Sales Radar vs. The Traditional Sales Funnel

Suffering from funnel vision? You know, the linear path of awareness, interest and intent that your prospect is expected to follow in order to make a purchase?

Marketing and sales have both developed strategies around this model which was certainly more effective in a world of information asymmetry. Where sellers had more information than buyers and could systematically control the customer journey. This is no longer true in the digital landscape we live in today.

Over the past year, I’ve been struggling to find a visual model to represent how this buying path plays out in a sales and BD context today. A way where you can monitor, manage and measure how a cold lead turns into an opportunity. The Sales Radar, a tool developed by Tom Martin is a great start.

Awareness: Owned Or Earned?

Sales and marketing have always considered a “mix” effective, however in the past, the data to support your outcome was more covert. Traditionally you would buy awareness and trust that the eyeball count was accurate and equally engaged. Today you can create owned or earned awareness through content and use analytic tools as basic as Google Analytics or as advanced (or creepy) as Genius to measure your results, in real time. When used holistically and accurately assessed, these vanity metrics are a great jumping off point to begin a sales process.

The benefit of the Sales Radar is that it allows you to focus your time on prospects that are most engaged with your firm. By identifying trigger points in your lead source mix, you now position yourself nicely to design dynamic experiences that create meaningful outcomes for both your firm and the prospect.

I’ve been using a slightly modified version with my clients based on their uniquely positioned new business lead sources. If you’re interested in learning how to implement a similar version of this tool or are in the process of working on a similar strategy in your organization, please send me a tweet or drop me a quick note. Would love to hear your thoughts and I’d also be happy to personally share some stories.

View this post on Corey’s blog.