The seller looks like a funnel.

Wide at the top, narrow at the bottom.

Buyers pile in to the top and slowly get narrowed down, fewer and fewer, as they head to the bottom.

Your aim is to move buyers from the top of the funnel to the bottom, where hopefully they purchase from you. You do this by breaking the journey into stages, giving yourself certain actions to do at each stage.

These actions are designed to have one of two outcomes - move the buyer to the next stage or throw them out of the funnel

Why?

Remember, the buyer is on their own journey around their circle. If they hit “ready to buy” at the same time as they hit the bottom of your funnel, then you are both happy. If either of you is out of sync, you’re best moving on.

So the stages in your funnel are designed to help the buyer move round their own circle whilst helping you decide if this buyer is really worth pursuing.

See - you thought sales was all about trying to get money off people didn’t you? It’s not, it’s about understanding where they are and seeing if the two of you are in sync.

Take action What does your funnel look like? What stages and what actions do you have?