27. WHAT IS THE MIDDLE OF
THE FUNNEL?
NURTURE QUALIFY MQL
(MARKETING QUALIFIED
LEAD)

28. WHAT IS THE MIDDLE OF
THE FUNNEL?
NURTURE QUALIFY MQL
(MARKETING QUALIFIED
• Webinars LEAD)
• Free Trials
• eMail Campaigns
• Newsletters
N l tt
• etc.

29. PROBLEM:
PROBLEM
MARKETING SAYS THAT’S
RIDICULOUS, I GAVE
SALES SAYS THEM A TON OF LEADS.
MARKETING ISN’T THEY JUST DON’T
FOLLOW UP ON THEM
GIVING THEM PROPERLY.
ENOUGH LEADS
MARKETING
SALES

30. CAUSE:
CAUSE
SALES CALLS A FEW
UNQUALIFIED LEADS,
AND FINDS THEY ARE
WASTE OF TIME - THEY
STOP CALLING THE
REST OF THE LEADS
SALES

31. SOLUTION:
SOLUTION
GET AGREEMENT ON
THE QUALIFICATION
CRITERIA NEEDED TO
BE ABLE TO PASS A
LEAD ACROSS TO
SALES (MQL)
MARKETING

32. SALES SALES FURTHER QUALIFIES THOSE LEADS TO
FIND
OPPORTUNITIES

33. USING BANT
BUDGET
AUTHORITY
NEEDS
TIMING
G

34. COMMON LEAD STATES
RAW LEAD CLOSED
DEAL
MQL OPPORTUNITY
(MARKETING QUALIFIED (SALES QUALIFIED
LEAD) LEAD)

35. AUTOMATE

36. AUTOMATE THE KEY
FUNNEL STAGES
SALES
MIDDLE OF THE FUNNEL
SELLING &
CLOSING CLOSED
NURTURING & DEAL
QUALIFYING
TOP OF THE FUNNEL
CREATING
AWARENESS
& DRIVING
TRAFFIC

37. SALES
MIDDLE OF THE FUNNEL
CRM
CLOSED
MARKETING DEAL
AUTOMATION
TOP OF THE FUNNEL
INBOUND
MARKETING

38. MEASURE
"IF YOU CAN NOT MEASURE IT,
YOU CAN NOT IMPROVE IT "
IT."
- LORD KELVIN

39. THE KEY METRICS
CAMPAIGNS
TO DRIVE
TRAFFIC
VISITORS
OVERALL
CONVERSION %
CONVERSION
%
TRIALS
(BY LEAD SOURCE)
CONVERSION
%
CLOSED DEALS

40. ANALYZE

41. IDENTIFY
YOUR BLOCKAGE POINTS

42. HOW?

43. WHAT IS STOPPING ME
FROM INCREASING SALES BY 5X ?

44. IMPROVE

45. IN DIAGNOSING MANY FUNNEL BLOCKAGE POINTS
POINTS,
I HAVE FOUND THAT THERE IS A
CLEAR
PATTERN…
PATTERN

46. YOU ARE HOPING YOUR
CUSTOMERS WILL DO
SOMETHING
THAT THEY ARE
NOT MOTIVATED TO DO

47. IN OTHER WORDS…
WORDS
YOU DESIGNED YOUR FUNNEL
THE WAY YOU HOPED IT WOULD
WORK…
BUT YOU MAY NOT HAVE THOUGHT ENOUGH ABOUT
THE CUSTOMER’S POINT OF
CUSTOMER S
VIEW

48. JBOSS EXAMPLE
PUT A REGISTRATION FORM
U GS O O
ON THEIR WEB SITE BEFORE
A FREE DOWNLOAD
IMPACT
CUT THE DOWNLOAD RATE
BY MORE THAN 10X

49. GET INSIDE YOUR
CUSTOMER’S HEAD
CONCERNS
- Hate being sold to
- Find it offensive to give
name and email
- Don’t want to get spam
sales emails
- Worried that email
address will be given to
other marketers
th k t

50. UNDERSTAND WHAT
MOTIVATES THEM
CONCERNS
MOTIVATIONS
- Want to solve my problem
- Recommendation from a friend
- Education
- Data/ information reports
- Entertainment
- Free stuff
- Meeting other people like me that
have insights to share

51. CREATE A SOLUTION THAT
ENTICES THEM AND ADDRESS THEIR CONCERNS
CONCERNS
ENTICE &
ADDRESS CONCERNS
- Customer testimonials address
vendor risk
- Free trials address product
viability and fit concerns
- Lowest price guarantees

52. JBOSS example
- FREE open source software
- d l d d 5 MILLION ti
downloaded times
- selling documentation $27,000 per month
g $ , p

