What Are the Types of Sales and Marketing Funnels? See 5 Examples

Talking about the types of sales and marketing funnels is essentially discussing the operational work behind your sales process.

A simple example: think about creating a post for your social media. There’s the creative and the operational side of the work—the creative involves how to design the post, while the operational covers how the post will actually be produced.

In other words, the operational is the behind-the-scenes work, the organization of all efforts aimed at driving sales.

And this work is one of the most important aspects. Sure, you have salespeople, strategists, writers, and designers working together to achieve your goals. But it’s through the operational work that you structure everyone’s efforts.

Understanding the types of Sales and Marketing Funnels is an important step in this structuring process. It’s through these funnels that you discover the best framework, allowing you not just to sell more but to sell better.

Let’s delve deeper into this topic today. Are you ready? Let’s go:

Marketing Funnel vs. Sales Funnel

First of all, we need to address the key distinction between the types of funnels—namely, the difference between sales and marketing.

It’s quite common to find “Sales Funnel” and “Marketing Funnel” being used interchangeably. In fact, in most articles online, you’ll encounter this situation.

It’s not entirely wrong, but there’s an important nuance to consider.

When the Sales Funnel is used as a synonym for the Marketing Funnel, it typically represents just the final stages of the process.

Take a look at this image:

This is the most common depiction of both the Marketing Funnel and the Sales Funnel. It’s often labeled as the “Sales Funnel” online.

However, you can see just by looking at it that the actual “sales” part only happens at the Bottom of the Funnel.

The other stages are tied to marketing efforts—usually and primarily digital marketing.

The Sales Funnel really begins only in the final stage, when the two are treated as distinct entities.

This distinction is crucial because it deepens the sales process, which is more than just converting opportunities into customers.

It involves aspects such as qualifying opportunities and encouraging repeat purchases. For service-based companies with long-term contracts, Customer Success can also be considered part of this separate Sales Funnel.

Here’s how this separation looks in practice, with the stages of each funnel detailed below:

Marketing Funnel

Diving into the types of Sales and Marketing Funnels, let’s examine our monthly funnel here at Leadster:

It’s worth mentioning that this image is part of an article we published on the Marketing Funnel, which is well worth a read. It expands on everything we’re discussing here.

Our funnel is clearly divided. The blue, green, and light green sections are part of the Marketing Funnel, with specific strategies for generating qualified leads and nurturing them.

The second part, in orange and yellow, corresponds to Leadster’s sales process.

As you can see, this strategy includes two main variations: MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) can progress in the Sales Funnel in two ways—becoming PQLs (Product Qualified Leads) or SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads).

In other words, they qualify either through the product (via free trials) or through the sales team, based on the applied strategies.

We measure these points to understand the results generated by each approach.

And this becomes easier when we think of the Marketing Funnel as separate from the Sales Funnel.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the Sales Funnel now.

Sales Funnel

The Sales Funnel encompasses all stages not only for selling a product but also for maintaining ongoing sales.

For service-based businesses, it involves efforts to secure brand loyalty and longer contracts.

The Sales Funnel focuses on activating strategies for direct interaction with prospects.

Here, the work involves organizing the team and designing strategies to maximize the likelihood of a sale.

Take this example:

The Sales Funnel operates at the stage where an Opportunity is transformed into a Customer.

Each brand has its own strategies. Check out this example from Pipedrive’s funnel for a clearer understanding:

In this example, we see six distinct stages within Pipedrive’s Sales Funnel.

Meeting with a lead, often considered a very advanced stage in the Marketing Funnel, is just the first stage in this Sales Funnel.

After that, several other actions qualify the lead, no longer based on their ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) but on their genuine interest in purchasing.

In Pipedrive’s case, it’s only after navigating various stages—assessing diverse interests and the feasibility of the purchase—that the lead is offered a product demonstration or pitch.

Of course, this is the Sales Funnel for MQLs. We’ve explained the differences between MQL, SQL, and PQL in this linked article.

Pipedrive likely has a separate funnel for those who directly test the product on the website.

If this Sales Funnel were simply a segment of Pipedrive’s Marketing Funnel, the unified structure would likely hinder the brand’s sales development.

But there’s another quick point to discuss: a different type of Sales Funnel that’s worth understanding.

Let’s go:

The Customer Journey and the Funnel

Besides the Sales Funnel, you also need to consider the Customer Journey.

In essence, the Journey offers a different interpretation of the Funnel—or perhaps the Funnel is a different interpretation of the Customer Journey, and vice versa.

The Customer Journey outlines the steps individuals take to decide on purchasing a product or service from their perspective: what personal stages do they go through before making a decision?

Meanwhile, the Sales and Marketing Funnels focus on what actions a brand must take to engage customers at each stage.

