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The ROI Scaler

The Funnel is Fiction: Follow the Buyer, Not the Model

The Funnel is Fiction: Follow the Buyer, Not the Model

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Mark Gabrielli
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The Funnel is Fiction: Follow the Buyer, Not the Model

The Funnel is Fiction: Follow the Buyer, Not the Model

The traditional marketing funnel is a comforting lie. Buyers don’t move in straight lines, and they certainly don’t care about your lead stages. It’s time to stop worshipping the funnel and start following the buyer. This article breaks down why the funnel is fiction, how to build strategy around real buyer behavior, and what modern CMOs must do to stay relevant.

Welcome to the Age of Buyer Chaos

Let’s get one thing straight: the funnel is dead. Actually, it never really lived. It was a convenient fiction we told ourselves to make sense of a chaotic, unpredictable buying process. But here’s the truth—buyers don’t move from awareness to consideration to decision like obedient little lemmings. They zigzag, ghost, binge content, ask Reddit, and then buy from a competitor you didn’t even know existed.

Still clinging to your funnel? That’s like using a paper map in a GPS world. It’s quaint, but it’s not going to get you where you need to go.

Why the Funnel Fails: A Strategic Autopsy

Let’s dissect the funnel’s fatal flaws:

  • Linear Assumption: The funnel assumes a buyer moves in a straight line. In reality, they loop, stall, and skip steps entirely.
  • Company-Centric: The funnel is built around your process, not the buyer’s journey. That’s like designing a restaurant menu based on what the chef likes to cook, not what customers want to eat.
  • Over-Segmentation: Breaking buyers into “MQLs,” “SQLs,” and “SALs” creates silos that kill momentum and confuse teams.
  • Misaligned Metrics: Funnels prioritize conversion rates over customer experience. Spoiler alert: buyers don’t care about your KPIs.

Follow the Buyer: A New Strategic Framework

So what’s the alternative? Follow the buyer. Build your strategy around how real people actually buy—not how you wish they would.

1. Map the Real Journey

Start with qualitative research. Interview customers. Analyze behavior. Look at how they actually discovered, evaluated, and chose your product. You’ll find:

2. Build for Moments, Not Stages

Instead of forcing buyers into stages, design for moments:

  • Discovery Moments: Where are buyers when they first feel the pain your product solves?
  • Validation Moments: What do they need to believe before they trust you?
  • Decision Moments: What tips them over the edge?

Then build content, campaigns, and experiences around those moments. Not stages. Moments.

3. Align Teams Around the Buyer, Not the Funnel

Sales, marketing, product, and customer success should all be aligned around one thing: the buyer’s experience. That means:

  • Shared goals based on buyer outcomes, not departmental KPIs
  • Unified messaging across all touchpoints
  • Real-time feedback loops from customer-facing teams

Case Study: How One SaaS Company Killed the Funnel and Tripled Conversions

Let’s talk about a mid-market SaaS company that ditched the funnel and followed the buyer. They stopped gating content, killed MQLs, and focused on creating binge-worthy content journeys. The result?

  • Website engagement up 240%
  • Sales cycle shortened by 30%
  • Conversion rate tripled

How? They mapped real buyer behavior, created content for key decision moments, and aligned sales and marketing around shared buyer insights. No funnel. Just results.

Truth Bomb

The funnel is a fantasy. The buyer is reality. Build for the latter, or get left behind.

What CMOs Must Do Now

If you’re a CMO still clinging to your funnel dashboards, it’s time for a strategic intervention. Here’s your new playbook:

1. Burn the Funnel

Literally. Print it out and set it on fire. Or at least delete the slide from your next board deck. Replace it with a buyer journey map based on real data.

2. Invest in Buyer Intelligence

Use tools like Gong, Chorus, and Heap to understand how buyers behave. Then act on it.

Mark Gabrielli Chief Marketing Officer CMO | Mark Louis Gabrielli Jr. | Mark Louis Gabrielli — Portrait of Mark Louis Gabrielli, strategic CMO and marketing advisor — expert in digital growth, executive branding, and modern marketing systems like the MAGNET Framework at MarkCMO.com
Mark Gabrielli Chief Marketing Officer CMO | Mark Louis Gabrielli Jr. | Mark Louis Gabrielli — Portrait of Mark Louis Gabrielli, strategic CMO and marketing advisor — expert in digital growth, executive branding, and modern marketing systems like the MAGNET Framework at MarkCMO.com
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