Understanding your sales funnel

Every business has a sales funnel or sales dealflow process that involves different stages of lead generation, lead conversion, customer satisfaction, referrals.   Even if you think that you do not use sales funnels, you do.  You language and jargon might be different  You have to have a sales funnel or sales dealflow process -- you might call the process something else, but you use some form of sales funnel.  How effectively you use that sales funnel basically determines how well your business is doing.

If your organization is healthy and not in a state of decline, EVERYBODY in your organization has to be involved in sales ... and EVERYBODY has to understand their role and the pivotal importance of their role in the overall sales flow.  Nobody can systematically drop the baton and everybody has to understand the sales flow well enough to see how they fit, what they should expect from what's upstream and what people who are downstream should expect from them.   That's it is so important to understand that everybody in your organization has to be involved in sales ... if not, your organization is already in a state of decline and just waiting to die.

You are probably with different concepts in the history of marketing, guerrilla marketing, and salesforce management systems ... if not, you really need to read and get up to speed on these things. You can think about a sales funnel as a continuous flow process or in order to approximate smooth continuity you might think of a 10 step flow process.

1. The minimal level of drive-by engagement ... this is just about "hanging out your shingle," being open for business, having the lights on and phone -- having the basic tools of the trade in order to deliver the product/service.  This level of engagement might require something like a location, a vehicle, a website, cards, brochures, a blog, tweeting, having a booth at conferences, writing an article in trade journals, having a radio program.  This is only the beginning of being there so that you are notice if someone is looking ... it starts with the processes of developing a reputation for expertise and the promotion of that expertise.  It is the very first element of "findability."
2. Put your business "on the map" is a slightly higher level of engagement ... at this point, you have made sure that your business is mentioned in relevant discussions, you have networked and built relationships, you are listed in directories.  Your business comes up in search -- if you have a website, you are knowledgeable search engine optimization or whatever is necessary in your industry to be one of the first options that people might consider.
3. Developing a REAL following of people, friends who genuinely "Like" what you do, people who see your organization as a source of information and a potential solver of problems.  These are not people who have made ANY tangible commitment to you -- but they are "real," even though they might still anonymous people who go by a username or online personna.  They are "friends" of your business who occassionally refer their friends and family members to content that you provide or retweet your tweets ... these are NOT sales referrals, these content referrals, as in people who send links of your blogs/photos/videos to others.
4. The next stage is getting people to participate in your "freemium" offering and to make the smallest possible real commitment.  The barrier to cross here is in to getting people to SIGN UP [with their real name, email address and password] and then to sign in again and verify that they have signed up and are moderately interested in your product ... this is not a commitment or promise to make a purchase or even use the free version of your product, but they have given you their [real] name, email address ... at the beginning of this stage, you have not even asked for a phone number, home address or anything remotely vital ... but that might change as they use your product more [in the same way that Facebook nudges people to supply more information].    
5. The next stage is getting people or business to make the MINIMUM possible atomic purchase ... you might have a service [just beyond FREE level in your "freemium plan] that costs $19.99/month ... if you are selling to businesses, this is the smallest possible Purchase Order that gets you into their Purchasing System.  The distinction between this level and the fourth level is that MONEY has changed hands.  From the fifth stage on, these people are not just "users" of your content and free product, they are verified CUSTOMERS.
6. The sixth phases is about being there, and stepping up to deliver, when the CUSTOMER really needs something special or unique.  This is when the customer calls and they really, really, really NEED service and they need it NOW.  It might also be when the customer calls to complain and they feel that the product has let them down -- the quality of response to a customer IN NEED determines whether or not the customer  advances to the next levels.
7. At the seventh level, the CUSTOMER becomes a "pro" or a "premium level" customer ... perhaps they take the time to become "Certified," a la Certified Red Hat System Administrator or Certified Solidworks Professional.  They use your product or service at a significant level and they use it more or less routinely, but even though their purchases are significant and almost routine, they are still comparison-shopping -- you are their preferred vendor, but you are not yet the only vendor they would consider using. 
8. At the eighth level, the CUSTOMER is a satisfied lifetime, automatic repeat customer.  They will give referrals if they are coaxed -- but if they are pushed into giving referrals [in some sort of manipulative, passive-aggressive fashion] before they are really ready to do, you will probably either lose them OR they will never move to highest levels of trust and enthusiasm.  At this level, the customer TRUSTS your product or service as a ubiquitous, necessary utility -- they would not really think of doing without it unless some idiot in your organization does something to squander their trust.
9. At the ninth level, these customers are the true enthusiasts and believers in your product and service.  They will endorse your product without compensation, without being coaxed.  They will pay more money than they have to pay in order to buy clothing that offers them the special privilege of wearing your logo.  They will paint their houses green and yellow if they love your green and yellow tractors.  They are die hard zealots who will claim to have always been your fans even when other people weren't -- they will dispute whether lawyers and accountants should be allowed to buy your guitars or own your motorcycles just because those people have money.  
10. At the tenth level, these customers move beyond making smaller token efforts (i.e. buying a sweatshirt).  They will invest in your company, they will back your projects, they will jump at the chance to become co-owners -- they will covet the chance of having the opportunity to be considered as an employee or to offer consulting services.

Most companies do not understand sales funnels ... very few employees of any company really understand the pivotal role of their efforts in their employer's sales funnel ... it does happen, but not all that frequently.  Brand new, smaller startup companies and family businesses tend to do a better job of this ... older, established, dinosaurs tend to be rather poor at this.  If you want your organization to be around in five years, it is imperative that all of the people in your organization understand your sales flow ... you just cannot understate the importance of sales flow to a healthy organization.  A healthy sales funnel is more important to an organization than a a healthy digestive track is to a human being.