Shortening the B2B Sales Cycle (by Christopher Ryan)
I participated in an interesting LinkedIn discussion exchange today, started by Jeff Blackwell, titled: What Can You Do to Shorten the Sales Cycle? Naturally, this got a bunch of comments, including from your’s truly. Several people remarked on the importance of asking for the order. You’d be surprised how often salespeople neglect to do this. A guy named Dan Boehm talked about making sure you understood all the bying influences in the account. But my favorite comments were from Brock Butler (The Digital Sales Doctor). Brock claimed that there are two probable causes:
1. Your prospect is still early in their buying process. They have not fully formed their buying vision and value proposition. Validate the vision and value first. If that is solid then your prospect has not decided to make this particular business problem a priority. (We forget that executives have many problems vying for their attention and resources.) Or it could be simple timing.
2. Your selling process is out of alignment with your prospect’s buying process. Your sales rep is in sales mode and has probably forecast this as an opportunity. Your buyer is still in research and prioritize mode. HE HAS NOT BEGUN HIS BUYING PROCESS. Whichever competitor stays in touch with him and continues to help him develop his vision and value will get the business… when your prospect is ready!
In my opinion, your job is not so much a matter of shortenting the sales cycle but rather aligning yourself with the prospect’s bying cycle. If you do a good job with your Website and social media efforts, the prospect will go through the first several phases of the sales process with NO need for your participation. In fact, sales people can actually be counterproductive early in the process. You shorten the sales cycle by engaging with the prospect at the time they are most receptive, not before and not after. Some of my clients have a tough time grasping this, because it is counter to the “push model” they have been operating under for years. But when they do understand and practice the “pull model” the results can be fantastic.
Bill Petro
Chris,
I can’t tell you how many frustrated sales reps I’ve spoken to who don’t understand the difference between their own “selling cycle” and the customer’s “buying cycle.” And when they get to the buying cycle, they don’t understand when the key decision-making executive is involved in that buying cycle process.