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Sales & Retail vocabulary · Sales Process & Pipeline

Sales funnel

Meaning in sales & retail, with examples

/ˈseɪlz ˌfʌnəl/nounCore term

In sales & retail, sales funnel means: A model that shows the stages buyers go through, from first hearing about a product to buying it, with fewer people at each stage, like the shape of a funnel.

In Turkish: satış hunisi

How it is used

Used in sales and marketing planning. People talk about the top, middle and bottom of the funnel, and about leads moving down or dropping out of the funnel. Marketing teams also use short forms like TOFU (top of funnel).

Example sentences

  1. We lose most people between the demo and the proposal stage of our sales funnel.

  2. Webinars bring new leads into the top of the sales funnel.

Common collocations

  • top of the funnel
  • bottom of the funnel
  • move down the funnel
  • funnel stage
  • drop out of the funnel
  • sales pipelineAll the potential deals a salesperson or team is working on, arranged by stage from first contact to signed contract, so you can see what is likely to close.
  • leadA person or company that may become a customer, for example someone who downloaded a brochure, called for information or was found through research.
  • conversion rateThe percentage of people who take a desired next step, such as store visitors who buy something or leads who become customers.
  • lead generationThe work of finding and attracting new potential customers, through activities such as events, ads, content, cold outreach and referrals.

More terms: Sales Process & Pipeline

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