In every business, whether it be something that is only getting started or one that is already up and running, it needs a sales funnel manager. Businesses need one to ensure that leads are generated and prospects are nurtured through the whole sales process.
According to data presented by Salesforce, there is a full 68% of companies have not identified or attempted to measure a sales funnel. Furthermore, in the same survey, it has shown that there is a whopping 79% of marketing leads that were never ever converted into sales. In businesses, honestly, that’s totally a bad thing.
You see, these statistics only show that companies and businesses nowadays really need to look into hiring a sales funnel manager to ensure nothing is taken for granted when it comes to leads and other possibilities for sales growth — digitally.
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Today, we live in the digital age, and as you know, companies, particularly businesses make use of the digital world in selling products and/or services. In this day and age, creating a website that converts visitors to leads is just one of the many steps ahead. But of course, the ultimate goal is to turn leads into sales.
But to make this happen, a business or a company has to have someone to manage such leads — and that is where sales funnel manager comes in.
Have you heard about this lately and you are interested to know more about this job?
Well, you are in the right place, because today, we are going to talk about what sales funnel is all about, and of course, we will give more emphasis on what a sales funnel manager does and everything else about the job.
In particular, we are going to answer some common questions about the industry and the job itself, which include:
- What is a sales funnel?
- What is sales funnel management?
- What is a sales funnel manager?
- What does a sales funnel manager do?
- What are the requirements to be a sales funnel manager?
- How much does a sales funnel manager make?
- Where to find sales funnel management jobs?
If you are ready to learn the basics about sales funnel and sales funnel management, then, let’s begin.
WHAT IS A SALES FUNNEL?
A sales funnel is a marketing term used that pertains to the journey your potential customer or client goes through on their way to making a purchase.
Basically, if you have a business, you start with plenty of potential clients who may have heard or have seen your product or service from a friend or through the internet (could be through the website or through social media platforms). Among those potential customers or clients, a smaller part of that group may want to learn more about your product or service, and another may actually have thought of contacting you already.
As the process goes on, you will find yourself talking to fewer people who are interested in your product or service until you end up with the ones who end up as customers or the ones who buy your product or service.
To put it simply, think about the inverted cone. The top “funnel” or the bigger part of the cone represents the marketing strategies you do to make your products or services known. The middle of the funnel represents the sales process, and then the bottom part or the smallest part of the cone represents your actual customer.
Now, how and why those people move from up of the cone to the bottom will depend on your business or company’s sales and marketing ability. The thing is, the “leads” in the middle and lower sales funnel staged are the ones that you would want to pay the most attention to as they moved from being aware of your product or service to gaining interest in your product or service.
If you want to know more about what sales funnel is all about, here’s a video by Grumo that we find really helpful especially for those who are new to this. If you want to check this out, just hit the play button.
WHAT IS SALES FUNNEL MANAGEMENT?
This is going to be quick and simple. In relation to what sales funnel is all about, sales funnel management basically refers to the process of overseeing the customer journey from being someone who has known or heard about your product or service to becoming a potential customer.
Sales funnel management is the key to ensuring that you get to keep the ones who are interested in your product or service.
The reality about this is, even the best salesperson may fail if she is not good at sales funnel management. Efficient sales funnel management is vital in businesses to ensure that interested people translates to potential customers.
WHAT IS A SALES FUNNEL MANAGER?
A sales funnel manager is the person who is responsible for completing the funnel. This includes coming up with strategies, planning, as well as executing top-of-the-funnel and down-stream marketing initiatives to drive demand for the product or service provided by a company or business entity.
Sales funnel manager is a term that is not commonly known or commonly used (except of course to those who are working in the marketing industry). The more commonly designation terms used are:
- Marketing Manager
- ECommerce Manager
- Paid Social and Display Marketing Manager
- Product Manager
- Digital Marketing Manager
- Account Manager
…and so much more.
So, when searching for a sales funnel job, you may as well consider searching using the above-mentioned terminologies.
WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO BE A SALES FUNNEL MANAGER?
The requirements for a sales funnel manager job depend on case-to-case basis, which means, it depends on what your client or what the company requires from you.
However, some of the common requirements or qualifications companies are looking for in a sales funnel manager are:
- 100% focused on delivery outputs
- Excellent Time Management skills
- Excellent Budgeting skills
- Meets expectations around outcomes
- Excellent interpersonal skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Flexible and Resourceful
- Can easily adapt to a fast-paced environment
- Highly organized and skilled in sales funnel management
In most companies, they may also require the following:
- Bachelor’s degree in marketing or business or any related field (some companies may even prefer ones with MBA)
- Experienced when it comes to managing multiple projects
- Experienced when it comes to market research, analysis, as well as strategy development
Again, allow us to just give emphasis that the requirements for the job vary depending on the company and its needs. It is not constrained to what we have just mentioned above.
Another thing, it also depends on whether you are working for a digital business or the traditional one. All these must be taken into consideration.
HOW MUCH DOES A SALES FUNNEL MANAGER MAKE?
Now, let us move on to how much a sales funnel manager’s salary is. Just like in any other job, it is important that you know how much your expected salary rate is, right? This way you get to know or have an idea of how competitive the career field is.
So, according to Glassdoor, the average annual salary rate of a sales funnel manager amounts to $97,706. Unfortunately, they lack data on how low and how high the salary rate can get.
Meanwhile, based on the data presented by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, people who are working as managers in the marketing, advertising, and promotions fields (where sales funnel management also belongs to) earn a median salary rate of $132,620 per year or an average of $63.76 per hour. The information was based on 2018 data.
It is also worth sharing that in this career field, BLS is looking at an 8% increase job outlook, which is faster than the average rate for the period of 2018 to 2028.
So, what does it mean?
