More and more purchasing decisions are happening inside the dark funnel—parts of the buyer’s journey that are invisible to sales and marketing teams. According to Gartner, marketers lack visibility into at least 50% of the buying journey, making growth opportunities harder to influence. And, when B2B buyers are considering a purchase, they spend less than a fifth (17%) of their time meeting with potential suppliers. 

The rise of the dark funnel means more sales processes are happening outside of a sales team’s control and that’s something many of us will balk at. Take software sales for example, more buyers than ever are conducting their research online before they even visit a provider’s website. Online reputation across review sites, social media platforms, discussion forums and events has become crucial in purchasing decisions. 

In this article, I explain more about the dark funnel and provide ideas on how you and your sales team can leverage this trend rather than succumb to its challenges.  

First, let’s talk more about the dark funnel

The dark funnel is a hidden space where prospects explore options, seek advice, and gather info through online research, reviews, social media, and more. Despite being hard to track and influence, the dark funnel is crucial in the rise of self-service culture and buyers wanting control. 

For sales teams, the challenge lies in identifying and understanding these invisible touchpoints, as well as finding ways to influence them positively. 

Now, we can dive deeper into how the sales landscape is changing

Self-service is transforming the way sales teams approach customer engagement. B2B buyers are taking matters into their own hands – research and shortlists are often compiled with little or no vendor interaction. 

Thanks to online retail, the B2C buying journey has evolved to the point where individuals shop around for the best prices,  meaning marketing and advertising channels need to work even harder for attention.  

For both groups, the dark funnel is appealing as buyers can avoid a hard sell and craft a buying journey on their terms. 

Traditional attribution metrics like email open rates and social media clicks are not as useful or significant as they once were. Customers are looking for products and services in places that sales teams often cannot influence – within the dark funnel. 

Using the dark funnel to support the sales cycle

For all its mystery, the dark funnel is not the enemy. Far from it. The propensity for buyers to self-serve means sales cycles can be shorter. This makes the dark funnel a positive support for the sales cycle. 

But that doesn’t mean that sales teams should sit back and let the dark funnel do the work. The onus is on businesses to get their content in front of their audience via the right channel. Podcasts, webinars and LinkedIn forums are all valuable tools of influence for today’s buyers and where content needs to be pushed. 

Companies must work hard to remain visible so sales teams can act when customers emerge from the dark funnel. 

The moment a customer emerges, sales reps can help buyers complete their purchase and feel confident in their decision. Sales teams stand out when they can provide additional insights and value that buyers can’t find on social media or in discussion forums.  

Tips for building influence inside the dark funnel

Sales teams may no longer make the first move but they need to make a good first impression. Since first impressions are made well before any interaction, sales leaders need to be prepared to build influence inside the dark funnel.  

The following strategies can support sales leaders in their efforts: 

• Invest in content marketing and thought leadership to attract potential customers during their pre-purchase research phase. Content such as blogs, whitepapers, videos, and webinars can help build credibility and trust. 
• Optimise SEO and online visibility and create content that answers common queries customers have during the research phase
• Use social media and influencer marketing to engage with prospects on platforms where they are active. Sales leaders who don’t post regularly on LinkedIn are missing out on great opportunities. 
• Consider retargeting and remarketing tactics to reach out to prospects who have already visited your website or engaged with your content. 
• Deploy personalisation and account-based marketing to address the specific needs and pain points of individual prospects. 

With the right strategies, you can make a positive impact on potential customers during this hidden phase of the buyer’s journey. Leveraging the dark funnel correctly will help your organisation stand out and establish a strong foundation for future sales interactions. 

The post Shining a Light on the Dark Funnel: How It Can Empower Your Sales Strategy appeared first on Head Of Sales.

When it comes to the world of sales, GenAI is making a pronounced impact. Research by SugarCRM reveals 80% of sales and marketing leaders will use AI, including GenAI, to maximise the value of their CRM in the next five years. Complementing this, McKinsey research shows companies that do invest in AI are seeing a revenue uplift of 3 to 15% and a sales ROI uplift of 10 to 20% so far. 

