Long sales cycles are bad news!
You know there are many consequences to long sales cycles.
It stops better opportunities progressing, as the sales person gets more invested and emotionally tied to the sale.
How to turn BAD news into GOOD news!
The BAD NEWS is... that for most salespeople LONG SALES CYCLES can be frustrating and time consuming and if not dealt with can even result in salespeople eventually being fired.
Why? Because long selling cycles have two negative consequences:
* The salesperson is less likely to be actively prospecting for new clients while they’re working on an existing opportunity. Consequently, the pipeline thins out, and if the deal falls apart, they have fewer opportunities to fall back on.
* The longer they work on an opportunity, the more emotionally tied to it they become, and the more likely they are to make concessions (which typically eat into profits and their commission) to keep it “alive.”
Because long selling cycles have two negative consequences:
* The salesperson is less likely to be actively prospecting for new clients while they’re working on an existing opportunity. Consequently, the pipeline thins out, and if the deal falls apart, they have fewer opportunities to fall back on
* The longer they work on an opportunity, the more emotionally tied to it they become, and the more likely they are to make concessions (which typically eat into profits and their commission) to keep it “alive.”
What are the reasons for long selling cycles?
For some salespeople, the amount of time it takes to secure an initial appointment with a prospect is excessive. For others, the amount of time spent defining and developing the opportunity is extreme. And for many, it’s the amount of time it takes to secure a decision after submitting a proposal of making a presentation that stretches the selling cycle beyond reasonable limits. Does this resonate?
But the GOOD NEWS is... Here are five specific strategies to shorten the selling cycle:
1. Don’t start the cycle unless there is a compelling reason to do so. The initial contact with a prospect should focus on uncovering (or helping the prospect discover) Pain—a current or impending need or desire that can be fulfilled by your product or service.
2. Call at the top. A big time waster for many salespeople is calling too low in an organisation. They call on and attempt to develop opportunities with people who neither have final buying authority nor play a significant role in the decision process.
3. Deal with potential roadblocks early in the process. If history and selling experiences suggest that for a particular type of sale (perhaps defined by product, market segment, prospect profile, or implementation requirements) there are likely to be roadblocks to concluding the sale, bring up the potential roadblocks as early as practical in the cycle.
4. Disqualify opportunities as soon as possible. Salespeople must be as diligent qualifying prospects’ eligibility to become customers as prospects are qualifying you to become a product supplier or service provider. Have they explicitly expressed the need or desire to obtain your product or service? Are they in a position to invest the resources required to obtain it? Will they be able to make a buying decision in a timely manner based on criteria to which have been agreed?
5. Obtain firm commitments. To keep the selling process moving forward, and the selling cycle as short as possible, each step in the selling process should lead to the next step in a predictable and mutually agreed to manner.
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