Focus Funnel Expert: Steve Woods of Eloqua
Continuing with our series of interviews with contributors to Focus Experts’ Guide: Sales and Marketing Pipeline and Funnel Models, today we interview Steve Woods, Chief Technology Officer of Eloqua and author of the blog Digital Body Language.
Steve co-founded Eloqua in 1999 and has held the position of Chief Technology Officer since that time. He is a prolific writer on topics related to demand generation and the current transitions within the marketing profession, and is the author of the book Digital Body Language - Deciphering Customer Intentions in an Online World.
The Funnelholic: Explain your approach to the funnel.
Steve: This view of the funnel was done with a mind to understanding how to evaluate and compare marketing efforts that may resonate with buyers and cause them to engage, but not directly drive revenue at that particular moment in time. If the buying funnel is looked at as a series of stages of increasing buyer interest, starting from unaware and ending with a closed deal, each stage can be associated a rough value. This value is based on the probability that people at that stage eventually purchase, and the value of a purchase.
With this value-by-stage in place, you then have a framework for analyzing how each marketing campaign moves buyers forward by one or two stages. The change in value associated with these stage changes is what the campaign drives, and thus how one campaign can be objectively compared with another, even if both are engaging with early-stage buyers.
The Funnelholic: Besides your own, were there any other funnels that resonated with you?
Steve: All of the funnels were well thought out, and each teaches a slightly different lesson. Ardath Albee looks at the buying process from the eyes of the buyer, Mike Damphousse addresses the non-linearity that is key to understanding buyers, Barbra Gago looks at customers as the new marketers in their role as advocates, to name just a few. Each funnel contributes a very valuable perspective on how the leading thinkers in the space are thinking about the buying process.
The Funnelholic: What did you learn from the exercise?
Steve: It’s an ongoing effort. Understanding, and then analyzing, the overall revenue process given today’s dynamics is new, challenging and complex. We’re dedicating a lot of effort to this endeavor, and working with many of the top marketers in the space to formalize this type of thinking into a discipline that is beginning to be called “Revenue Performance Management.” Creating this funnel, and working with many of the thought leaders who have created their own way of understanding the funnel, is an important step in that effort.
The Funnelholic: If everyone needs to create a funnel to model their business, what are best practices for creating it?
Steve: The first and most important effort is to understand your buyers. Who are they? How do they learn about you? How do they validate their assumptions? Where do they seek information? What do they need to know? When are they interested in hearing from your sales team? That exercise is the hardest in creating a funnel process for your organization. Once that has been completed, mapping that buying process to a set of named stages of the funnel is much easier.
Join the conversation: ‘Is the funnel still a relevant metaphor for the b2b sales and marketing process?’
Written by Craig Rosenberg - The FunnelholicSign up to receive emails when new articles are posted
The Funnelholic
