515.329.0310 | info@funnelwise.com | funnelwise.com

What is Revenue Funnel Science?Revenue Funnel Science is a forward-looking framework, an investment in future growth and an opportunity for strategic leaders to have a unified view of the entire revenue funnel. Marketers often get stuck looking at the top of the funnel while sales often gets stuck looking at the bottom of a funnel, but with Revenue Funnel Science, a business can build a foundation, connect the dots and operationalize its funnel. This understanding provides insight into what is truly happening within an organization’s marketing and sales funnel, and ultimately, optimizes return on investment and continued business growth.

Big Opportunity, Low UnderstandingUnfortunately, many companies have not realized the importance of implementing Revenue Funnel Science or have yet to understand it. This methodology focuses on the overall health of the business, while many marketing and sales leaders solely focus on what is happening inside their own departments. True strategic leaders and organizations look at how all teams increase value and bring together the business as a whole. This methodology is about more than just setting up dashboards or identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) — it’s a discipline. The need for it will only grow as more data and technology becomes available in the years to come.

Revenue Funnel ScienceCHEATSHEET

The best data in the world is worthless if you don’t have a structured process for reviewing it, using it and making decisions at different levels of your business as a result of it.”

– Matt Ostanik,

Founder and CEO,

FunnelWise

“

515.329.0310 | info@funnelwise.com | funnelwise.com

Pro Tip: Three Critical Revenue Funnel Science Actions 1. Build a Foundation — Agreeing upon a common

funnel blueprint allows organizations to measure key revenue funnel metrics.

2. Connect the Dots — By using metrics to develop forward-looking projections, businesses can analyze funnel performance and form actionable insights for growth.

3. Operationalize the Funnel — Companies can leverage the information through a cadence of Revenue Leadership Team meetings to help make decisions, gain visibility and develop action plans.

Planning/Goals• Do we have the right goals?• Is our revenue on track to hit our goals?• If we are not on track, what changes do we

need to make?• Am I communicating the right information to

my boss/CEO/Board about what to expect from our revenue funnel in the future?

Marketing Strategy • Are we generating the correct number of

leads to hit our revenue goal?• What marketing programs are having the

greatest impact on our funnel?• What marketing and demand generation

initiatives should we spend more on?

Sales Effort • Are we completing the right sales

activities with leads?• How are individual reps performing at

each stage of our funnel?• What levers can we pull or what dials

can we turn to grow our revenue faster?

Return on Investment• What is the return on our overall

investment in marketing and sales?• What marketing and sales activities

generate the greatest return?• How much should we invest in

marketing and sales in the future?

Framework for Answering Forward-Looking QuestionsThe Revenue Funnel Science methodology provides a framework and answers different types of questions about a company’s revenue funnel. At a high level, these fall into four key categories: planning/goals, marketing strategy, sales effort and return on investment (ROI).

515.329.0310 | info@funnelwise.com | funnelwise.com

Revenue Funnel Science Framework

515.329.0310 | info@funnelwise.com | funnelwise.com

Everyone is Accountable for Revenue

Revenue Funnel Science is not limited to marketing, sales, operations or finance, but is a leadership opportunity for each area of the business. It involves more components than just data science or business intelligence — it’s company-wide. These roles need to monitor, analyze and manage an organization’s entire revenue funnel, which includes the very top of the funnel (the first contact an organization has with a prospective customer or the first time they obtain a prospect’s information) to the very bottom of the funnel (the prospect is a successful, revenue-generating customer). True leaders view this framework as a way to bring the organization together. It is composed of three main parts:

Part data analysis: They must be able to dig into details, know what is happening within the organization’s overall funnel and find the stories hidden in the numbers to bring them to light.

Part experienced marketing/sales professional: The role must understand how the marketing and sales funnels work in order to understand the stories the numbers tell. The experience is what helps them understand and interpret the stories within the data. This is what differentiates a Revenue Funnel Science professional or leader from the typical data scientist role known today. They know the data as well as any other business intelligence or analysis professional, but with the marketing and sales experience, an expert can piece together what the numbers really mean.

Part business communicator: This role knows what to do with the data, but can also find the data in the first place. Revenue funnel numbers are worthless in a spreadsheet or on a screen until action is taken on them, which includes dialogue or interaction with other business leaders and stakeholders. This role doesn’t just uncover the stories, but also organizes meetings, creates reports and starts discussions that allow businesses to set goals, make successful decisions and improve overall results.

515.329.0310 | info@funnelwise.com | funnelwise.com

Pro Tip: Which role are you? 1. If your true passion is how

to manage and slice data, and you would prefer to talk about the latest statistical model or the best way to structure a table, you’re likely a data scientist.

2. If your passion lies in growing marketing and sales revenue, and your background includes a marketing/sales role, you’re a better fit for Revenue Funnel Science.

Learn More AboutRevenue Funnel Science

For more information, download the digital book, “Revenue Funnel Science: How to Optimize Your Marketing and Sales Funnel,” and follow the F u n n e l W i s e blog.

Revenue Funnel Science vs. Business Intelligence and Data Scientists

Fundamentally Focused on the Future

Although there has been an explosive growth in related fields of “big data,” business intelligence and data science, Revenue Funnel Science is much more focused on the discipline behind data science. The methodology consists of much more than just setting up dashboards, running reports and creating visually attractive charts. Revenue Funnel Science experts have the ability to be a facilitator, organizer and, when needed, a counselor. It’s the personal context and passion that help revenue funnel scientists stand apart from business intelligence and data scientists.

The methodology focuses on where an organization’s revenue funnel is headed tomorrow, next month, next quarter and next year. Typically, most businesses are only looking at their revenue funnels through the rear view mirror, focusing on what happened yesterday verses what is going to happen tomorrow. The growth of analytic and business intelligence software has encouraged this type of thinking and with data sources, including customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation platforms, it’s relatively easy to plug in numbers and calculate these conversions. These sources amplify the problem and keep leaders focused on “yesterday.”

With Revenue Funnel Science, organization’s can answer questions regarding their projected growth, decide if the projections meet expectations for goals and, if needed, make changes to improve outcomes for tomorrow.