# The B2B sales funnel: why marketing and sales need a double funnel
Source: https://unrivals.com/blog/b2b-sales-funnel/
Site: UNRIVALS · Language: en · Updated: 2026-10-09
> A B2B sales funnel built as a single funnel only works for the few buyers who are ready to buy right now. The double funnel separates market memory from the commercial decision and joins them at one point, designed by both teams.
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A B2B sales funnel describes a buyer's path from first contact with a company to a signed contract. It divides that path into stages and tracks how many potential customers move forward at each step.
The double funnel separates this work into two connected systems. The first helps potential buyers remember the company, and the second turns an active need into a contract.
The two funnels have different objectives and time horizons. Marketing helps potential buyers remember the company when a need arises, while sales helps them choose and sign when they are ready. The teams need to agree on the handover before they start passing contacts between them.
The classic model has three levels, known in sales terminology as TOFU, MOFU and BOFU, the top, middle and bottom of the funnel. A potential customer discovers the company, evaluates its offer and reaches a buying decision. The diagram is easy to follow, but it assumes a continuity that B2B buying often lacks.
The trouble starts when that drawing is laid over a real B2B market. A company that buys machinery, legal services or a production system enters the market when its contract expires, when something breaks or when its leadership changes, and the supplier does not get to choose that moment.
Our guide to the [B2B sales system and the figures that make forecasting possible](/blog/b2b-sales-system/) explains how sales becomes predictable. Here I take a single part of that system, the funnel itself, and show why it is built in two pieces, how they connect and where the connection usually breaks.
## What is a sales funnel, and what does it actually measure?
A sales funnel measures how many potential customers move from one stage to the next, from first contact to contract. The stages differ from one company to another, but the logic stays the same, and at every step some people drop out. **The value of the model is that it shows you where people drop out.**
In B2B sales we use the SPANCO stages, extended beyond signing the contract. The path runs through suspect, prospect, analysis, negotiation, contract, retention, development and profit. Our guide to the [B2B sales system](/blog/b2b-sales-system/) explains this extension, while our article on [B2B sales strategy](/blog/b2b-sales-strategy/) shows how we use the methodology in sales conversations.
In a sales report that starts with incoming leads, earlier interactions with the market remain outside the measurement. The report counts calls, proposals and contracts after an enquiry, without necessarily explaining why the buyer chose to speak to this particular company.
The invisible part covers everything that happened before the person filled in the form, such as who mentioned your company's name to them, what they read about it and why they searched for it by name instead of a competitor's. That is where the shortlist actually gets decided.
I call this mistake *the lead illusion* here. The company treats the completed form as the start of the relationship, although it may be the result of a choice made before the salesperson entered the conversation.
## Why does a single funnel lose most of the B2B market?
A funnel focused exclusively on this quarter's contracts leaves companies that will buy later outside its measurement. In [John Dawes's example published in 2021](https://johndawes.info/the-955-rule), a five-year purchase cycle means roughly 5% of buyers are in the market in any given quarter. That proportion is a rough guide; planning for your own category should start with its actual purchase frequency.
Who is in the market in a given quarter
5%Business buyers in the market in a quarter, on a five-year cycle
Source · John Dawes, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, 2021
The lit diamonds represent active buyers in the example quarter. For the other companies, the question is whether they will remember the supplier when they need it. Dawes explains the role of memory in buying and the preference for familiar brands, including when people search for information.
In our Codex, the goal of this work is called cognitive ownership. The company aims to become associated with an attribute of its category, so buyers think of it when a need arises. Our guide to [cognitive ownership and the mental space of a category](/blog/cognitive-ownership/) covers this in depth.
## What are the two funnels of a B2B sales funnel?
To manage the two funnels, you need to define the decision each prepares buyers to make and who is responsible for the outcome. In our double funnel methodology, marketing builds differentiation and sales develops the commercial relationship. For this explanation, I call them the *memory funnel* and the *decision funnel*, after the outcomes they serve.
