Funneling is frequently used as part of business development. This is where a number of opportunities are identified and the business development process is assigned to them. For example, out of 200 leads some (maybe 50) may progress to strong leads and then a percentage of these (maybe 5) would result in actual sales.
Technology has altered the way that lead generation is performed. Traditionally, one avenue was pursued which resulted in a predictable outcome path. Technology has opened the number of touch points that you have access to now. This increasingly means that your lead generation might be initiated at the social media level, move to an online arena, and might spend a little bit of time on forums, before actual human contact occurs.
Identifying these very different lead sources means increasing the size of your funnel so that these touch points can be managed. Leave your funnel too narrow and many sales opportunities might be lost.
The problem that you need to tackle is that because of the large number of lead generation touch points it might just be resource prohibitive to manage all of them. At some point you need to make some decisions as to where your main lead source is coming from and concentrate resources on this lead generation. The smarter way of doing this is to have an automated presence across multiple lead generation points and use the automation to funnel your leads into areas where you have the resources (or expertise) to adequately manage them.
Social media might be a great vehicle for initial lead generation that could be used to funnel potential customers directly to your online store or to your physical store. BUT only if your customers connect with you via social media. Do not expend resources to create social media catchalls if you do not operate in this area. If your primary business relates to mortuary services, then having a business facebook page or twitter feed might be considered a waste of resources; resources that could better be utilised elsewhere.
On the other hand, if you are a skate and surf shop, then print advertising might not be the most appropriate advertising vehicle.
Spend your hard earned coin carefully.