The overlap between these two concepts is inevitable. For instance, you’ll often hear about Top of Funnel leads.

This can simultaneously refer to leads in the early stages of the Customer Journey and those in the initial phases of the Marketing Funnel.

In the Customer Journey, this lead is in the Discovery stage. For the Sales Funnel, they’re a ToFu (Top of Funnel) lead.

To clarify this before diving fully into the types of Sales and Marketing Funnels, let’s briefly address how to identify your specific funnel needs.

Join me:

How to Determine the Best Type of Sales and Marketing Funnel for Your Brand

First and foremost, there’s no single funnel that’s universally better or worse. Each serves a specific purpose.

And since we haven’t yet discussed the funnel types, let’s quickly explore how to identify the needs your Sales and Marketing Funnel must address.

Or, in simpler terms: what do you need to understand to choose the right type of funnel? And what do you need to uncover to define its stages?

The bulk of this work will revolve around your ability to understand your prospect—how they buy and the unique aspects of their Customer Journey.

As mentioned earlier, the Customer Journey and Sales Funnel share many similarities. Their stages often mirror each other, even if they go by different names.

So why are there these two forms of analysis? Why not just one?

Exactly to make the work we’re about to present here easier: determining what to do in each stage of the Funnel.

The Buying Journey is an essential tool for this task. And we will understand why now.

Ready?

Mapping the Stages of the Customer Journey

The Buying Journey consists of four fundamental stages:

• Awareness and Discovery — The consumer is becoming informed about a topic or product. This stage is quite abstract and involves discovering something new, whether positive or negative. For example, the consumer just watched a video about the types of walking patterns with flip-flops and how they relate to foot bone health.
• Problem Recognition — The consumer has learned enough about the topic to recognize its impact on their life. Continuing with the example, the consumer realizes that their way of walking is not ideal for their health.
• Solution Consideration — At this stage, the consumer has researched their problem sufficiently and knows that there are solutions available. Here, they start looking for specific brands and products to compare. For example, they become interested in orthopedic flip-flops.
• Purchase Decision — At this point, the consumer compares products and brands and makes their final decision.

However, these stages need to be mapped according to your consumer’s behavior.

In other words, what are their habits at each stage? Choosing the right type of Sales Funnel and defining its stages will depend on this investigation.

Try to understand the specific ways your lead interacts with your brand during these stages.

For example, in the Problem Recognition stage, what videos do they watch? Which influencers do they follow? What type of questions do they ask Google? What ads do they see?

By understanding these behaviors in each stage of the Journey, you will be able to design your Funnel, select its type, and describe the stages to follow.

Assigning Responsibilities for Each Stage

As you can see, mapping your ideal customer’s Buying Journey is an essential task but also a demanding one.

Because of this, you will need to delegate these tasks to your team in a highly organized manner.

Each person responsible for these stages has a significant workload. It’s necessary to create content and strategies for all stages, aiming to qualify the lead and move them forward in the Funnel.

Identifying the Types of Sales and Marketing Funnels You Need to Create

This part is crucial and closely related to your initial understanding of how your customer’s Buying Journey works.

Take, for example, marketing automation. There is a nurturing funnel that, while part of the Marketing Funnel, has its own unique characteristics.

Another example is a content funnel. It’s not as formally structured as a Sales and Marketing Funnel, but it still needs to be designed if you plan to work with content and organic traffic.

These smaller funnels, or mini-funnels, should not be overlooked. They are smaller because they may not necessarily result in direct sales but still have a clear objective: moving the lead forward toward that goal.

The types of Sales and Marketing Funnels we’ll discuss here include some of these smaller Funnels.

Now that we’ve covered a lot of theory, let’s move into practice by exploring the various types of Sales Funnels in more detail.

Ready over there? Then let’s go:

Types of Sales Funnels by Application

Now that we’ve discussed the sizing and research needed to create a Sales and Marketing Funnel, we can dive deeper into their distinct types.

It’s essential to understand that these types fall into a few categories. Not necessarily, of course, but to make things clearer, we felt the need to create some distinctions.

In the previous section, we began exploring these differences. For example, creating a content funnel is designing a smaller type of Marketing Funnel—more targeted and with a specific goal.

On the other hand, creating a B2B Sales Funnel focused on Outbound prospecting means building a Sales Funnel from scratch. This type of Funnel retains the classic objective (progressing from prospect to client) but with distinct differences compared to the standard Funnel.

Speaking of which, there is a standard Funnel. What we’ve discussed so far was designed to demonstrate precisely that. The model shared earlier represents the basic Sales and Marketing Funnel:

There are many other Funnels that deviate significantly from this because they have unique features and often entirely different stages.

There’s also another type of Funnel: the customized Funnel. You can only understand this by analyzing specific cases, company by company.

