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A reader asked for clarification in prioritizing mid-funnel and eliminating uncertainty at any phase of the sales process. Do the concepts apply to a service business?

“Taming the Volatile Sales Cycle” concepts are definitely applicable to service businesses. It was in two total service businesses that the phenomenon of the rollercoaster effect was first observed, and the concept of the Sales Funnel as the cause and fix was devised and perfected. It is even MORE applicable to service than to hardware businesses.

The intent of this article is NOT "to complete the bottom of the funnel and simultaneously work the top, leaving the middle for prioritization." That would be nonsense. The strict definitions of the funnel aid in sorting out potential business by what has transpired to date in the total sale and what is left to be done before an order is placed. Thus, one gets a rough idea of the probability of getting the order.

Once a Single Sales Objective is sorted into Above the Funnel, In the Funnel, or Best Few (ready to close), the funnel then directs you to what kind of selling work is appropriate to move the potential order further down to the next level. The most important point is that a sales person MUST learn how to do ALL the different types of selling work: 

• Above the Funnel - prospect and qualify, understand the organization 
• In the Funnel - collect data and facts, ask questions to determine who the buying influences are and cover the bases systematically so that the deal can be moved to 
• Best Few and a sales presentation can be developed, implementation plan worked upon, and the deal closed.

Salespeople MUST do ALL OF THIS WORK. There is no choice. BUT, one cannot do all of it a once nor can a salesperson have the luxury of working on only one prospect or customer at a time. S/he has to juggle multiple deals every single day. The purpose of the funnel is to give a picture of where the potential business is coming from at any given point in time and what should be worked on today, and in what order.

The observed and verified tendency of virtually all salespeople is that they will leave PROSPECTING AND QUALIFYING - i.e the Above the Funnel work - to be done only when they absolutely have to. Why? Because the rejection rate from prospecting and qualifying is so high. Salespeople hate rejection. Thus they hate this work. Left to their own devices they will do this high rejection work only when they see that their funnel is about to go dry. Working all three sections of the funnel in equal proportion, 33.33% on each section, day in and day out, virtually assures a DROUGHT and the wide fluctuations that define the roller coaster effect. 

Prioritization and the amount of time spent in each section are separate issues, depending upon what the funnel looks like. But it still should be done in the prescribed order of Best Few first, Above the Funnel second, and In the Funnel last. That way it keeps the funnel from going dry. 

Bottom line, every day of the week do ALL three types of selling work.

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