ENTREPRENEUR HANDBOOK
  • Start a business
  • Buyer guides
    • Finance & insurance
    • Software & services
  • Topics
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Marketing
    • Human resources
    • Legal
    • eCommerce
    • Leadership
    • Procurement
    • Investing
    • News
  • More
    • Advertise with us
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy policy
    • Terms of use
    • Contact us
Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Finance
  • Technology
  • Marketing
  • Human resources
  • Legal
  • eCommerce
  • Leadership
  • Procurement
ENTREPRENEUR HANDBOOK
  • Start a business
  • Buyer guides
    • Finance & insurance
    • Software & services
  • Topics
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Marketing
    • Human resources
    • Legal
    • eCommerce
    • Leadership
    • Procurement
    • Investing
    • News
  • More
    • Advertise with us
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy policy
    • Terms of use
    • Contact us
Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
ENTREPRENEUR HANDBOOK
Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
Sales

Stages of a sales funnel (from prospect, to lead to customer)

Learn what the key stages of a sales funnel from lead prospecting to cultivating a relationship, closing a sale and more

Published by Editorial team, last update Sep 7, 2019
2 min read
Horizontal sales funnel showing the stages of a lead from visit, to customer to customer

The sales funnel can be defined as the buying process that companies guide customers through when they purchase a product or service.

Related

Why you should invest in a CRM system

How to build a sales pipeline that turns prospects into customers

8 stages of a sale (from prospect to customer)

It’s critical that the sales funnel and lead generation activities are perfectly aligned, this ensures a smooth buying journey for the prospect, maximising conversion and minimising any loss of sales and time. The stages of a sales funnel can be different depending on the product/service or structure of the company but generally speaking, they’ll follow this formula.

Stage 1. Prospecting for leads

This first stage of the sales funnel is about identifying, reaching, and qualifying the right potential client and opportunities for your business. It is critical to the whole process because the quality of leads that enter the funnel will affect and define the whole sales process in terms of conversion, results and revenue. You’re going to need good customer relationship management software to track prospects at this stage.

Stage 2. Cultivating a relationship

At this stage referred leads who are qualified and interested in your product or service are passed to the sales team. It’s now all about scheduling initial meetings, building a relationship between the lead and the sales team, whilst identifying their exact needs and requirements in relation to your product or service.

Stage 3. Demonstrating value

At this stage the sales team is demonstrating the value of the product/service to a lead based on their needs and requirements which were identified during the cultivation stage. It’s critical at this stage that the sales team has a clear understanding of the customer. This stage is often where many leads are lost and we find there is the most room for optimisation.

Subscribe for entrepreneurial & small business advice

Subscribe to our newsletter for advice and insights on starting, managing and growing a small business in the UK.

Subscribe

Stage 4. Closing a sale

This stage is all about delivering a proposal and closing the client. If the whole process has been done correctly, there should be no reason for the prospect to stray away at this point and you should be near the end of the road in closing a sale.

Related topics

Tags: Sales process

Related Posts

A salesman shaking a customers hand and closing a sales deal in the process
Sales

39 powerful sales techniques to turn your prospects into customers

To put it simply, if you don’t sell, your businesses will die, and there are no exceptions, this is what ...

Published by Editorial team
5th September 2019
A visualisation of the all the different features of a customer relationship management system
Sales

Why you should invest in a CRM system

An effective sales person is a person who spends their time selling and closing sales. A customer management relationship (CRM) ...

Published by Editorial team
7th September 2019
A plant being watered on a sunny day as a metaphor for how a lead should be nurtured carefully to maximise conversion
Sales

Nurturing leads to drive maximum sales conversion

In recent years, you’ll have heard much buzz around the term lead generation, the process of identifying and drawing in ...

Published by Editorial team
8th September 2019
A series of paper boats on a grey background, with one highlighted in green showing the difference between a qualified lead and normal lead
Sales

What are qualified leads and lead qualification?

Marketing is all about leads - either generating them from a standing start when your business has no brand awareness or ...

Published by Editorial team
8th September 2019
Process of lead generation from marketing to website conversion to leads and customer
Sales

What is lead generation and how does it work?

Lead generation as a sales process has changed drastically over the years. It’s now common for multiple marketing/sales channels to ...

Published by Editorial team
8th September 2019
A cartoon sales pipeline representation with multiple sales team members working together to increase sales conversion
Sales

How to build a sales pipeline that turns prospects into customers

Aside from developing effective sales techniques, a sales pipeline is one of the most critical systems your business will ever ...

Published by Dino Ibisbegovic
2nd September 2019

About

  • Advertise with us
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms of use
  • Contact us

Sections

  • Finance
  • Technology
  • Marketing
  • Human resources
  • Legal
  • eCommerce
  • Leadership
  • Procurement
  • Investing
  • News

Buyer guides

  • Finance & insurance
  • Software & services
  • #64327 (no title)
  • Advertise with us
  • Buyer guides
  • Contact us
  • Cookie list
  • Datastorm notice
  • Finance & insurance
  • Home Alpha
  • Join the Entrepreneur Handbook community
  • Notifications error
  • Privacy & cookie policy
  • Products
  • Software & services
  • Start a business
  • Terms and conditions of use
  • Thanks for subscribing!

Copyright © 2013 - 2019 Entrepreneur Handbook Ltd. All rights reserved. Registered offices at 20-22 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU, United Kingdom.

  • Finance
  • Technology
  • Marketing
  • Human resources
  • Legal
  • eCommerce
  • Leadership
  • Procurement
  • Investing
  • Start a business
  • Buyer guides
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms of use
  • Contact us

Copyright © 2013 - 2019 Entrepreneur Handbook Ltd. All rights reserved. Registered offices at 20-22 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU, United Kingdom.