Difference Between Sales Funnels v Relationship Funnels : What's More Buyer?
In this blog, we will cover two crucial aspects of customer relationship management. So understand which funnel is more customer-centric for businesses.
Have you ever heard the success story of any business without having satisfied and happy customers?
No, right. Exactly, business and customers are the different sides of the same coin, which are inseparable from each other. Hence, every business needs to have a positive relationship with its customer base irrespective of its business size or type.
The best CRM software will help businesses to strengthen their relationship with clients.
Business leaders need to set efficient practices in their process to create a loyal customer base. Following are the two robust strategies that business leaders can implement at their workplace to enrich their customer relationships. These two strategies are some of the best CRM sales techniques that every business owner can make the most out of.
In this blog, we will cover two crucial aspects of customer relationship management. Firstly, we will understand what a sales funnel is. Secondly, we will cover what the relationship funnel is. Thirdly, we have a bonus for you to understand which funnel is more customer-centric for businesses.
What is the difference between the sales funnel and the relationship funnel?
A few business leaders might think; that there is no difference between the sales funnel and the relationship funnel. Because; the core purpose of these funnels is to attract clients and maintain a relationship with them. But not there is no difference between the sales funnel and the relationship funnel.
The sales funnel helps businesses to increase the conversion rate by selling products to more customers. The relation funnel will help the business owners to build a strong, long-lasting, and friendly relationship, with the customer. Moreover, a relationship funnel will ensure that your customer will get top-notch service at every stage throughout their lifecycle.
Let us now take a deep dive into understanding the sales and relationship funnel in depth.
What are a sales funnel?
The sales funnel is a visual representation of the entire sales process that a lead goes through from being a lead to a customer. The lead has to go through various steps before becoming a customer because it is not an easy task to acquire clients.
Every business will have a different lead qualifying process depending on their requirement. But the sole purpose of a sales funnel is to interpret the roadmap to attract customers and encourage them to buy. Following are a few steps involved in a standard sales funnel:
Create Brand awareness:
All businesses need to design and execute an effective campaign to increase brand awareness. It is a perfect way to have a positive first impression of your brand on your future clients.
The client might already be aware of their challenges or problems. Your team just has to explain to them how your product or services can help them overcome the challenges.
Businesses can use efficient marketing strategies to introduce their brand to their prospects. Depending on your needs, you can choose offline platforms like print ads including, hoardings, newspapers, magazines, and other publications.
Additionally, you can choose from online tools like google ads, social media marketing, and others to increase your visibility. The most effective way of all to create brand awareness is the word of mouth.
Generate interest:
Every business owner needs to create curiosity in your customer about your products and services. Moreover, they need to have a strategic plan to increase the customer interest in your brand.
There are various ways that an organization can increase the customer's interest in its products or services. For instance, organizations can encourage their customers to subscribe to newsletters, webinars, and other brand awareness tools.
A business leader needs to have a detailed understanding of your customer needs and preferences to design an efficient sales funnel. The best; CRM software will help track the customer's digital footprints to understand their preferences, purchase behavior, and other demographics.
Identify the decision-maker:
Once the customer shows interest in your products or services. The sales team needs to understand if the client has made a purchase decision yet and who is the decision-maker. Identifying the decision-maker will ease the task of the salesperson and create a relationship with them directly.
Convert:
The most crucial process and last step of your sales funnel is conversion. Once you speak with the decision-maker and answer his questions and queries, he will be ready to buy. The top CRM software will help you spot the decision-maker and speak to them to increase the conversion rate.
We have evaluated all the vendors and made you a comprehensive list of the top 10 CRM software in India.
What is a relationship funnel?
Today consumer and market trends are constantly evolving, which businesses need to adjust. The consumer today wants a reliable, scalable, and best vendor in the market.
The core purpose of the relationship funnel is to nurture the relationship with the customer. The right CRM tools will help businesses to strengthen their relationship with their clients.
As a result, the business owners will have a higher customer retention rate and get more referrals and repetitive business. Following are a few stages that will help you to understand the relationship funnel and its mechanism.
Gain their trust:
It is crucial for business owners to gain the trust of their customers to have a positive brand image. There are various strategies that a business leader can implement to enrich their customer relationships. They need to track consumer trends and make necessary changes in the process to surpass customer expectations. Following are a few customer expectations from any organization:
The customer likes innovations and evolution in the products and services catalog.
They expect the brand should customize the interactions and content based on preference.
A seamless presale, sales, and after-sales experience.
The customer relationship management software will help business leaders to gain the trust of their customer base with ease.
Nurture the relationship:
Business owners need to nurture relationships with their clients to increase the retention rate. Additionally, it also helps to spot and close more cross-sale and x-sale opportunities.
The customers that give a higher referral and repetitive business will help to earn more profit. The best CRM system in India will help set an automatic drip campaign to; nurture the client relationship.
The marketing strategies to nurture the relationship should be purely interactive, and informative, and not from a sales perspective. The business owners can set up an omnichannel campaign to interact with the customer at all possible touchpoints.
Personalize the experience:
The customer relationship management software will help the business owners segment the data based on demographics and preferences.
There is fierce competition in every industry which is why business leaders need to set the best practices. Because with the availability of multiple vendors delivering the same products and services, the customer will not even think for a moment to leave your services.
The CRM software will help to deliver personalized customer service based on the previous data. As a result, your customer feels valued and appreciated for the business that they give to your organization.
Which funnel is more buyer-centric?
Both sales and relationship funnel have their purpose, and each one is dependent on the other to ensure a seamless customer experience.
To be honest the sales funnel is more buyer-centric because it helps business owners to increase the conversion rate. Because it helps the business owners; filter the leads based on their interest, purchasing capacity, and intent.
However, the business will also require a relationship funnel to enrich the client relationship.
The best CRM software will help you to filter the sales and relationship funnel with ease. Our software experts will help you with selecting the right CRM system based on your needs and budget.