The bowtie funnel derives from the traditional funnel laying on its side, with the new funnel as a mirror image. The phases of the new funnel include maintaining impact, a recurring revenue stream and the customer’s lifetime value.

In other words, while the historical data model focuses more on prospects, leads and closing a sale, the new, adjoining funnel brings the entire process together by showing the importance of all the other service components of retention, including customer success, development and accounting. The closed-loop system involves stages of loops as the customer grows and nurtures itself through the funnel.

As the nurturing loop represents the left side of the funnel, the growth loop makes up the right side. The growth loop highlights a happy client who achieves recurring impact and continues to renew and expand the relationship.

Customer centricity surrounds the philosophy of recurring revenue from the same customer. The key to creating recurring revenue is continuous impact. Recurring revenue occurs when a company continuously delivers its client the services it promised from the initial sale.