53. JBOSS example
a carrot to incent them to provide
NEEDED: an email address
SOLUTION: give away the documentation
for free
RESULT: 10,000
10 000 leads per month

54. EXAMPLE: DRIVING TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEB
SITE
GETTING FOUND
Not going to find your site
unless:
concerns - On top page of Google
search results
- Recommended by a trusted
source
- Referred to in social media or
blogosphere

57. LESSONS FROM WEBSITE
GRADER
• Free tools drive viral spread
p
• Low customer work required
• High value delivered
• Score leverages competitive urge
• Builds trust through clear
demonstration of expertise

58. GOOD LINKAGE TO NEXT STEP

59. using engineering for marketing

60. USING DATA TO DRIVE WEB
TRAFFIC
SYSOMOS: SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING
LEVERAGED THEIR DATABASE TO
CREATE BLOG POSTS WITH DATA ON
TOPICS OF CURRENT INTEREST:
• IRAN ELECTION RIOTS
• TWITTER’S GROWTH
• FACEBOOK USAGE

62. LED TO
TO:
SYSOMOS ARTICLES IN
ECONOMIST, NY TIMES
WEB TRAFFIC TO READ THE FULL REPORT
LEADS – IMPRESSED BY THE CAPABILITIES
OF THE SOFTWARE

63. GETTING CUSTOMERS TO SIGN UP FOR A
TRIAL
- I don’t have the time
- I don t want to get
don’t
spam email
concerns - Yet another password
to remember

64. RE THINK
RE-THINK THE PROCESS
CONVENTIONAL SIGN UP CONVERT
APPROACH FOR TRIAL WOW! TO
CUSTOMER
WOW! FIRST, CONVERT
SIGN UP
TO
REGISTER LATER WOW! FOR TRIAL
CUSTOMER
Source: Josh Porter – Designing for Social Traction

66. 1
4
2
3

67. PROBLEM:
GETTING A MEETING

68. GETTING TO EXECUTIVE
DECISION MAKERS
TECHCRUNCH FOR
INSURANCE CLAIMS

69. DROPBOX: SIMPLE FILE SHARING SOFTWARE
– Get you hooked for free
– Storage slowly increases to the point where you need t pay
St l l i t th i t h d to
– But by then they have established trust
– And it is hard to move your data that is shared with others

70. First Contact Sell
Build Build
First Contact Sell
Relationship Trust

71. SELLING IS 10X EASIER…
ONCE YOU HAVE ESTABLISHED TRUST

72. YOUR BLOG CAN ESTABLISH TRUST…
HOW?

73. VALUABLE CONTENT
EDUCATION
INFORMATION
ENTERTAINMENT
WITH ZERO SELLING

74. THE KEYS TO SUCCESS
DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR CUSTOMER
• What don’t they like?
• What do they like/need?
y
• What motivates them?
• What are their problems?
• What does their boss expect of them?
• etc.
Combined with
OUT-OF-THE-BOX THINKING

75. APOLOGIES
MY EXAMPLES ARE ALL SOFTWARE COMPANIES
THIS APPLIES EQUALLY WELL IN OTHER BUSINESSES

76. FINALLY…
FINALLY
LET S
LET’S GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING…

77. …AND INTRODUCE
AND
THREE NEW STEPS AT
THE BEGINNING OF
THE FUNNEL DESIGN
PROCESS…

78. IDENTIFY
IDENTIFY ALL THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE
PURCHASE DECISION

79. UNDERSTAND
SKETCH OUT THEIR BUYING PROCESS AND
CONCERNS AT EACH STAGE

80. ENTICE
ADD THE STEPS TO ADDRESS THEIR BUYING
PROCESS
AND:
ADDRESS THEIR CONCERNS
ENTICE THEM

81. SUMMARY

82. WE WENT FROM
THIS:
1. Align
2. Link
3.
3 Automate
4. Measure
5. Analyze
6.
6 Improve

83. TO THIS…
THIS
1. IDENTIFY
2. UNDERSTAND
3. ENTICE
4. Align
5. Link
6. Automate
7. Measure
8.
8 Analyze
A l
9. Improve

84. THE NINE STEPS
1. IDENTIFY Identify people in purchase decision
2. UNDERSTAND Address their buying process and concerns
Design actions to pull them through buying process
3. ENTICE
& address concerns
4. ALIGN Ensure funnel actions lead directly to sales
5. LINK Link every funnel action to the next step
6. AUTOMATE Use software to automate
7. MEASURE Measure key funnel metrics
8. ANALYZE Identify blockage points
Brainstorm better enticements and ways to address
9. IMPROVE
concerns

85. SALES-DRIVEN
FUNNEL DESIGN
TO A
CUSTOMER-CENTRIC
FUNNEL DESIGN