A best practices approach to Sales Flywheel Optimization
by Tony Palladino
We all know that a healthy sales pipeline is critical to driving consistent revenue growth. Yet I was surprised to see that, according to Gartner, only 72% of businesses cite pipeline generation as a critical priority.[i] I suppose the other 28% would rather focus on building their product rather than selling it, or perhaps they have more business than they can handle. Regardless, the sales funnel process has evolved with technology innovations and has transformed itself into a “flywheel” having several moving parts, all of which can be optimized to reduce friction.
A comprehensive Sales & Marketing Strategy should include optimizing the sales flywheel. This is a critical component of the strategy to drive increased sales. From the perspective of a “best practices” approach, sales flywheel optimization should include the following workflows: analyzing the customer journey, implementing lead scoring, optimizing your website, implementing retargeting campaigns, using A/B testing, and implementing marketing automation. Let’s explain each of these areas of opportunity to positively impact your business results.
Analyze the Customer Journey
The first step in optimizing the sales flywheel is mapping out the steps that your customers take from initial awareness of your product or service through to conversion and retention. Create a Customer Journey map that includes all of the relevant touch points with the buyer personas. You can identify opportunities for improvement and make changes that will enhance the customer experience and ultimately drive increased sales.
Implement Lead Scoring
Lead Scoring is a process that involves assigning a score to each lead based on their likelihood of converting into a customer. You can prioritize your sales efforts and focus on the leads that are most likely to convert, helping you to leverage your resources more effectively and increase your conversion rate.
Optimize your Website
Your website is a critical component of your sales flywheel, and optimizing it can help to drive increased sales, improve the user experience and optimize your content for search engines. An attractive website is more engaging to visitors, which can impact your conversion rate.
Implement Retargeting Campaigns
Retargeting Campaigns are a form of advertising that targets users whom have already interacted with your brand. You can stay top-of-mind with more users that may be interested in your product or service, but have not yet converted, helping to increase your conversion rate.
Use A/B Testing
A/B testing is a process that involves testing two different versions of a webpage or ad to see which one performs better. You can identify the most effective messaging, design, and calls-to-action for your target audience. This can help you to optimize your sales flywheel and drive increased sales.
Implement Marketing Automation
Marketing Automation is a process that involves using software to automate repetitive marketing tasks. You can streamline your sales flywheel and reduce the amount of manual work required to move leads through the flywheel, helping you to use your resources more effectively and increase your conversion rate.
The above initiatives make for a “best practices” approach to sales flywheel optimization designed to drive greater conversion rates and incremental revenue for your business. All of the above components of the sales flywheel can be automated so that your business can hum like a dynamo, allowing you to focus on exceeding the expectations of your customers. So, ask yourself, are you in the 72% cohort or the 28% cohort? Then ask yourself, why?
We will continue to dive deeper into this topic along with the other critical components of the Sales & Marketing Strategy in separate bite-size blogs. Our team can help you build a bespoke strategy for your business.
[i] Shiela Rahimian, Gartner blog post: “Why Buyer Engagement is Harder Than Ever and 4 Ways to Boost It”, December 12, 2022