In practice, marketing materials are chosen according to the buyer's stage and the questions they still need answered. The table below compares the two funnels by audience, objective and evaluation criteria.
| Criterion | The memory funnel (marketing) | The decision funnel (sales) |
|---|---|---|
| Who it serves | companies that are not buying now, which is most of the market | companies already looking for a solution |
| The question it answers | "Who do I remember when the need comes up?" | "Who do I choose from the shortlist?" |
| Stages | suspect, prospect, analysis | negotiation, contract, retention, development, profit |
| What it produces | recognition, branded searches, trust | opportunities, contracts, margin |
| How it is measured | branded searches, mentions, citations in AI engines, inbound requests | win rate, cycle length, contract value |
| Time horizon | quarters and years | weeks and months |
| Typical risk | the first thing cut when budgets tighten | fed with cold leads nobody asked for |
The two funnels need different evaluation periods. Marketing tracks whether people recognise the company's name and associate it with the right need, while sales tracks progress on active opportunities. Asking both teams to produce contracts in the same month risks cutting work whose results take longer to appear.
The handover into negotiation happens at the end of analysis, once the need and the fit have been established. I call this handover the *double funnel node* here. It needs a named owner, a response deadline and an agreed set of information passed from marketing to sales; a request to talk does not, by itself, mean the analysis is complete.
## Where does the link between marketing and sales break?
The link can break during the handover if the teams have not agreed what makes a buyer ready for negotiation. A [Gartner survey published in June 2024](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-06-03-gartner-survey-reveals-marketing-and-sales-functions-collaborate-on-only-three-out-of-15-commercial-activities), involving 412 marketing and sales leaders, found that the two functions collaborate on only three out of 15 commercial activities.
The same survey, run in November and December 2023 across North America and Western Europe, found that 80% of key commercial activities are missing contributions from either marketing or sales. On top of that, 90% of marketing and sales executives say their functional priorities conflict with each other.
A relevant finding for the handover is that organisations where marketing and sales share buyer journey insights are 2.3 times more likely to report higher sales conversion rates. The same Gartner survey shows that only 17% of leaders work together on mapping that journey. This association supports the value of shared information without demonstrating the effect of our model.
The break is also visible from the buyer's side. A [Gartner survey from June 2025](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-06-25-gartner-sales-survey-finds-61-percent-of-b2b-buyers-prefer-a-rep-free-buying-experience), of 632 B2B buyers interviewed in August and September 2024, found that 69% of them notice inconsistencies between the information on the supplier's website and what the seller tells them.
Where the double funnel breaks
3commercial activities out of 15 on which marketing and sales collaborate
Gartner, 2024
69%of B2B buyers see inconsistencies between website and seller
Gartner, 2025
Sources · Gartner, B2B Commercial Strategy Survey, 2024 · Gartner, B2B buyer survey, 2025
The first figure describes collaboration between the teams, while the other two show what buyers notice. If the website promises one thing and the salesperson says another, the buyer has reason to question which information is correct.
The same 2025 survey found that 73% of buyers actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach. From a double funnel perspective, inappropriate contact may also affect a buyer's impression of the company. This is our interpretation of the finding, rather than a measurement of memory by Gartner.
Before direct outreach, we therefore recommend researching the company and the person, as explained in our guide to [B2B cold email that gets replies](/blog/cold-email-b2b/). Our article on the [sales engine after branding](/blog/sales-engine-after-branding/) shows how to carry positioning through qualification, proposals and follow-up.
## How do you match marketing material to the sales stage?
Each piece of material should prepare the buyer for a step they can reasonably take at that stage. An article can help them understand the problem and continue their research, a diagnostic gives them a reason to talk, and a discovery conversation establishes the information needed for a proposal. This rule comes from the double funnel methodology and draws on sequencing in our Codex.
Sequencing means helping buyers understand the offer gradually, one stage at a time. Each stage has its own objective, and skipping ahead can leave questions unanswered. A salesperson who sends a price proposal to someone still trying to understand the problem risks doing exactly that.
One piece of material per stage, one objective
Suspect
The article and the public case study, so the person remembers the name
Prospect
The diagnostic built on public data, so the person asks for a conversation
Analysis
The discovery conversation, so the person opens up their data
Negotiation
The written proposal built around each decision-maker, so it reaches the one who signs
Contract and after
The monthly report on their own figures, so the relationship grows
The red step marks analysis, with the node at its end, before negotiation. Both teams can help clarify the need; what matters is that the salesperson receives the findings and knows what the buyer has read, why they came and what they have already explained.
