Difference Between Marketing Funnel And Sales Funnel

May 28, 2022

Looking for the difference between marketing funnel and sales funnel? Look no further, this blog post has got you covered!

You’ve probably heard a lot about funnels: sales funnels, marketing funnels, and conversion funnels. All of them have grown in popularity in recent years as a result of the success of certain internet enterprises.

Many company owners set out to use different funnels to increase their income, but they don’t always know when to use which funnel. And it is a significant slip of the tongue.

This post will look at one of the most contentious topics: sales funnel vs marketing funnel, in order to help you grasp the concepts, distinguish between them, and pick which is best for your company.

Sales Funnel vs. Marketing Funnel: Which is more crucial for businesses?

“Sales funnel versus marketing funnel” is a complex subject that may be debated all day. However, it is vital to recognise that sales and marketing are similar in many respects. They should convey the same tale even if they aren’t the same object.

A marketing funnel boosts a product or service in order to get leads to purchase it. The sales funnel, on the other hand, works with the leads created by the marketing funnel and attempts to encourage them to purchase as often as feasible.

That may be the best way to wrap up the discussion of sales funnel versus marketing funnel.

What is a Marketing Funnel?

Below are the key points that define a Marketing Funnel:

Your customer’s journey with you is described by a marketing funnel.
Marketing funnels chart the path to conversion and beyond, from the moment someone learns about your company to the moment they make a purchase.
A marketing funnel may tell you what your organization has to do to influence customers at different stages after rigorous investigation. By analyzing your sales funnels, you may possibly increase sales, loyalty, and brand recognition.

What is a Sales Funnel?

The sales funnel is the series of steps that someone must go through in order to become a customer of yours.

Let’s take a look at a traditional sales funnel.

People at the top of the sales funnel pass through your establishment. The next stage of the funnel is when a certain percentage of them opt to walk in.

A shopper notices a sale rack of T-shirts. He or she thumbs through the rack, and they’ve reached the funnel’s next stage. The consumer then chooses two t-shirts and proceeds to the checkout. They’ve reached the end of the process. If all goes according to plan, they complete the transaction and reach the bottom of the funnel.

The Marketing Funnel Phases

Top-of-funnel, middle-of-funnel, and bottom-of-funnel are the three phases that dictate how we contact clients in a marketing funnel.

ToFu (Top of the Funnel)

Every single individual who is interested in material about or from your brand joins the trip at the top of the funnel. At this phase, marketers’ goals are to raise brand recognition, distinguish themselves from cutthroat, and provide useful material without anticipating anything in return. Marketing offers a wealth of instructional material in the shape of blog posts, videos, podcasts, articles, and more.

The information gathered may solely consist of an anonymous user ID tracking encounters with your website or other locations. When an anonymous user submits a form and raises their hand to be contacted, they advance to the next level of the funnel.

Middle of the Funnel (MoFu)

Take into account that the aim at this stage is to convince your prospect that your product or service is superior to a competitor’s. You’re now debating what the issue is that they’re attempting to fix.

This might include case studies demonstrating your company’s best-of-breed status or an examination of technical requirements. Prospects in the middle of the funnel engage with material such as white papers, case studies, and reports, as well as gated content such as webinars and competitive intelligence. This step of the marketing funnel is actively engaged by the sales development representative (SDR), who takes the lead in communication.

BoFu (Bottom of the Funnel)

All of the preceding phases’ nurturing comes to completion here. In order to close a contract, the sales professional now needs to have a lot of information about the prospect. This stage’s content contains free trials, client testimonials, demonstrations, and CTAs. The advantage of having leads reach this stage is that marketing now has the data to map out the buyer journey, determine what message attracts prospects’ interest, and even construct buyer personas to better target the ideal client.

The Sales Funnel Phases

In reality, the sales funnel is a component of the marketing funnel. Consider zooming down to the funnel’s bottom and further segmenting that area into actionable steps. Reps in the sales funnel are communicating with prospects who have shown an interest in learning more about purchasing the product.

The steps become more clear here, with each level requiring the transaction to qualify. The Sales force has structured their companies on the sales funnel and the particular steps required to advance a client to the next level. Every company’s sales funnel is segmented differently. They all, however, involve the following concepts: prospecting, appraisal, commitment, and closed-won/closed-lost.

The steps used to quantify the success of sales efforts are:

Qualified Lead Marketing

To be deemed qualified at this step, a prospect must have indicated interest by filling out a form, downloading material, or submitting their contact information in some other manner.

Lead Accepted by Sales

This is when the sales team enters the picture and determines if the lead is a good match for the product.

Leads don’t stick around for long. Many marketing and sales KPIs stress the need of responding quickly when a lead enters a rep’s pipeline. If a large number of leads are dismissed at this point, there is a schism between marketing and sales.

Leads that are Sales qualified

A sales representative will have discussed fit with the client, including deal size, schedule, urgency, and if the product or service answers their issue.

The sales team’s engagement must be more regular and in-depth. Closed-won or closed-lost At this point, the lead either becomes a paying client or the sales staff closes the offer as lost. The prospect either picked a rival, postponed the project, or objected to the price. The lead may be re-added to the marketing funnel. If they decide to purchase, they will continue on to post-sales activities such as customer success and deployment.

And a prospect can only say no so many times before giving up. The marketing team’s objective is to qualify leads as much as possible before they enter the sales funnel, ensuring that their agents have the highest chance of success. To be effective, these teams must coordinate and agree on lead quality, what rationale is acceptable for rejection, address problems that leads repeatedly raise, and other aspects that are not as evident in the higher levels of the funnel.

Key differences between marketing funnel and sales funnel

Marketing Funnel

A marketing funnel is a high-level approach for guiding clients from complete strangers to genuine, devoted customers.
As a result, the stages of the marketing funnel begin with boosting awareness and culminate with conversion.

Sales Funnel

The sales funnel, on the other hand, is the method through which you intend to persuade individuals to take action, such as joining your email list, purchasing a product, or attending an event.
It’s a collection of websites designed to convince a buyer to move from point A (being interested in your product) to point B (buying your product) (i.e purchasing your product).
A sales funnel is, in this sense, a component of the marketing funnel.

Senpai Says

Businesses nowadays have a variety of online and in-person strategies for increasing their consumer base and revenue. By appropriately employing its marketing and sales funnel, a firm may soar above the competition by being adaptable, devoted, and prepared to learn. Their efforts may result in an astounding number of interested visitors becoming dependable clients, which is the objective of every successful firm.

FAQs

What is the difference between sales and marketing?

In its most basic form, marketing is the process of increasing potential consumers’ awareness of your company and brand. By converting those prospective consumers into real customers, sales converts that awareness into profit.

Which is better sales or marketing?

Sales are crucial because they affect the bottom line. The goal of marketing is to make a product known. It’s all about the bottom line – and producing results – at the end of the day.

Which comes first marketing or sales?

Marketing should always be first. The goal of marketing is to make a product or service known. A marketing strategy is developed to understand more about market share, who your consumers are, and how to design strategic programmes to reach out to those demographics and educate them about your brand.