4 Tips to Plug a Leaky Sales Funnel

A leaky sales funnel can prove disastrous for your B2B company. When you generate leads, they'll enter the top of your B2B company's sales funnel. Assuming it has a leak, though, some leads won't make it to the bottom. Rather, you'll lose them as potential buyers. Each lead that leaks out of your B2B company's sales funnel is a lost sale. You can plug a leaky sales funnel, however, by following these four tips.

#1) Find Out Where the Leak Is Occurring

Sales funnels can leak in different areas. Sales funnels, of course, have different stages. At the top of a typical sales funnel is the awareness stage, followed by the lead generation stage, the qualification stage, the proposal stage and then the purchase stage. Sales funnels typically don't leak in all stages. Rather, they often suffer from just one or two problematic stages.

#2) Focus on the Problematic Stages

After identifying where the leak is occurring, you can focus on those stages. Maybe your B2B company is losing leads in the qualification stage, or perhaps it's losing leads in the purchase stage. Neglecting to nurture leads through these stages in a timely manner may result in a leak. By focusing more marketing and sales resources on the problematic stages, you can plug a leaky sales funnel.

#3) Filter Bad Lead Data

Filtering bad lead data can help to plug a leaky sales funnel. Research shows that up to 40% of all B2B sales data is inaccurate. You won't be able to use lead data unless it's accurate. Calling a phone number that's no longer in use or sending an email to an invalid address is a waste of time. And if you're unable to reach the respective prospect, he or she will leak out of your B2B company's sales funnel as a lost sale. Therefore, you should consider filtering bad lead data. Filtering will remove inaccurate lead data so that it doesn't harm your B2B company's sales funnel.

#4) Keep Calling

Assuming you call prospects when nurturing them through your B2B company's sales funnel, you shouldn't give up after a single call. It takes an average of eight calls to reach a typical prospect in the B2B industry. If you give up after the first call, your chances of reaching prospects will be slim to none. Most prospects will exit your B2B company's sales funnel without making a purchase. To prevent this from happening, keep calling prospects until you're able to get them on the phone.