For this handover, the teams need to document who takes responsibility for the contact and how quickly, which information accompanies it and which answers have already been obtained. The salesperson can check whether the need has changed, but should not ask the buyer to repeat the entire discussion.
We recommend keeping the owner's name, response deadline and analysis notes in the same CRM record, so both teams can check the contact's status.
To check whether the handover works, we recommend reviewing a few recent contacts from your own company, from the first enquiry to the first negotiation discussion. For each, compare the information the salesperson received with the analysis notes. Check whether the need, buying criteria and people involved in the decision reached the person responsible for sales. If information is missing, record where it was lost and who needs to supply it. Then check what the buyer had to explain again and how long the handover took. This review assesses handover quality; evaluating its effect on conversion requires comparable results over a sufficient period and the same definitions of the stages in both teams.
B2B negotiations may involve several decision-makers, each with their own criteria. The proposal needs to address those criteria, from costs and financial risk to technical requirements and company objectives.
After the contract, retention and account development produce results that marketing can use. A case study with verifiable figures can give companies that are still researching reasons to trust the supplier when they buy later.
## What does the double funnel look like in real companies?
The double funnel is easiest to see in concrete companies. The examples below come from audits we have published on Romanian companies and from one case study of our own, and we name the source of every figure.
At Stelco Romania, a company in Prejmer, Brașov county, that produces welded steel assemblies for machine builders, the financial results and online visibility tell different stories. In [our audit of Stelco](https://unrivals.ro/deck/stelco), its 2025 net margin is 17.39%, the highest of the seven companies compared, based on filings with ANAF, Romania's tax authority.
The same audit shows Ahrefs estimates from 2 September 2026 of 33 organic visits a month and just three ranking keywords, all variations of the company's name. Our reading is that existing profitability coexists with limited search visibility. Those figures alone do not tell us how well the company converts enquiries or how widely it is known through other channels.
Our proposal for Stelco has two priorities. The first 90 days aim to make the company easier to find. We then propose outreach to suitable buyers, using a single CRM, research into companies and decision-makers, qualification before contact and a scheduled sales conversation. The audit describes a proposal, rather than the results of an implementation.
At Pescado Grup, a Romanian fish processor, [our audit](https://unrivals.ro/deck/pescado) proposes a connection between consumer communication and retail negotiations. We wrote there that *the B2C side and the B2B side are not two separate campaigns*, because consumer response can provide useful information for the sales team.
The slide summarises the proposal as "one system, two ends". Consumer interest would support discussions with the person who decides on product listings and shelf space.
Read through the double funnel model, [our Cardio Clinic case study](/cardio-clinic) shows both increased interest in the clinic's name and commercial results. Branded searches grew by 41.2% in May to July 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, according to Google Search Console.
Between January and April 2026, compared with the same months in 2025, calls grew by 45%, appointments by 57% and revenue by 39%. The clinic's dashboard separately reports a 52.0% increase in its "conversion per caller" metric. These measures cover different periods and definitions, so we use them to illustrate the two perspectives without attributing all the results to a handover designed around the model in this article.
## Which layer of the company does each funnel sit on?
In our L1-L4 model, positioning in L4 establishes the attribute buyers should remember, while the commercial process in L2 manages opportunities through to contract. L1, performance marketing, brings traffic for both objectives, and L3, the AI Brain, retains shared customer information.
Where each funnel sits
L4 · Positioning
What the market remembers about you, where the memory funnel starts
L3 · AI Brain
The same customer memory, read by both teams
L2 · Revenue and commercial process
The decision funnel, with SPANCO and the CRM
L1 · Performance
Traffic, ads and search, feeding both funnels
The red layer, L3, shows where we place shared customer information. In the 2024 Gartner survey, 60% of leaders say marketing and sales lack shared buyer journey insights. The study measures that information gap without attributing it to the absence of an AI system.
