Why Your B2B Marketing Funnel Isn’t Working — and How to Fix It
If you’re running B2B campaigns in Australia and your leads are going nowhere — it’s likely your funnel is broken. Not your ads. Not your copy. The funnel. In this article, we’ll walk you through a five-stage B2B marketing funnel, explore the most common mistakes, and show how to fix them using a free interactive Miro board.
Plus, we’ve included a bonus checklist: 10 Skills to Check Before You Trust a B2B Digital Marketing Specialist.
Prefer watching over reading? You can check out the full tutorial on YouTube in the player below.
Or if you’re more of an old-school type who likes a proper walkthrough in text — just scroll down.
Table of Contents
- The 5 Stages of the B2B Funnel
- Common Mistakes & Fixes (with table)
- Bonus: Skills Checklist for Hiring
1. The 5 Stages of the B2B Funnel
In the Australian B2B market, sales cycles are often long, complex, and require multi-touch nurturing. That’s why this funnel focuses on five key stages:
- Awareness – Getting attention from your target market
- Interest – Building curiosity and trust
- Consideration – Supporting active research and evaluation
- Decision – Enabling conversion with sales-ready tools
- Retention – Keeping customers engaged and advocating
2. Common Mistakes & Fixes
Below is a table showing the most common errors seen at each funnel stage — and how to fix them. These insights come from real-world projects across SaaS, medtech, professional services, and even mining.
| Funnel Stage | Common Mistakes | Fix Ideas |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness | – No positioning or ICP – Talking features instead of value | – Define your ICP before spending – Use pain-based headlines (e.g. “Struggling with…”) |
| Interest | – One-off blog posts with no follow-up – No email capture or nurture | – Build a TOFU content series – Set up automated email flows |
| Consideration | – No retargeting – Relying only on LinkedIn | – Add display + LinkedIn retargeting – Use ABM lists and outreach |
| Decision | – No alignment with sales – Only tracking CPL | – Weekly syncs with sales – Track CPL → SQL → Close |
| Retention | – No trust-building post-sale – No founder-led content | – Run webinars, LinkedIn Live – Add founder voice to content |
These issues are illustrated with examples in our free canvas. Open it here:
🎯 View the Miro B2B Funnel Canvas
3. Bonus: Skills Checklist for Hiring
Not sure who should run your funnel? Before hiring a freelancer, agency, or in-house marketer, check this:
📝 10 Skills to Check Before You Trust a B2B Digital Marketing Specialist
This checklist includes:
- Real questions to ask in interviews
- Red flags to watch for
- Examples tailored for the Australian market
Final Thoughts
Your funnel isn’t just a diagram — it’s the foundation for every dollar you spend. Fixing the pipeline is how you fix the business. So whether you’re launching in SaaS, services, or something in between — structure comes first.
Grab the canvas, audit your funnel, and if you need help — get in touch!