In our articles on the topic, we’ve analyzed several customized Funnels. Click the links to read more:

➡️ Everything You Need to Know About Digital Marketing Funnels [Complete Guide]
➡️ What is a Sales Funnel? Stages, Methods, and 9 Tools

Outbound Pre-Sales Funnels

These are also known as Prospecting Funnels. Designing a specific Funnel for the prospecting stage usually indicates an Outbound strategy.

It’s impossible to outline the exact stages of this Funnel—or any of these Sales Funnel types—because they are usually customized.

In other words, you’ll need to build one yourself. But with what we’ll share here, you can generate some solid ideas.

Generally, Outbound prospecting aims to find the best leads in the segment actively.

In other words, the strategy seeks out leads using methods like calls, visits, emails, etc.

A good framework for designing a pre-sales Funnel could include:

• Identification: Identify where the prospects are, the best way to approach them, and what to say during the approach. For example, a B2B EPI (Personal Protective Equipment) company uses this stage to locate all construction sites in the city.
  
• Contact: SDRs (Sales Development Representatives) reach out to these leads, which are often cold—meaning they don’t know you yet. For example, SDRs confirm who the decision-makers are at a construction company and introduce themselves. It’s not time to sell yet.
  
• First Meeting: SDRs now have a refined list and speak directly to the decision-makers in the company.
  
• Pitch: After the initial meeting, the SDR delivers their pitch to the appropriate person.
  

This Funnel could stop at the third stage. Notice how, if we extend it to the fourth, it gains a new objective: closing the sale.

If you are designing this Funnel specifically to build a solid list of leads, it’s best to stop at the first meeting and start a separate Funnel: the Outbound Sales Funnel.

Let’s talk about it right below:

Outbound Sales Funnel

The Outbound Sales Funnel expands on the previous Funnel, focusing more on building a solid lead list.

This lead list will be critical for the following steps. The Outbound Sales Funnel remains fully focused on the active prospecting mindset.

The steps here are quite similar to an Inbound Sales Funnel, as their primary stages aim to close the sale.

The main stages of an Outbound Sales Funnel typically include:

• Qualification: The lead must be qualified by the team—becoming an SQL (Sales Qualified Lead). This may still involve Inbound strategies, like an email marketing nurture sequence or direct calls based on Lead Scoring.
  
• Pitch: As qualification progresses, meetings can be scheduled to pitch your products or services. While it’s not time to close the sale, this may happen here too.
  
• Follow-Up: After the pitch, the SQL needs time to make their decision. In B2B scenarios, this time is much longer than in B2C—it could take months.
  
• Closing: Lead Scoring is still in play here if implemented. At this stage, the SDR uses all available information to offer the client the product or service.
  

This is a highly structured Funnel. Like any Funnel, it is best suited for Digital Marketing actions but can be adapted for any purpose.

The Growth Funnel

The Growth Funnel is associated with the implementation of your Growth Marketing strategy, meaning it is highly focused on rapid growth.

Due to this characteristic, it is commonly used by startups, for instance, which need to grow—and grow quickly.

Its stages are:

• Acquisition: The methods, both Inbound and Outbound, to find new prospects and convert them into leads. The classic, comprehensive Marketing Funnel we know operates here.
  
• Activation: When the customer engages with the brand, either through a direct purchase or a guided trial in the case of services. At this stage, the classic Sales Funnel comes into play—this second step already needs to generate customers.
  
• Retention: The work of keeping customers who have committed to your company. This is typically done through Customer Success and close monitoring of the employed strategies.
  
• Revenue: The analysis conducted using your KPIs and OKRs to determine if your business model is viable.
  
• Referral: This could almost be considered a separate Funnel if you want to expand on this effort. Referral is also a post-sales task and is crucial for Growth Marketing.
  

Incidentally, post-sales are very important as part of the Sales Funnel and are often completely overlooked.

We’ll discuss it further in the following section:

Post-Sales Funnel

You’ve probably noticed by now that creating a Sales Funnel is a highly customized process.

We’re presenting frameworks here, but at the same time, it’s essential to understand that the stages of each type of Sales Funnel are highly personalized.

They depend greatly on your business objectives and, most importantly, how your marketing and sales departments operate.

This is especially true for the Post-Sales Funnel. It’s a completely tailored Funnel, built based on the main stages of the post-sales process.

This Funnel will look entirely different for B2B versus B2C businesses. Very different indeed. Even within these categories, there are significant variations.

For example, the post-sales process of a physical store and an online store differ fundamentally, even in how they approach the customer.

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I genuinely hope these questions, models, and frameworks help you better understand the process of building a Sales and Marketing Funnel!

If you need any extra help, be sure to leave a comment, ok? And don’t forget to start your Leadster Free Trial today!