Demand lifecycle model

Purpose

A funnel that stops at conversion leaves most of the revenue process unplanned. Customers renew, expand, and refer, and new demand is revived from lost deals. This model plans demand across every stage the buyer passes through, so each program has a job, a measure, and a place in the plan.

When to use

• A demand plan is being built, and budget is spread without stage logic.
• Channels are judged only on first conversion.
• Existing customers and lost deals are left out of the demand plan.
• A new channel is proposed, and the team needs to decide where it belongs.

Route elsewhere when:

• The question is a single campaign's setup. Use paid-campaign-plan.
• The question is the buyer's readiness signals. Use signal-detection-and-timing.
• The question is the account list. Use prospect-list-building.

Inputs

• The current spend and activity by program, to map against the five stages.
• The measure each program reports, or a note that it has none.
• The customer base, with renewal and expansion data, and the list of closed-lost opportunities.
• The channels in use or proposed, and where each is expected to sit.

The five stages

1. Create. Build brand affinity and trust with people who are unaware or only aware of the problem. Offers: useful education and thought leadership. Measure: cost per engagement with that content, and blended cost per opportunity.
2. Capture. Turn interest from in-market buyers into conversations. Buyers are solution-aware or product-aware. Offers: demo requests and trials. Measure: pipeline generated per unit of spend, and direct cost per opportunity.
3. Accelerate (sales-led) or activate (product-led). Help a sales-led deal close faster, or help a free user become a paying one. Buyers are product-aware or offer-aware. Offers: customer evidence, case studies, events, and webinars. Measure: pipeline velocity, or paid sign-ups.
4. Revive. Restart closed-lost opportunities where the blocker may have changed. Buyers are offer-aware. Offers: an incentivized demo or a guided trial. Measure: qualified opportunities created from the revived group, and their cost.
5. Expand. Grow revenue from existing customers. Buyers are the most aware. Offers: referral and certification programs. Measure: expansion revenue, and opportunities influenced in existing accounts.

Procedure

1. Map the current spend and activity to the five stages. Mark each program with its stage, or as unplanned.
2. Check each stage has a program. A stage with no program, or with a program that has no measure, is a gap.
3. Match the message to awareness. A message aimed at an unaware buyer that makes a demand for a demo is in the wrong stage.
4. Set the measure per stage before the plan runs, using the company's own history where it exists. Defaults are starting points only.
5. Judge each channel by the stage it serves. A channel that drives create should not be judged on capture measures alone.
6. Allocate budget by stage, and review the split each quarter against the measures.

Output

• A stage map of current programs, with gaps marked.
• Each stage's offer, measure, and owner.
• A recommended budget split across stages, and the reason for it.
• The review cadence for the measures.

Quality bar

Every program has a named stage. Every stage has an offer and a measure. Messages match the awareness of the buyer they reach. Channels are judged by the stage they serve. Watch for demand plans that stop at conversion, measures that do not match the stage, and existing customers left out entirely.