For a company wanting to scale, is it more important to focus on refining the customer journey map, the marketing funnel, or the sales pipeline?
My bias is the customer journey map.
But I know all three are important and have different functions. Maybe the point is they really are looking at the same thing but from different perspectives. And the real question is how they complement each other.
The customer journey map is written from the perspective of the customer. What do they do and need at every point that they connect with your company.
The customer journey map is a full end-to-end view of buy, own and advocate. With different customer needs fulfilled in each stage. It’s a journey where a prospect becomes a loyal customer and then a promoter of your brand.
Sometimes if you just think of marketing funnels and sales pipelines you get bogged down on the buy stage. Bogged down on thinking not of customers but of prospects.
Marketing often focuses on an inbound flow of prospect inquires. Sales often focuses on direct outreach to potential prospects.
You gain a wider perspective by looing at the customer journey end-to-end. A wider perspective that can inform the buy phase.
Listening and responding to what customers need after they buy can help you adjust what you do to attract similar customers. To be honest, it can also help you if you decide you want to attract a different customer. And you can adjust for that as well.
Creating advocates takes that to the next level. In many ways it is a validation of your sales and marketing. It’s an assist that makes those initial goals happen.
So yes, my bias is say you should focus on the customer journey map first.
Then let the information you collect mapping the journey inform what your funnels and pipelines need to do to gain more and more customers.
