Last week we spoke about the 3 main sections of the sales funnel. This week, we tell you how you can stretch that funnel to create more qualified leads and close them faster than ever before. Today’s post explains how to stretch the current sales funnel model in order to accommodate a better revenue generating model for your business.

Keep a constant flow of leads through the funnel
We’ve all experienced the slump era, the dry spot when we hardly see an influx of new leads. Well, this is an inevitable part of the funnel and cannot be avoided. But you can always overcome this phase by keeping up with old follow-ups aided by a sales drip campaign. Marketing automation platforms let you create sales drip campaigns to nudge the prospects that are stuck between the middle and bottom of the funnel. A smart sales prospecting tool coupled with the sales drip campaign is a powerful tool that will surely stretch the funnel in your favor.

Stretching your sales funnel with smart prospecting tools
Smart sales prospecting involves following prospect footprints and developing appropriate, proactive responses. Smart sales prospecting tools create intelligent programs that respond smartly to a prospect’s behavior. It bridges a gap between the prospecting and sales conversion ratio. With the help of sales prospecting tool, salespeople can create multi-step, multi-channel lead nurturing programs using various channels including web, print and social.Smart prospecting programs automatically adjust to any specific action that a prospect may take. Here are a few examples of how a smart prospecting program works…

• E- mails: An e-mail thanking the prospect for their interest will automatically follow if they download a white paper.
• Assets: An MSP can provide a free e-book or e-guide to add value to the lead in the initial prospecting stages.
• Social Media: An MSP can share Zero day alerts on social media. It will add value to prospects that follow the MSP on social networking platforms.

Leads need ongoing attention that is relevant to them. If you were to do this manually, over time you may want to give up on the stretching process. But, smart prospecting tools ensure that you don’t burn yourself out, and keep the funnel stretching bit by bit. Smart sales prospecting automates mundane prospecting and lends intelligence to the sales prospecting process, while freeing up your time so you can pay more attention to leads that are near the end of the buying cycle. They help you improve the quality of your prospecting. If you aim for deals that are average income generating businesses, you can try to go for higher revenue generating deals. By letting you be more persuasive and persistent with your pitching, smart prospecting tools allow you to constantly aim higher than your comfort zone.