B2B, or Business-to-Business, refers to the sale of products or services from one company to another, in contrast to B2C (Business-to-Consumer) where businesses sell directly to individual buyers. Because B2B transactions typically involve larger sums, longer evaluation periods, and multiple decision-makers, sellers rely on structured models to manage the customer journey. One of the most important of these is the sales funnel, a model that describes how a prospect moves through stages from initial awareness to a final purchase, narrowing at each step as some leads drop off and others progress.
The typical B2B sales funnel consists of six stages: Awareness, Interest, Consideration, Intent, Evaluation, and Purchase (Close). It is essential, however, to distinguish the funnel from the sales pipeline. While the funnel describes the buyer's journey from a demand perspective, the pipeline describes the seller's stages and the activities required to move deals forward. The pipeline is internally focused and action-oriented, whereas the funnel reflects how the buyer's mindset evolves.
Within sales organisations, two complementary roles often emerge: the hunter, who focuses on acquiring new customers, and the farmer, who nurtures and grows existing accounts. Both are essential for sustainable B2B growth. Underpinning these roles is a distinction between sales process and sales methodology. The process defines the concrete stages and activities of the pipeline, while the methodology provides the philosophy and techniques used to execute within those stages, such as Solution Selling, SPIN, or Challenger.