Table of Contents
Toughest Tops of Funnel to Execute and Achieve Positive ROI
Somewhat Tough to Execute and Achieve Positive ROI
Easier to Execute and Achieve Positive ROI
The Professor recently turned two and has helped B2B companies worldwide fix and develop sales funnels. While many modern companies use CRMs to manage their sales processes, a surprising number fail to configure them beyond basic rolodex functionality. This leads to inefficiencies and missed opportunities in optimizing their top of funnel strategies.
When HubSpot is configured correctly, businesses can track each deal back to its original source. By layering in actual revenue data from closed-won deals, companies can conduct a comprehensive dollars-in, dollars-out analysis of their top of funnel performance.
Our team frequently operates as fractional Heads of Growth or fractional CMOs across industries, giving us unique insights into sales funnel optimization at various business stages. With this perspective, we’re sharing key observations to help you evaluate your B2B funnel performance and pinpoint areas for improvement. Consider this an attempt to rank different top of funnel strategies—though every business is unique, and results may vary.
Toughest Tops of Funnel to Execute and Achieve Positive ROI
Even these sales funnels strategies can be ROI-positive if executed correctly, but many businesses find easier and more cost-effective ways to drive revenue.
Outbound Sales Methodology
Professor’s Note
If there is little or no market awareness for your product category, outbound sales may be your only option.
Example: If you’ve created a new class of SaaS software that isn’t widely recognized, potential customers won’t be actively searching for it.
Trade Shows as a Top-of-Funnel Strategy
Many businesses rely on trade shows (a form of outside sales) to fill their sales funnels. However, the costs can be significant.
- Trade show tickets alone can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars per attendee.
- Adding flights, Uber rides, and hotels, the cost for a single attendee can easily reach $2,500.
- Booths start at $5,000 and can exceed $10,000 for premium placement.
If your company sells a $10,000 product with a 50% margin, you’d need at least three sales to break even. However, many of our clients struggle to attribute client acquisitions to trade shows despite repeated participation. Even when paired with account-based marketing efforts—such as targeted outreach before and after the event—many businesses find it difficult to generate a measurable return from trade show investments.
Horror Story
Are Trade Shows Worth It?
One of our clients conducted a massive audit of closed deals, attempting to tie any sales to trade show attendance. The results? No clear connections. Despite the perception that trade shows are target-rich environments, the reality is that active buyers don’t wait for trade shows to make purchasing decisions.
ABM (Account-Based Marketing) and Its Challenges
ABM is often an effective B2B top of funnel, particularly for high deal-value businesses. However, implementing ABM effectively requires shifting potential marketing budgets into sales executive salaries and commissions (OTE meaning).
Even with advanced tools like HubSpot sequences or SalesLoft cadences, many companies struggle due to poorly configured CRMs or reliance on outdated systems like Zoho. Additionally, outsourcing ABM execution to third-party firms often leads to ineffective, bot-driven outreach, resembling non-newsletter-based spam rather than strategic sales funnel engagement.
For ABM to work, businesses need a clear niche-down approach and a targeted ABM funnel strategy.
Podcasts: A Silver Bullet or a Slow Burn?
Advocates of founder brand marketing often tout podcasts as a top of funnel strategy. However, podcasts share similarities with organic social media but with a significantly lower reach and a higher barrier to entry.
Within B2B, podcast listeners fall into two main categories:
- B2SB (Business to Small Business or Pre-Business): Can leverage B2C-style marketing tactics.
- B2BB (Business to Big Business): Targets CEOs and CFOs who prioritize efficiency and cost control.
Unlike social media, where a post can be created in minutes, a podcast episode requires hours of production. To drive sales, a podcast must generate consistent engagement from hundreds—if not thousands—of listeners across multiple episodes.
Somewhat Tough to Execute and Achieve Positive ROI
These B2B sales funnels present challenges but offer higher chances of success than trade shows or outbound-only approaches.
Organic Social as a B2B Sales Funnel
For B2SB businesses—or even B2ADHD markets—platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok can generate massive reach. However, B2B-focused social media (e.g., LinkedIn) typically achieves much smaller engagement levels.
- A viral LinkedIn post may peak at 1,000+ likes.
- Many successful B2B companies generate >$50K deals through organic social.
- The key to success? Consistency and engaging, non-promotional content.
Easier to Execute and Achieve Positive ROI
The following top of funnel strategies yield stronger, faster results when implemented correctly.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) for B2B Sales Funnels
Many B2B companies struggle with PPC marketing because they focus solely on keywords rather than incorporating branding, positioning, and emotional appeal into their ads.
- Well-optimized PPC intelligence identifies affordable money phrases.
- Our conversion rate optimization (CRO) process examines both top of funnel and bottom of funnel performance.
- Executed correctly, PPC can generate initial deals within 14–30 days.
Paid Social: Meta Ads vs. LinkedIn Ads
For B2SB businesses, Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram) rival Google Ads in effectiveness. LinkedIn Ads, while costly, can be effective for global markets when managed properly.
Even LinkedIn’s third-party contractors struggle to run profitable US-based campaigns, but in international markets, LinkedIn Ads can drive strong B2B lead generation.
What About Emerging Funnels?
Connected TV
We tested Hulu Ad Manager last year and shared our first impressions. It’s certainly promising, especially for small business-facing marketing. You can infer certain attributes based on audience viewership.
While availability is limited to Disney-owned properties, Hulu and ESPN have strong subscriber bases. We’ll be testing other connected TV ad platforms this year, along with another round of testing on Hulu.
Generative AI
HubSpot now tracks ChatGPT as an original source, just like it does for organic search. However, traffic from generative AI remains minimal since AI-generated responses often provide direct answers without linking to external sites.
With Google integrating Gemini into search, it’s unlikely these clicks will be distinguishable from traditional Google search anytime soon.
Need Help? Book a Free Consultation
At Sales Funnel Professor, all of our relationships start with a free consultation. We also keep open slots for pay-it-forward consults with companies who aren’t even ready for sales yet.
When you book one of these, we encourage you to bring actual challenges to the call. We enjoy helping companies get moving as quickly as possible and talking through “our read” on various situations and how a potential client receives feedback is part and parcel of how we determine whether we will accept a client in the first place.
