Understanding Sales Funnel and it’s importance for Insurance Agents
The concept of a sales funnel in the world of marketing is similar to a chemistry lab experiment where the filtration process is explained through the help of a glass funnel.
A sales funnel helps to filter down high-quality leads that actually convert into a sale. It is referred to as a funnel because it is huge at the top and narrow in the end. The pinnacle has a high potential customer lineage whereas the bottom denotes loyal clients. The marketing clan is responsible for converting these prospective clients into reputable patrons.
Fundamentally, sales funnel works on the principle of AIDA (Awareness Interest Desire Action). A lot has evolved in modern times than just this generic theory. The conversion funnel is not as easy to tap as it appears in black and white. A good CRM (customer relationship management) system needs to be in place for fostering promising conversions.
To understand a sales funnel thoroughly, we need to delve deeper into its main functions, application and most importantly, how to effectively use it to drive sales.
Top of the funnel: Show-time!
Initially, only a handful of people would know about the brand’s existence and its various aspects. The buyer becomes aware of the company, its products, values and what it stands for. Brand name and value proposition are created on the basis of the amount of exposure a company obtains within the target audience. As a consequence, it’s important to create a buzz along with significant perception about your brand and product among the people.
In this prospect, digital marketing plays a crucial role. The e-mail advertising, social media channels, influencers, followers, and strategic CRM tools lend a heroic denomination to the brand in a short span.
An active presence on social media accounts for a marked increase in growth potential. Content needs to be customer-centric and not just company info data. The client’s pain points and expectations should be kept in mind while pitching the content.
The website landing page should be the highlight of the entire drill. This point is the client’s footing for conversion. Easy processing and promotion freebies go good with the prospects.
Middle of the funnel: Nurture-time!
After you have been successful in engaging potential customers, it’s time to cultivate a strong bond. In this stage, the buyer will evaluate the company’s products across different segments and judge its potential use for himself by comparison to other similar products or services. Drawing a competitive advantage should be your goal at this stage. Send across repeated reminders and product developments. Help them establish a safety net to invest in your company.
Keeping in touch and not losing the connection with a prospective patron is very essential. Do not procrastinate any communication opportunity, be proactive and respond to queries promptly at all times.
Bottom of the funnel: Decision-time!
Customers get a feel of your nature by the time they hit the bottom of the funnel. It is at this point that they start asking after-sales. They would have already reaped the benefits of the top of the funnel in the shape of freebies as well as the middle of the funnel through better content mails and other forms of communication, and would now be eagerly awaiting the sale or at least a demo of the product. However, even at this point, you need to continue working on keeping your potential customers engaged by offering them various value-added services and incentives.
The bottom of the funnel represents the decision-making point. At this juncture, you need to lure them in by offering them incentives and products they cannot refuse. The most common method used is the call to action webinar. For instance, if your webinar is about a low-fat healthy diet, you need to close the webinar with an incentive to the customers to take your magazine membership by offering a low discount, a free subscription, or a sales page creation. The methodology does not matter. What matters is that the customers must be offered an incentive and the deal needs to end with a sales pitch.
Importance of Sales Funnels for the Insurance Agents in 2020
Insurance agencies operate like any other business. They need to generate sales and the end result has to be profits. The better the sales portfolio the bigger the profits and the more successful the business would be. A good marketing funnel strategy is essential to achieving this.
Any strategy which converts potential prospects into potential clients is a good marketing strategy. Each prospect must first be scrutinized by the sales agent with the intention of an insurance sale. For this to happen, the client must first be identified as a potential client, and his needs and requirements must be studied to match him with the most viable plan that he can be convinced to purchase. Hence the initial stage is attracting the potential buyers and then proceeding to the sales point.
One of the important points to consider when selling insurance is the sense of security, information, and expectations of prospective clients. Before making the decision to buy, customers will expect all their doubts and queries to be appropriately addressed. So you need to ensure that your marketing strategy takes into account these variables. This is where the sales model concept plays a vital role. It helps the agents to visualize the journey and its important steps that the customer needs to undertake from the initial awareness to the end conversion. It affords the framework to analyze the business and recognize areas that require development.
Some of the benefits of having an effective sales funnel are:
- Increased Revenue
- Improved conversion rates
- Improved sales forecast accuracy
- Simpler marketing pitch
- Sales become more accountable.
This is where the sales funnel and sales pipeline differ. Sales funnel concentrates on the potential client leads whereas the sales pipeline focuses only on the ultimate sale deals. Sales funnel takes the customers from the stage of awareness to the end sales closure but the pipeline takes the deal through various stages ignoring the customer involved.
The marketing funnel of every business is different and customized to its target base, product line, inbuilt marketing strategy, and customer’s requirements. It not only attracts customers but also provides insights into priming them to convert from potential customers to loyal clients. The marketing funnel provides proactive real-time insights into customer expectations thereby leading to increased customer satisfaction and better company-customer relationship.
Learn more about the Sales Funnel in 2020: Watch this Video