Simple. It only means the industry and job opportunities are growing. There is a demand for people with expertise in these fields. This means, if you have the qualities and the skills related to this industry, you are up for a good competition. Needless to say, the salary rate is very competitive.
WHERE TO FIND SALES FUNNEL MANAGEMENT JOBS?
Searching for sales funnel manager jobs online is actually the most ideal thing to do when hoping to land a job in that career field — particularly that position.
Well, we live in the digital world now, which we should be taking advantage of. After all, finding a job online is the most convenient thing to do now, right?
Having said that, here are some of the sites where you can find sales funnel managerial job opportunities:
Upwork
Upwork is formerly known as Elance-oDesk. The site was rebranded to its current name back in 2015 and is based in both Santa Clara and San Francisco, California. It’s actually one of the most common online job boards among freelancers. Upwork is considered as a global freelancing platform where both businesses and independent professionals collaborate and connect virtually.
Upwork offers an extensive list of job categories across all industries — including sales funnel manager jobs.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor’s mission is to “help people everywhere find a job and company they love”.
Glassdoor is among the world’s largest jobs and recruiting sites. It basically covers almost all types of jobs and is open to all companies, businesses, as well as individual and professional job seekers.
In fact, the company currently boasts 12 million job listings — and one of its job offerings are sales funnel-related jobs.
Glassdoor is home to over a million employers, and that 75% of employees who got their jobs via Glassdoor are ok or satisfied with their work.
Smart Recruiters
Smart Recruiters are another very popular job listing site today.
The company has a very simple goal — and that is “to make hiring easy”. They also aim to “help businesses get the talent they need to succeed, and to help people find a job they love”.
According to the Smart Recruiters’ website, based on a survey they conducted, they have +50% hiring velocity and a +120% job applicant volume.
Among the job opportunities that Smart Recruiters cater to are sales funnel-related posts including sales funnel managers.
The company’s main office is, by the way, located in San Francisco, California.
Indeed
Indeed is a website that includes all job listings from all major job boards, associations, company career pages, as well as newspapers. Employers also have the choice to post job vacancies directly to Indeed especially the ones that may not be available in other job sites.
Indeed caters to different job posts — including sales funnel managerial jobs.
Don’t worry about paying anything as Indeed can be used for free for all job seekers. Indeed, a job seeker can upload her resume, search for jobs, create job alerts email, save jobs, and apply to the employers directly.
To make your job search easier, you can filter according to what specifically are you looking for, and they will give you search results accordingly.
Of course, our list also includes LinkedIn, which is “a social network that focuses on professional networking and career development” according to Business Insider.
LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented service that operates both through a mobile app and a website. It was founded in 2002, and the company’s head office is based in Sunnyvale, California.
LinkedIn is a platform that connects employees to company recruiters, as well as the companies themselves. At LinkedIn, you may upload your resume, search job opportunities (sales funnel managerial post included), and you may also enhance your reputation by posting updates and interacting with other people.
Today, LinkedIn is one of the most used platforms among employers and applicants.
ADDITIONAL TIPS ON BECOMING EXCELLENT AT SALES FUNNEL MANAGEMENT
When looking for a job, it is common that we make sure we take the lead. Be a step further than everyone else to ensure we get the job in our hands, right?
Having said that, we are sharing bonus information with you. This will help you step up your game and be ahead of everyone else.
Sure, you already know what sales funnel is all about, and you know how to manage it. But the thing is, how do you improve and manage sales to ensure you hit your company’s goals?
Here are some helpful tips on how you can manage sales funnel more effectively:
– Minimize Friction in the Sales Process
Perhaps it’s safe to say that among the toughest parts of sales is losing a good-fit prospect, right? It keeps you wondering what you did wrong that it turned out not the way you want it.
To avoid such instances, make sure to assess where drop-offs in your sales process happen. Also, look into where your lead goes dark. By being aware of these, you get to minimize friction in the sales process. More so, it will help you determine the right strategies to help refine and make better transition leads throughout the funnel without losing them along the way.
– Know The Proper Timing of Sending a Sales Team
One of the common and the biggest mistakes that companies often make is sending the sales team too early to potential clients.
Note that the first two-thirds of the nurturing process must be handled by the marketing team. During these times it has to be clear that your funnel should be called marketing funnel and not sales. By doing so, it will help ensure that the right prospects are cycling through.
If you want growth in your close rate in a significant way, you have to align the tasks and goals of both the marketing and sales teams.
– Address the Prospect’s Concerns First
As a sales funnel manager, part of your job is that in the initial stages of contact, you have to understand and address the challenges, needs, concerns as well as pain points of your prospect. Keep in mind that their fear is what stalls them from giving in.
In this case, make sure that every step of the whole process is well though-out. You do not want to commit mistakes along the way as it may lose you a potential.
Actively listen to their concerns, address their pain points, mirror the customer’s words, and lastly, view objections as opportunities to offer solutions.
– Keep Focused
One thing that’s common among organizations is that they usually center their sales funnel management on their need or the sales rather than on their customer’s needs and wants or basically results and solutions.
The thing is, instead of focusing on the sales, focus instead on what the customers’ needs and wants and giving them what they want. Sales will follow after.
The most effective way of nurturing potential clients is centered on asking the right questions at the right time, place, and people.
Sales funnel managers should ask their team the right questions, and then salespeople will become more comfortable asking tough questions to their prospective clients.
Remember this, asking the right questions can lead to the right solution. However, make sure that the focus has to remain on the customer, not the sale.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON SALES FUNNEL MANAGER
Sales funnel management is actually a very interesting job – if you come to think about it. It can get a little challenging, but once you see the outcomes, the fulfillment is huge.
Are you considering to get into this kind of job? What makes you interested to become a sales funnel manager? We’d love to know!
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