From Cold Contact to Brand Advocate (Part 2)

A two-layer guide to the sales funnel—first in plain English, then with a full professional teardown, examples, and best‑practice tips

Part 2 – Professional Deep Dive (Every Nut and Bolt)

2.1  The End‑to‑End Path inside a Single Funnel

At the top sit all CRM records, verified and enriched. Each is matched against an ICP—different hypotheses, different ICPs, different funnels.

Records that pass become MQLs. Marketing automation nurtures them until a behavioural score or a human reply converts them into SALs. SDRs qualify SALs into SQLs by confirming pain, budget, authority. AEs turn SQLs into deals, move them through gated stages, and finally book revenue (Closed‑Won). Customer Success onboards, retains, and expands spend, aiming to cultivate Advocates whose testimonials refill the funnel’s top.

2.2  Roles, Accountability, and Tool Classes

• Demand Generation rules the top: data‑acquisition services, enrichment APIs, marketing‑automation platforms, advertising dashboards.
  
• SDRs work the middle of the funnel: outbound email sequencers, dialers, social‑selling plugins.
  
• Account Executives own the late funnel: CRM, quoting/config tools, call‑analysis platforms, demo environments.
  
• Customer Success governs post‑sale: project‑management suites, health‑score dashboards, QBR frameworks.
  
• Revenue Operations stitches everything together: CRM schema, lead‑routing logic, integration hubs, business‑intelligence analytics.

2.3  Why a Shared Vocabulary Matters—and What Each Term Means

When Marketing, SDRs, AEs, Finance, and Customer Success stare at the same dashboards, they must read the same language. If MQL or Opportunity means something different to each team, forecasts break, budgets misfire, and cash‑flow plans collapse. A shared glossary is therefore mission‑critical; it turns fragmented figures into a single source of truth.

Below are five cornerstone terms everyone must interpret identically—each with a definition and a front‑line example.

1. Lead Scoring
   A numeric formula combining fit (ICP traits) and intent (behaviour). Example: 30 points for an IT Director at a 1 000‑employee firm, plus 10 for a click on the pricing page; at 60 points the CRM auto‑promotes the lead.
2. Enrichment
   Automatic addition of missing facts—revenue, tech stack, LinkedIn URL—so outreach is relevant and email deliverability stays high. Example: appending “uses Oracle ERP” lets Marketing send a case‑study on Oracle integrations instead of a generic brochure.
3. Speed‑to‑Lead
   The SLA limiting time from inbound signal to first human contact. Example: in crowded SaaS markets, responding within 5 minutes can double win‑rate versus a one‑hour delay.
4. Pipeline Hygiene
   Sanitation rules: duplicate blocking, automatic closure of stagnant deals, mandatory close dates. Example: any opportunity stuck 45 days in “Proposal” without a scheduled meeting auto‑closes and returns to nurturing.
5. Forecast Accuracy
   The delta between AE commit and revenue actually received in the quarter. Rigorous stage criteria plus hygiene keep the error margin under 10 percent—vital for board‑level confidence.

2.4  Dashboards People Actually Trust

A credible dashboard answers four questions at a glance:
1. Money already received (Closed‑Won).
2. Money likely to arrive (weighted pipeline).
3. Where prospects leak (stage‑to‑stage waterfall).
4. Who owns each blockage (role‑filtered breakdown).

Achieving that clarity demands a single CRM, one set of stage definitions, and probabilities endorsed by every function. Arguments over “skewed numbers” disappear.

2.5  The CRM Skeleton—Fields and Automation

• Lifecycle Stage on the contact: Cold Contact → MQL → SAL → SQL → Customer → Advocate. Each value triggers a tailored automation—nurture email, SDR task, CSM kickoff.
  
• Lead Score throttles flow: below threshold, leads stay with Marketing; above, they surface in SDR queues.
  
• Stage on the opportunity advances only after its checklist is met; Next Step is mandatory, preventing zombie deals.
  
• ICP Tier on the account (A, B, C) guides AE prioritization and territory planning.

Those fields form the steel frame for SLAs, alerts, and BI dashboards. With every status change rule‑driven:

• Marketing feeds the top with validated, on‑profile contacts.
  
• SDRs translate curiosity into qualified meetings.
  
• AEs monetise genuine business pain.
  
• Customer Success protects and expands recurring revenue.
  
• Revenue Operations monitors the conveyor, flagging leaks long before they threaten the quarter.

The funnel ceases to be artwork on a slide; it becomes a living, measurable system that everyone understands—and trusts.