Origin of the funnel
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 7:51 am
The sales funnel model is credited to Elmo Lewis (1898), who developed the sales tool using the latest insights from Scientific Management. It was initially called the AIDA funnel and is based on customer studies in the US life insurance market. To explain the mechanics of personal selling, Lewis argued that the most successful salespeople followed a four-layer hierarchical process using the four cognitive phases that buyers go through when accepting a new idea or purchasing a new product.
The AIDA model describes the basic legal leads for sale process by which people are motivated to act on a purchase and is based on external stimuli from sales representatives. This motivation to make a purchase depends on:
Knowledge of the existence of a product or service;
Interest in paying attention to the benefits of the product;
Desire for the product.
Lewis further argues that the fourth stage or state of mind, Action, was a natural result of passing through the first three stages: that desire leads to action, that is:
Are you talking to me?
Why are you talking to me?
Good idea, but do I really need it?
What will I have to do to get it?
In 1911, Sheldon expanded the model with a fifth phase, 'Permanent Satisfaction' to emphasize the importance of repeat sales. In the following decades, the AIDA model was used to study how advertising affects consumers and was the basis for numerous motivational models of consumer behavior research.
The AIDA funnel model is used as the backbone for structuring an organization's sales. It also helps salespeople better target a customer by basing their actions on the customer's position in the funnel. Salespeople should aim for different sales targets for their suspects, prospects, and customers. Aggregated sales funnel information allows a company to build an overview of sales reps and departments and deliver better-structured sales forecasts.
Other stages of the funnel
When working with marketing strategies, every type of company needs to communicate properly with its audience. This means using the ideal speech for each situation. That is, differentiating who is ready to buy what you offer from those who are just about to do so. To help organize this process, the concept of a sales funnel was created.
To make this idea work, you just have to literally think of a funnel. At the top of the funnel are those people who have never had any contact with your brand. In the middle are those who have the potential to become your customers if they find enough information. In the third stage, the bottom of the funnel, is where those with the highest chances of conversion are concentrated.
The sales funnel is all about getting people to the next stage. Not everyone qualifies, so it's normal for it to start with a large number at the top, which then decreases. The most important point is that, at the final stage, you can be sure that those people are ready to buy.
Below we will briefly explain the initial and final stages of the funnel.
The AIDA model describes the basic legal leads for sale process by which people are motivated to act on a purchase and is based on external stimuli from sales representatives. This motivation to make a purchase depends on:
Knowledge of the existence of a product or service;
Interest in paying attention to the benefits of the product;
Desire for the product.
Lewis further argues that the fourth stage or state of mind, Action, was a natural result of passing through the first three stages: that desire leads to action, that is:
Are you talking to me?
Why are you talking to me?
Good idea, but do I really need it?
What will I have to do to get it?
In 1911, Sheldon expanded the model with a fifth phase, 'Permanent Satisfaction' to emphasize the importance of repeat sales. In the following decades, the AIDA model was used to study how advertising affects consumers and was the basis for numerous motivational models of consumer behavior research.
The AIDA funnel model is used as the backbone for structuring an organization's sales. It also helps salespeople better target a customer by basing their actions on the customer's position in the funnel. Salespeople should aim for different sales targets for their suspects, prospects, and customers. Aggregated sales funnel information allows a company to build an overview of sales reps and departments and deliver better-structured sales forecasts.
Other stages of the funnel
When working with marketing strategies, every type of company needs to communicate properly with its audience. This means using the ideal speech for each situation. That is, differentiating who is ready to buy what you offer from those who are just about to do so. To help organize this process, the concept of a sales funnel was created.
To make this idea work, you just have to literally think of a funnel. At the top of the funnel are those people who have never had any contact with your brand. In the middle are those who have the potential to become your customers if they find enough information. In the third stage, the bottom of the funnel, is where those with the highest chances of conversion are concentrated.
The sales funnel is all about getting people to the next stage. Not everyone qualifies, so it's normal for it to start with a large number at the top, which then decreases. The most important point is that, at the final stage, you can be sure that those people are ready to buy.
Below we will briefly explain the initial and final stages of the funnel.