In this insight, I want to share with you a common misconception. It is highly likely that you don’t have a marketing problem in your business.
Instead you are likely to have a growth system issue.
There is a mindset in B2B businesses that most of the issues in the sales process are related to the top of the funnel. Or more specifically to the lack of leads at the top of the funnel. More leads equals more sales. It is that simple.
But it is not that simple.
A lot of investment can go into the top of the funnel and so much of that investment is wasted. The acquisition cost per lead may be bad enough, but just consider the amount of internal marketing and sales effort that goes into the different conversion stages along the pipeline for that prospect. It makes it all the more frustrating when the hot lead wasn’t so hot after all.
Sales pipelines deserve better analytics.
In my experience, the real issue here is misalignment. The solution lies in focusing on and realigning the 5 core elements of the growth system:
- Positioning: who are you targeting and why do you win?
- Pipeline: how are opportunities consistently generated?
- Conversion: how effectively leads become revenue?
- Economics: how to optimise pricing, deal value and lifetime value?
- Velocity: how quickly revenue moves through the pipeline?
These five levers of growth, when managed in a well structured system can transform the sales pipeline and unlock growth.
Inevitable this diagnostic process, when undertaken correctly can expose where revenues are currently being lost in the existing sales pipeline. That’s the first big win. Depending on your pipeline that could be £300k – £1m+.
Your Chief Growth Officer would be all over that. If you don’t have one, you should contact me and I can fix your growth system.
