Thanks to the Internet, buyers have tons of information at their fingertips nowadays, which makes them more informed than ever. Whether you’re a web developer, specialize in SEO, or work in marketing, you’ll need to tweak your sales funnel approaches at each stage in the buyer’s journey (TOFU, MOFU BOFU) to properly educate and give people the information they seek.
The sales funnel is another term for the buying process that begins with a person entering as a lead and hopefully ends with them becoming your customer. To achieve this goal, you must qualify the buyer and then nurture them throughout the process. We’ll discuss how to do that by taking a closer look at each stage or step of the sales funnel, including the top, middle, and bottom that many refer to as TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU.
TOFU (Top of the Funnel)
The top of the sales funnel is where it all begins. It’s also where you’re likely to have a lot of leads, many of which won’t buy from you. People at the TOFU stage are aware that they have a potential problem on their hands. They don’t know how to solve that problem, though, so they’re looking for solutions.
At the TOFU, it’s critical to avoid coming on too strong or moving too quickly. Doing so could annoy the prospect or overload them with information, significantly reducing their chances of becoming your customer. To put it into simple terms, think of the TOFU as the first date. You wouldn’t ask someone to marry you when first meeting them, would you? Of course not, as that would be coming on way too strong.
Keeping all of this in mind, what’s the best approach at the top of the funnel? Since the lead may not know what your company does and is in the education stage, aim to build trust and inform via quality content in the form of white papers, e-books, blog posts, and research reports. By providing such content, your lead will have the chance to learn more about your company and educated themselves on the topic at hand. Meanwhile, you will be able to qualify and disqualify them so you can separate strong leads from the weaker ones.
MOFU (Middle of the Funnel)
As you transition from the top to the middle of the funnel, a solid amount of leads should have been disqualified. Now you are left with prospects who are not only aware that they have a problem but have also defined it clearly thanks to your content.
While your leads are better qualified at the MOFU, it’s still critical to avoid not coming on too strong. The leads are still looking for ways to fix their problem while continuing to research.
Keep building trust and nurturing your leads at the MOFU instead of going for the sale. You can move them down your funnel to the next stage by offering content such as videos, webinars, podcasts, and comparison guides where you do not compare vendors but solutions instead. Do this to make your prospect’s final decision an easy and clear one.
BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel)
As you reach the final stage, the BOFU presents you with highly qualified leads that are ready to become paying customers. They’ve moved down the funnel, and in the process, have researched, clearly defined their solution, and have a list of vendors competing for their purchase.
At the BOFU, you are no longer a mystery. The prospect knows who you are. They know what you do and how you can solve their problem, and they probably know the same about some of your competitors.
While your leads are fully qualified at the BOFU, you still want to avoid a hard-sell approach. Many see such an approach as outdated and recommend a consultative approach for sealing the deal.
To help your prospect make their final decision and buy from you, offer content at the BOFU in the form of a trial, vendor comparisons, case studies, a live demo, or a consultation.
How TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU Differ From Traditional Selling
If you’ve been in sales for many years, the TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU concepts may seem foreign to you. As you can tell, they’re less pushy than traditional sales methods of cold calling, limited time offers, and directly pressuring prospects to buy.
Why have so many made this adjustment? Because selling and marketing the old-fashioned way may not work with the majority of today’s buyers, as they have too much information and power at their fingertips. Concentrate on nurturing, building trust, educating, and qualifying leads at the TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU stages using the suggested content above, and you should see success.
