B2B marketers and salespeople have long relied on “the funnel” to understand how customers convert and how to structure their campaigns.
The legendary funnel, despite its myopic, linear perspective, has proven valuable as a mechanism for critical thinking. I.e. companies who use a funnel — whether it be vertical, horizontal, flipped, or scrambled — are making a concerted effort to know and engage their buyers. They are mapping the customer journey. They are plotting their content, their campaigns, their outreach, to match this journey.
ALSO READ: A Breakdown of B2B Sales Pipeline Stages
Even so, some of marketing’s most significant reinventions and advancements have emerged from an earnest second guess. This is the way it’s done, but is this the best way? Considering 44 percent of B2B executives think their companies stink at managing a sales pipeline, and considering most of the funnel’s concepts were the 1898 machinations of a man named E. St. Elmo Lewis, it may be time for an audit.
The infographic below provides an overview of (most) major funnel reinventions that have appeared in the last decade (and a couple of jokes). For deeper study, check out the e-book at the bottom.