Marketing knows what the person read, the seller knows what the person said on the call, and nobody puts the two together. That may be where the inconsistency seen by 69% of buyers comes from.
In our client work, the AI Brain keeps positioning documents, the approved attribute, materials for each stage, CRM information and reports in one place. Both teams work from the same source. The salesperson can see which message the buyer received, while marketing can review the questions raised in sales calls.
L4 establishes what the company wants buyers to remember. Words such as "quality, reliability, experience" do little to distinguish a company when competitors make the same promises. Marketing materials therefore need to associate the company's name with a clear attribute supported by evidence.
L1 brings traffic through ads, paid search and SEO. Optimising those channels can improve immediate results while positioning and the handover between teams are being developed. If messages conflict or contacts are lost during the handover, additional traffic will encounter the same problems.
## How much of the budget goes to the memory funnel?
There is no percentage that suits every company. In [The 5 Principles of Growth in B2B Marketing](https://delivery-p143253-e1476319.adobeaemcloud.com/adobe/assets/urn:aaid:aem:d2c45481-3daf-4ffc-a0c4-3c4c5745d628/original/as/original.pdf), Les Binet and Peter Field suggest a benchmark of roughly 46% for brand building and 54% for activation, based on B2B cases in the IPA Databank from 1998-2018. They caution that the sample is small and allocation depends on category and context. Our guide to the [marketing budget](/blog/marketing-budget/) explains how to use this benchmark.
For the double funnel, the practical decision is to fund both objectives and assess them separately. Sequencing allows immediate improvements to existing activity while positioning, materials and the handover are being developed. Increases in channel budgets should follow the company's actual problems and opportunities, rather than a rigid order.
## How do you build the double funnel, step by step?
The double funnel is built in six steps, which we recommend in the order below. The first step is a ten-minute calculation, and the last is a check you can run in the same week, with no new budget.
1. **Estimate how many potential customers buy in a given quarter.** Start from the usual interval between purchases and use our simplification of Dawes's example in the exercise below.
2. **Write down the one thing the rest of the market should remember.** A single attribute that passes the competitor test, meaning a competitor cannot say it word for word.
3. **Pick one piece of material for each stage, with a single objective.** The objective is always moving to the next stage.
4. **Design the node at the end of analysis.** Agree who takes responsibility for the contact, how quickly, which information they receive and which answers have already been obtained.
5. **Measure each funnel over the appropriate period.** Track branded searches and inbound enquiries for the first, and win rate and sales cycle length for the second.
6. **Compare your website with your sellers' pitch.** Read the home page, then listen to a sales call and note every promise that differs.
The exercise helps you estimate how many companies might need you now and how many need to remember you for later. Dawes provides a worked example, rather than this formula; if you do not know purchase frequency, he suggests measuring it through a survey.
To see how your company's first funnel looks from the outside, using public data, you can [try the brand diagnostic](https://unrivals.ro/suprematie). The Romanian-language tool gives you a score from 0 to 100 in two minutes.
In Dawes's example, 5 companies out of 100 are in the market over a quarter. For the others, marketing needs to build an association they can retain until their next purchase, without assuming that all of them will buy on the same date.
## Frequently asked questions
### What is the difference between a marketing funnel and a sales funnel?
The marketing funnel helps potential buyers remember your company when a need arises. The sales funnel helps those already looking for a solution reach a choice and a contract. In the double funnel, the teams pass information at the end of analysis, with a named person responsible for the handover.
### Is the sales funnel still valid when buyers research on their own?
It is, but it needs to include the research buyers do on their own. According to the 2025 Gartner survey, 61% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free experience using digital channels. For the teams, that means information available before a sales conversation needs to be useful and consistent with what the salesperson will say.
### Who is responsible for the handover between the two funnels?
The teams need to name an owner and agree a response deadline. At the end of analysis, sales receives information about the need, buying criteria and previous interactions. Each team then knows what to do and can check whether the handover has happened.
### Where should a company with sales but no marketing start?
It starts with the attribute, the thing the market should remember, and with a single piece of material for the first stage, usually a case study with verifiable figures. The decision funnel already exists, and the first funnel is built on top of it.