How to Navigate Non-Linear Sales Funnels

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Summary

Understanding non-linear sales funnels means recognizing that buyers no longer follow a straight, predictable path from awareness to purchase. Instead, modern buyers zigzag, revisit decisions, and require adaptable engagement strategies throughout their journey.

  • Focus on buyer needs: Map your process to reflect how buyers explore, loop back, and engage, rather than expecting them to follow a step-by-step funnel.
  • Create memorable interactions: Design impactful experiences and emotional moments that stick with customers and encourage them to return when they’re ready to decide.
  • Adapt to change: Stay flexible and proactive by anticipating shifts in priorities, timelines, or stakeholders, and responding to these changes with agility.
Summarized by AI based on LinkedIn member posts
  • View profile for Anthony Iannarino
    Anthony Iannarino Anthony Iannarino is an Influencer

    International Speaker, Sales Leader, Writer, Author 2x USA Today Best—Seller I teach sales professionals how to win in an evolving B2B landscape.

    63,288 followers

    Navigating the B2B Sales Middle Game: Strategies and Insights 🚀 🤔 First Meetings vs. Middle Game Challenges: Booking that initial meeting might feel like a win, but the real test begins as you navigate the complex web of middle game conversations and meetings. 🔄 Adapting to Non-Linear Processes: Your dream of a smooth, linear sales process often clashes with the reality of stakeholders pursuing their own agendas. Flexibility is key. 📅 Dealing with Pushed Meetings: Momentum is critical in sales, yet often hindered by rescheduled meetings. Keeping engagement high is crucial during these waiting periods. 🤷♂️ Changing Priorities: Just when you think you're making progress, priorities shift. Staying adaptable and aligned with your client's evolving needs is essential. 🌐 Integrating New Stakeholders: New faces in meetings mean backtracking and re-explaining. Your ability to quickly bring everyone up to speed can make or break the deal. 🤝 Forging Consensus: Building agreement among diverse team members is challenging but necessary. Focus on creating a unified vision for the future. 💬 Unclear Decision Processes: When the decision-making process is a mystery, it's your job to guide and provide clarity to keep the deal moving forward. 💸 Budgetary Constraints and Competitor Threats: Navigating financial hurdles and outmaneuvering late-coming competitors requires strategic finesse and perseverance. Mastering the B2B sales middle game is about embracing the chaos, adapting to changes, and continuously providing value. Remember, every challenge is an opportunity to demonstrate your commitment and expertise. Let's turn these obstacles into stepping stones for success. #B2BSales #SalesStrategies #SalesSuccess

  • View profile for Jennifer Kaminski

    Fractional CMO & Digital Marketing Strategist for CPG, Restaurant, & Hospitality Brands

    4,431 followers

    The traditional marketing funnel is dead. There, I said it. After 15+ years driving digital growth for brands across CPG, DTC, and restaurant spaces, I've witnessed a fundamental shift in how consumers actually make decisions. The funnel assumes people move in orderly steps—awareness to interest to decision. But today's consumers don't behave that way. They zigzag, backtrack, and get influenced by moments—not stages. So What Works Instead? Emotional Recall Loops 🥰 When we launched our Korean QSR concept, 2 Korean Girls, we didn't push users down a linear path. Instead, we created emotionally-charged, self-contained moments—like our "disrupting the food delivery experience" packaging that went viral. These memories replay later when it's time to buy. That viral unboxing experience created loops of recall that brought customers back repeatedly, driving our 10X+ sales growth through delivery partners. ➰How to Build Your Own Loops: 1. Stop measuring conversion at each "stage" and start tracking emotional imprints 2. Create self-contained moments that deliver complete satisfaction (even before purchase) 3. Design for memory, not just conversion 4. Connect experiences across channels that reinforce the same emotional core What emotional loops is your brand creating? Let's discuss in the comments. #DigitalMarketing #BrandStrategy #CustomerExperience #MarketingInnovation

  • View profile for Nathan Weill
    Nathan Weill Nathan Weill is an Influencer

    Helping GTM teams fix RevOps bottlenecks with AI-powered automation

    9,495 followers

    Most B2B teams still operate like the buyer moves in a line. They don’t. They explore. Loop back. Talk to a rep. Ghost. Revisit the proposal. Forward it to finance. Then maybe buy. A clean handoff from Marketing to Sales doesn’t reflect that. It creates dropped context, duplicated efforts, and deals that stall. According to Gartner, the most effective orgs don’t “sell”—they support buyer learning. That’s where alignment gets real: ✅ RevOps maps the full journey ✅ Automation fills in the space between touchpoints ✅ AI reacts to what the buyer is actually doing—not just what the funnel says None of this requires a major overhaul. It just requires designing your system around the reality of how people buy today. Because the buyer’s journey isn’t linear. Your GTM motion shouldn’t be either. 🔔 Follow Nathan Weill for automation-first RevOps strategies that move with the modern buyer.

  • View profile for Andy Byrne

    CEO, Clari | $5T under management | The Prime Minister of Revenue

    31,334 followers

    Enterprise selling is a non-linear endeavor. You don’t move from stage to stage like checking boxes on a to-do list. It’s more like navigating a chessboard in a thunderstorm. Pieces move unpredictably. Timelines shift. Champions leave. Budgets freeze. Priorities change. And that’s normal. As CEOs, sales leaders, and revenue teams, our job isn’t to force linearity—it’s to embrace the chaos and build systems that adapt in real time. That means: Equipping reps with visibility into deal risks before they become deal killers. Giving front-line managers tools to coach dynamically, not just post-mortem. Creating GTM alignment across marketing, sales, and CS based on shared revenue truth. Enterprise deals are living, breathing organisms. The question isn’t “Is this following our sales process?” The question is “Are we responding fast enough to what’s really happening?” In this new era of selling, agility is the edge. Let’s stop expecting straight lines. Let’s start building for the reality of the enterprise revenue journey.

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