The traditional sales funnel begins with brand awareness and is structured to drive prospects straight to the close. But something is missing. Your prospects are human — just like you, and in today’s modern sales world, for people to buy from other people, they want to be treated like more than a number. And while “the win” might still define ultimate sales success because it’s how brands like yours generate revenue, getting there takes more genuine connection than a few automated calls, big pitches, and impersonal emails can offer.
You see, the traditional sales funnel, while marginally functional, doesn’t take into account that relationships are essential to buy-in. More often than not, your prospects don’t just hear about your brand, express interest, and decide to purchase. That’s not to say it never happens, but most people want and need to trust you to buy from you. So, where do you start building that trust? And how can you adjust your sales funnel to make room for a sales process that’s more human?
The Bow Tie Funnel
The problem with the traditional funnel
In Human-Centered Communication: A Business Case Against Digital Pollution by Ethan Beute and Steve Pacinelli, Jacco van der Kooij, Founder of Winning by Design, points out that the traditional funnel, created from the seller’s perspective, incorrectly identifies the purchase as being the end of the sales process. As a result, it ignores the buyers’ needs in exchange for doubling down on sales efforts.
But, you see, 72-93% of customer lifetime value happens after commitment. The sale isn’t the end of the process; it’s the beginning of an ongoing, mutually beneficial partnership. And it’s the longevity of this partnership that defines sales success.
The (missing) impact of selling to win
According to Human-Centered Communication, the traditional funnel misses critical moments of emotional and rational impact. The problem? It’s recurring moments of impact that allow buyers to see how the solution they’re potentially investing in or have invested in benefits them over time.
Emotional impact (feelings and overall experience) benefit the person, while rational impact (statistical data) appeals to the organization. And relationships (a fundament component noticeably absent from the traditional funnel) are the key to understanding the needs and pain points of others that’ll help you create the most impact.
The delivery of impact earns us the right to revenue. – Human-Centered Communication, Ethan Beute and Steve Pacinelli
The human-centered solution
Jacco and his team are teaching a new approach to the sales funnel that considers all of these missing elements, and it’s called The Bow Tie Funnel. Rather than ending the sales process as soon as a prospect commits, The Bow Tie Funnel focuses on recurring impact. Recurring impact drives growth because it’s cyclical. It’s continually demonstrating the value of what you have to offer across the entire customer journey.
The Bow Tie Funnel also adopts a buyer perspective in that selling is no longer about the win or the close. Selling is about helping people find a solution to their problems. You see, the idea is that this approach is more human.
The key to success in sales is no longer selling — it’s helping.
Human-Centered Communication highlights that to nurture relationships through this more human funnel, you have to communicate in a way that fosters personal connection, manages emotion and tone, and allows you to break down detail and complexity. Implementing video at various touchpoints throughout The Bowtie Funnel can help you do this in a scalable way.
7 Videos for Sales Success
Incorporating video throughout your sales funnel will help you engage your recipients in a human-centered way, similar to how you would in person. Below you’ll find seven examples that grab attention, clarify intent, and showcase warmth and competence. These elements will create the recurring impact that’ll help you earn trust and build long-lasting, healthy partnerships.
1. Awareness
During the awareness stage, the primary goal is for your prospects to become familiar with your brand.
Video will put a voice and face with a name. Face-to-face communication is also infused with emotion, energy, and confidence to help you stand out from your competition and grab attention.
Watch how you can use video to bring positive energy and enthusiasm in the outreach video below.
2. Education
Education is one of the keys to helping your prospects understand the value of what you have to offer. But getting them to respond to communication or schedule and attend meetings or in-depth product demos can be a challenge. Why should they meet with you? How can you help them?
Convey the value of what you’re offering and build rapport like this…
Tip: Want to learn how to use video during this stage to provide context and create anticipation for setting and holding more appointments? This article can help.
3. Selection
During the selection stage, your prospects are significantly closer to buy-in. There are in-depth questions to answer, contracts to review, and decision-makers to meet. With face-to-face communication using video, you can demonstrate authenticity and express excitement about the impending partnership.
Watch how you can use the BombBomb Screen Recorder to answer complex questions and explain necessary details in a scalable way that’s still personal in the following video:
4. Commitment
Human-Centered Communication highlights two specific pain points you’re likely to encounter at the commitment stage of The Bow Tie Funnel: Cold feet and buyer’s remorse. So how can you use video to reduce apprehension and decision uncertainty?
Your sales success depends heavily on this stage of the funnel. Start by using video to express sincere gratitude for commitment. You see, expressing appreciation inspires loyalty, engagement, and fosters relationships.
After you’ve expressed gratitude, face-to-face communication will also provide clarity for what your customer can expect moving forward. With it, you can also convey genuine reassurance that they’re making the right decision by partnering with your brand.
Watch the example below to see how using video to say “Thank you” incorporates the warmth, emotion, and expression you convey in person.
5. Onboarding
After a customer has committed to working with you, they need to know what to expect moving forward. In this article, Jacco notes that the onboarding process should focus on orchestrating the future of the business partnership. How do they implement your solution? Who can they expect to meet along the way?
Use video to set expectations for what a partnership with your brand entails, like this…
Tip: Video is also a great tool to set your customers up for success with training sequences and to reinforce product usage. You can also use it to acknowledge early wins (Impact!) face to face.
6. Impact
Are your customers satisfied with the results and seeing the impact of your product or service? This essential question is what every brand should be asking itself during the impact stage. It’s key to success in sales that your customer sees the metrics they feel define success.
So how can you assess impact? Through ongoing communication! Use video to celebrate important milestones, check in, set and hold account reviews, and work through any problems or pain points people might be experiencing.
Watch below and see how video can help you handle a negative situation during the impact stage with compassion, ownership, and accountability.
7. Growth (And Growth Loop)
Growth and Growth Loop are the long game of The Bow Tie Funnel. It’s here where loyal brand advocates drive the cycle of recurring revenue. Nurturing these relationships you’ve worked hard to build will help identify growth and expansion opportunities during this stage.
Use video for a human-centered approach to ongoing communication. For instance, request customer interviews to understand your customers better like this…
Start Using These Videos For Sales Success Today!
Now that you have some of the best videos for every stage of The Bowtie Funnel that’ll increase your sales success, what are you waiting for? It’s time to put them to the test.
Still not using BombBomb? No problem. Click here for a free two-week trial.
And to learn more about The Bow Tie Funnel and customer impact with Jacco van der Kooij, check out “Creating Customer Impact in Moments That Matter” on The Customer Experience Podcast.
