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Market Smart: How to Gain Customers and Increase Profits with B2B Marketing

There is a debate surrounding the use of the funnel as an
accurate depiction of the marketing development process.
Those against the funnel argue that it represents a straight-line
process from awareness to revenue. Such a straight-line
process is no longer a reality. Today, prospects skip back and
forth fluidly between stages. A prospect may be ready to buy
before a salesperson has ever engaged with them.
I use the funnel here, because it’s still the most widely
understood conceptualization of the sales process. It may
help to think of the funnel as an open structure that prospects
and customers can enter and exit as they choose.

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© 2012 Lisa Shepherd