The bottom line is, GenAI is here to stay and sales teams are poised to benefit from increased adoption. Used effectively, GenAI enables sales teams to do more of what they are meant to do – sell. 

Using GenAI can reduce administrative load, increase personalised selling, create optimised pricing, address customer concerns and lengthen lifecycles. 

Those that don’t work to integrate AI into their business operations will see themselves at a competitive disadvantage with reduced efficiencies and missed opportunities.  

So, how can you start integrating GenAI into your sales function?

Steps can be as simple as using GenAI to help write emails, input data and create proposals. More sophisticated use involves using GenAI alongside other systems like CRMs to pull and analyse data for tailored recommendations. 

Here are 5 ways you can use GenAI to improve selling. 

5 ways you can use GenAI to improve selling 

1. Take over administrative tasks

Your best sales reps usually have specific skills they hone in on whether it be amazing presentations, perfectly written emails, or an excellent phone manner. 

GenAI can help your entire sales team lift their game by helping create emails, proposals and pitch decks to the same high standard, every time. 

When it comes to phone calls, GenAI can help write scripts and create guidelines to discuss specific customer objections. 

Not sure where to start? Start small, use a tool like ChatGPT to finesse an email, or write the perfect opening for a proposal. 

More than this, GenAI integrated into your CRM can automate busywork like inputting customer data, creating manual tasks for other reps and organising meetings. 

Reducing administrative tasks will give your sellers more time to actively sell, a dream scenario for every sales leader. 

2. Deliver more personalised experiences  

GenAI can help deliver the personalisation needed to elevate customer service, and nurture leads to build the depth of relationship required to close deals. 

Reps can use data to create personalised and original content that resonates with each lead or segment. For example, you may have a segment of customers who prefer to short emails with specific information about one product use case.

A targeted approach boosts engagement and conversion rates. Conversation transcripts can also be analysed to identify opportunities the sales team may not have thought of or had time to consider.

3. Addressing customer queries

GenAI can help address customer queries in a number of ways. First, GenAI powered chatbots can interact with prospects right at the early stage of their journey. 

Reps can use GenAI-powered search functions from their CRM to offer fast responses to customer concerns from finding the perfect case study to send to answering a technical question. 

Once a customer converts, GenAI-powered helpdesks can help customers troubleshoot issues, sometimes proactively, to help reduce churn. 

4. Optimise competitive pricing

Price optimisation can be difficult for sales teams to get right. Many reps operate solely on instinct without the time or resources to back decisions with data. 

GenAI can help ensure prices are designed to drive sales and revenue. It can perform data analysis to identify customer patterns that affect the price point for a product or service. 

Fast competitor research that assesses market share, pricing strategy, and product positioning can also be conducted.

GenAI can pull data from around your business to create predictive analytics that forecast the effect of different pricing strategies on sales and revenues. Analysis of data from various sources can be used to adjust prices in real time based on market conditions and customer behaviors. 

5. Lengthening customer lifecycles

Across the funnel, GenAI is poised to help sales teams optimise their processes to drive productivity. It can identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks and suggest ways to address them. 

Beyond the initial sale, GenAI can help with ongoing relationships with customers. Customer data can be assessed to determine when and how to communicate with existing customers and which customers to approach regarding upsell opportunities. This is important since it tends to be easier to sell to existing customers than to bring in new ones. 

When it comes to closing, GenAI can identify the best negotiation strategies and approaches to improve the likelihood of a conversion. 

AI-driven sales strategies  

Technology-backed sales processes can help sellers be more proactive and less reactive. Using AI correctly can help sales teams reduce administrative load and use data to send more effective recommendations about products and services leading to higher ROI. 

If you’re interested in learning more about sales transformation download our whitepaper, CRO Update: AI and Digital Sales Transformation. 

The post What Does ChatGPT Mean For The World Of Sales? appeared first on Head Of Sales.