A sales funnel maps the buyer journey from first awareness to closed deal. For B2B, the typical stages are: Lead → Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) → Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) → Demo/Pilot → Proposal → Negotiation → Closed Won. Each stage has a conversion rate.
Funnel Efficiency
Overall Conversion = Lead-to-Demo × Demo-to-Pilot × Pilot-to-Deal
Example: 20% × 50% × 60% = 6% overall conversion from lead to deal.
Key Takeaways
- Map every stage from lead to closed deal with conversion rates.
- Work backwards from revenue target to determine lead volume needed.
- Low conversion at any stage is a bottleneck — fix the weakest link.
- Track actual vs planned conversion rates weekly.