How to Shorten Longer Sales Cycles

Sales cycles are getting longer and it has a lot to do with the economy. Companies are more risk adverse than ever. I can’t tell you how many clients and prospects are telling me that any money they spend needs to show a solid ROI. When I ask about how they are measuring ROI, 90% of the time I hear “I don’t know.”

Some of this might seem obvious, but what probably doesn’t seem obvious is that your prospect’s employees are becoming even more risk adverse. And these are the people making the decision (or recommending the decision) to buy your product or to suggest it to senior management. With unemployment over 10%, no one wants to lose their job over a purchase decision. This all results in longer sales cycles, which creates havoc for sellers.

While there are many ways to reduce your sales cycle, I want to focus on two:
1) building trust and 2) selling the risk of not buying your company’s product or service.

Here are two ways (among many) to build trust. Your sales force should be in constant communication with your clients and prospects. Not to sell them, but to provide information that they will find useful. At NY Report, it is mandatory that our sales team periodically reaches out to top clients and prospects with something of value.

Another way to build trust is to make sure that your company is known to your prospects. Familiarity builds trust. Advertising, social media, PR, and so on, are all ways to become a company that is recognizable to your target audience

Selling the risk of not buying from your company requires your sales force to turn the benefits of your product and service on their head. Let’s say your firm helps companies get more traffic and business on the web with things like search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing. You know after speaking with the prospect that the current marketing vendor is doing an OK job. You know you can do better, but how do you get the prospect, a mid-level marketing employee to believe you and recommend you to the decision-maker?

While there is no guaranteed approach, you could try to quantify the difference in potential revenue that your services could help the company generate. At the end of the day, you need to take as much risk as you can out of the decision for the prospect. And sometimes the risk of working with a new vendor (you) is less than the risk of sticking with the status quo.

PS: This month, we are hosting a webinar on how to double your revenue using CRM software. To register for the free online seminar, visit nyreport.com/crmwebinar.