Build consistent metrics for predictable growth
Businesses that experience consistent growth tend to have a number of traits in common, and one of the most important is their devotion to monitoring and assessing their data and figures. These businesses use data to achieve their goals and to make decisions based on fact.
In contrast, those businesses that do not have predictable and consistent growth have little clarity when it comes to the metrics in their sales funnel.
So, it’s vital to be able to define, measure and track the sales funnel of your business in order to enjoy predictability of results. The good news is that even the most complex of measurement systems boil down to three basic phases:
What you need to know:
The funnel tip focuses on traffic
The funnel middle focuses on lead conversion
The funnel bottom focuses on sales and revenue
Did you know: If you track your marketing efforts in this way, you can spot and deal with problems before your revenue is negatively impacted.
This approach gives you eight possible scenarios. Each has its own mix of dangers and opportunities. By assessing which of these your business faces, you can implement meaningful actions, and do so with confidence.
Remember: You are looking to build an approach to growth that is structural, rather than focusing on short-term goals. Your focus is on sustainable, predictable and scaleable growth.
Tip: Make sure you also have clear targets in place for your traffic, conversion and sales before you begin assessment.
These are called the 8 ‘conditions’ of the sales and marketing funnel, and they include:
1. Strong traffic, conversion and sales – the condition that we all want to experience, which gives the ability to maintain consistent growth. We celebrate at this point!
2. Weak traffic, with strong conversion and sales – where you need to drive new visits to your digital assets in order to build the top of your funnel. The danger otherwise is that growth drops off. You can use blogs and digital content, combined with online marketing and SEO campaign building to help this.
3. Strong traffic, weak conversion, but strong sales. This is very common in companies that invest in SEO – driving traffic to the website but not converting it to leads. This puts onerous pressure onto sales and means that marketing needs to be improved. Look at quality content, quality traffic and website redesign.
4. Strong traffic and conversion – but with weak sales. This is common after an inbound marketing campaign, where the focus has been on leads. Assess lead quality and look at your sales generation approach and processes for lead nurturing.
5. Weak traffic and conversion, but strong sales – if you are ignoring the funnel’s top or are unsure of your audience – define buyer personas before delivering better content.
6. Strong traffic, but weak conversion and sales – look at your sales processes and website.
7. Weak traffic, strong conversion, but weak sales – you are creating excellent content but not converting. Dig deeper to understand the behaviour and needs of prospects.
8. Weak everything! All businesses start here – so take a deep breath and implement a solid inbound marketing strategy to take your business forward.