Are Funnels Still the Right Way to Measure Your Sales and Marketing?

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Creating consistent and predictable month-over-month revenue growth is one of the most challenging aspects of growing a business.

Trust me, I know. Based on our data, very few companies do it. And while we don’t (yet) have a crystal ball that enables us to predict a Company’s performance perfectly, we have discovered that predictable performance requires a plan and a process.

The modern buyer journey, the number of people involved in the decision-making process and access to soooo muuuuch content have all contributed to make the buying experience more complicated than ever.

So, when Mike Lieberman, my long-time partner-in-marketing-innovation and founder (and Chief Revenue Scientist) at Square 2 Marketing  suggested to me that it’s more like a cyclone, rather than a simple funnel, I immediately agreed. No prospect goes through every step of your funnel, nor do they do it in a specific time frame. They move up and down, in and out, more like debris caught in the path of a hurricane.

To bring this idea to life, they launched a podcast series that brings advice on strategy, tactics, analytics and technology together to help CEOs, business leaders, CMOs, and marketing and sales pros think differently about driving predictable revenue growth. The podcast series is called Smash The Funnel – The Podcast and is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and Podbean.  They published the entire first season of their podcast with all 10 episodes available for your listening pleasure with plans for season two already in the works.

They also wrote a book with the same title, Smash The Funnel (which debuted at INBOUND 2018 and will be available on Amazon later this year).

The theme for all 10 seasons is that many companies are not hitting their sales goals; when Lieberman asked the 700 people attending his session at INBOUND18 to remain standing if they actually hit their revenue goals over the past 18 months,  only 15% of the group was standing by the end.

Hmmm. I wonder why most companies miss their targets?

HubSpot research shows, “the less companies know about their KPIs, the less likely they are to meet their revenue goals. 74% of companies that weren’t exceeding revenue goals did not know their visitor, lead, MQL, or sales opportunities [volumes].”

With the podcast series, Square 2 Marketing aims to help executives by providing a new map for revenue growth. It’s not just about metrics, though. It starts with smashing the funnel, embracing the new Cyclonic Buyer Journey™ model and using a detailed schematic around strategy, tactics, analytics and technology.

Make sure you don’t miss the last episode, featuring yours truly — where Lieberman and I discuss how to systematically improve your performance via Databox’s Predictable Performance Methodology.

Here’s the full season’s lineup…

Smash The Funnel – The Podcast takes listeners through each stage of the new Cyclonic Buyer Journey with a different sales, marketing or customer service expert. The podcast digs deep into these stages, so listeners understand how to deploy tactics, analytics and technology to better influence prospects and move them through their buyer journeys with more urgency and efficiency.

Episode 1 – Why Your Revenue Isn’t Going Up

Featured guest: Eric Keiles, Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Square 2 Marketing and Co-Author of Smash The Funnel – The Book

Episode 2 – What The Heck Is Pre-Awareness?

Featured guest: Sangram Vajre, Co-Founder and CTO at Terminus, a leading account-based marketing technology provider

Episode 3 – How To Get A Prospect’s Attention In The Awareness Stage

Featured guest: Franco Valentino, CEO at Narrative SEO, a top search engine optimization firm

Episode 4 – The Difference Between Awareness And Education

Featured guest: Matt Heinz, CEO at Heinz Marketing and one of the thought leaders in today’s application of revenue-generating sales and marketing tactics

Episode 5 – How To Move People From Education To Consideration

Featured guest: Sonja Jacobs, Director of Content Strategy at Drift, a leading conversational marketing technology platform that allows you to skip the form and go right to the conversation

Episode 6 – How To Stand Out From Your Competition In The Evaluation Stage

Featured guest: Tyler Lessard, VP of Marketing at Vidyard, the leading video platform for revenue generation

Episode 7 – What Prospects Need To Feel In The Rationalization Stage

Featured guest: Kyle Racki, CEO of Proposify, one of the leading proposal software tools for business

Episode 8 – Why Dotting The I’s And Crossing The T’s Is Critical To Closing

Featured guest: Matt Sunshine, Managing Partner at LeadG2, a leading sales enablement company

Episode 9 – How To Optimize Customer Service To Drive Revenue In The Delivery Stage

Featured guest: Jeanne Bliss, Founder and President of CustomerBliss, and a noted expert on customer service

Episode 10 – How To Map Data To The New Cyclonic Buyer Journey

Featured guest: Pete Caputa, CEO at Databox (that’s me)

Each guest provides real-life examples of how to change the way you market, sell and take care of customers, and talks about the impact on revenue and how to hit your sales goals.

Give it a listen and ask yourself, “Is it time to smash your funnel?”