Revenue Operations Sales Automation

B2B Sales Funnel Architect Needed to Improve Outbound Lead-to-Customer Conversion Title: B2B Sales Funnel Architect Needed to Improve Outbound Lead-to-Customer Conversion I’m looking for an experienced B2B sales funnel architect or revenue operations consultant to analyze our outbound opportunities and design a structured system that converts more interested prospects into customers. We generate positive replies through large-scale cold email campaigns for our branded merchandise, promotional products and commercial printing business. Our challenge is not simply generating replies—it is managing those replies effectively through discovery, presentations, product recommendations, samples, mockups, pricing, follow-ups and final orders. We may have 100 or more completed customer presentations at a time, but we currently lack a sufficiently structured system for determining: * Why opportunities are not progressing * Which follow-up each prospect should receive * When each follow-up should occur * Which prospects require pricing, samples, mockups or discovery * Which opportunities need immediate attention * Which prospects should enter longer-term nurture * Where opportunities are being lost in the funnel * How many follow-ups are required before conversion Many B2B opportunities require 6–15 follow-ups. I do not want one large, generic nurture sequence. I want an intelligently designed funnel with different routes based on the prospect’s intent, engagement, needs and buying stage. The sales journey may include: **Positive Reply → Discovery → Catalog or Presentation → Product Selection → Mockup or Sample → Pricing → Approval → Order → Reorder** The consultant will be responsible for architecting how prospects move through this journey. Key responsibilities: * Analyze a representative sample of historical replies and complete conversation threads * Review 50–100 presentations and determine where each opportunity stalled * Identify patterns in successful, unsuccessful and neglected opportunities * Measure follow-up frequency, timing, response rates and conversion * Define clear funnel stages with entry and exit criteria * Create different routes based on prospect intent and sales stage * Define the correct next action for every opportunity type * Design follow-up sequences and task cadences for each route * Determine which activities should be automated and which require personal follow-up * Create rules for moving prospects between Smartlead, Close CRM and longer-term nurture * Develop reporting that identifies opportunities without a next action * Recommend how Claude or AI can assist with thread analysis, reply drafting and routing * Create a process the existing team can follow consistently * Establish metrics for measuring improvement in sell-through Required funnel routes may include: * Interested but needs discovery * Requested a catalog * Presentation sent with no response * Product selected * Pricing requested * Mockup requested or delivered * Sample requested or delivered * Waiting for internal approval * Current project with a deadline * Future project with a known date * Interested but no current need * Referred to another decision-maker * Out of office or temporarily unavailable * Opportunity that has stopped responding * Existing customer with reorder potential Expected deliverables: 1. Audit of our current reply-to-order process 2. Analysis of 50–100 recent presentation opportunities 3. Funnel map covering the complete journey from positive reply to order 4. Clearly defined opportunity stages and stage-movement rules 5. Intent-based routing system 6. Recommended follow-up timing and frequency for each route 7. Next-action rules for SDRs and account managers 8. Smartlead and Close CRM workflow recommendations 9. Reply and follow-up playbooks for each stage 10. Dashboard or reporting requirements for identifying stalled opportunities 11. Automation recommendations using Smartlead, Close, Claude, MCP, n8n or similar tools 12. Testing plan to compare the new system against the current process 13. Live training and clear documentation for the team The successful candidate must understand the difference between a generic nurture sequence and a stage-based sales-conversion system. Required experience: * B2B sales funnel architecture * Revenue operations or sales operations * Outbound lead-conversion strategy * Lifecycle and intent-based automation * CRM pipeline design * Sales-process analysis * Follow-up and opportunity-management systems * Smartlead, Close CRM or comparable platforms * AI-assisted sales workflows and automation * Clear written and spoken English This is not a role for someone who only writes cold emails or builds basic nurture sequences. I need someone who can analyze buyer behavior, find funnel leakage and architect a practical system that increases the percentage of positive replies that become orders. Please answer the following questions: 1. Describe a sales funnel you designed that improved conversion after the initial lead response. 2. How would you determine why 100 completed presentations are not turning into enough orders? 3. How do you distinguish a generic nurture sequence from an intent-based sales funnel? 4. What information would you extract from our historical reply threads? 5. How would you route a prospect differently after receiving a catalog, presentation, price, mockup or sample? 6. Which metrics would you use to identify funnel leakage? 7. How would you divide responsibilities between Smartlead, Close CRM and Claude? 8. Can you begin with a paid audit before implementing the full system? 9. What would you charge for the initial audit and funnel architecture? Please begin your proposal with **FUNNEL ARCHITECT** so I know you read the complete description.