Salespeople & 'The Dark Funnel'

In the book 'Solving the Sales Puzzle', there is a section that talks about 'The Dark Funnel'.

What is interesting is that most salespeople have either never heard of the 'Dark Funnel' or have very little knowledge of it and its importance. Probably, as it is a marketing term and what marketing works on.

This is a big mistake

Opportunities are lost in the dark funnel, even when they make it out of the dark funnel and become a qualified sales opportunity - salespeople just don't know it, until the end - when they lose.

Sales need to be educated about the dark funnel and what the prospect or customer has gone through before they reach out and make contact.

So the salesperson accepts the qualified lead based on the areas that they are qualifying it against (by the way, this is typically weak based on most qualification criteria). Then they start working the lead through the sales cycle. At the end of the sales cycle they feel confident that they will win, only to find they don't.

Whilst they have been kept in the game by the prospect all the way through (maybe as they are the market number 1, or they are needed to make up the numbers) but at the end, they are informed that they have not been selected. Why?

You need to go through the customer journey your prospect went through during the dark funnel stage and check out what has been said about you, your case studies, your reputation and more.

Salespeople need to understand the dark funnel to ensure they address why they were selected as an option, what the prospect found out about the company and solution and even more important, if there are any concerns from the research the prospect did before engaging.

Salespuzzle.co.uk