Of all the objectives that a firm's sales and marketing division sets out to accomplish, compressing or shortening the sales cycle is accorded top priority. Reducing the time it takes to identify potential leads, grouping them by their personas, and deploying targeted promotion strategies to channel them through the sales funnel to make them your steadfast customers have some unique benefits. For a start, reducing the intervening period between contacting a lead and converting him or her into a client helps the company trim down expenses associated with marketing efforts.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, if the action plan undertaken to compress the leads-to-sales pays off, then the company will earnestly strive to integrate the approach with the sales process to boost the chances of success of subsequent marketing campaigns. No wonder, then, identifying that the ‘optimal phase’ when the sales cycle is at its briefest (whereby attempting to compress the phase any further will have an adverse effect) is the ‘Holy Grail’ for the sales department. However, the optimal timeframe spanning from the moment a sales rep engages with a lead until the instant he or she closes the sale usually varies from industry to industry. To help you out with your business, Tryclosify has sales people for commission waiting for you.

The sales phase is typically longer for manufacturing industries than for firms exclusively marketing and selling a product or service. So, the strategy a manufacturing firm would adopt for abbreviating the phase would differ from that of a development- or service-based firm. Unfortunately, umpteen firms and companies are blissfully unaware of the ‘extent’ or ‘duration’ of their sales cycle.

And that is where the crux of the problem lies. You can only condense or shorten the phase if you know its exact extent in the first place. Contrary to what you may believe, more often than not, the sales cycle’s duration is not dependent upon the efficacy of your selling technique. It has been observed on numerous occasions that the price of the product or service has considerably impacted the period of the sales phase.

Your prospects may take their time conducting thorough research on your brand, go through feedback and reviews, and navigate your website before making a buying decision. How do you go about shriveling the sales cycle so that your returns on investment are maximized? Pay heed to the three strategies outlined below.


3 Simple and Practical Strategies to Shorten Your Sales Cycle

1. Identify your niche segments and empathize with them

The first and foremost task you’d need to undertake to effectively promote your ware within a short period is to figure out the leads or prospects willing to subscribe to your brand. For instance, if you have a website design and development firm, you’ll try to promote the services you offer to potential customers looking to have a site for popularizing their brand across the internet. Some prospects would prefer to go for a plain and straightforward site comprising just a single webpage, while others would like you to create a full-scale portal for them to advertise multiple products or services.

The idea is to fully comprehend your prospects' problems and determine if your brand can solve the issues. A single product or service could be capable of resolving specific problems of different categories of customers. So, as far as you’re concerned, you first have to recognize the niche or target segments for whom you can design and develop different types of websites, and after that, ‘bundle’ or ‘group’ leads as per their needs and preferences.

If you understand the issues of prospects (who may need your brand), address their queries, and empathize with them, you could be well on your way to abridging the sales phase.

2. Run your leads through a sieve and discard ones clogging the sales pipeline

Not all prospects your sales reps contact will become your customers. In this context, the sales team must realize early during the campaigning phase or stage those leads that are most unlikely to choose your product or remain fence-sitters. Filtering out such leads as early as possible is essential to keep the sales funnel or pipeline clear and navigable for prospects interested in your product.

3. Chalk out a target-oriented marketing and sales strategy

If you map out a goal-oriented marketing and sales process, it will go a long way in cutting down the period between establishing contact with prospects and onboarding them. Align your sales campaign with your firm’s mission vision, and seek help from Good Grit Agency to ensure you meet your growth objectives. Train your sales staff in a manner so that they make the most of the company’s marketing approach.

Ensure that the sales reps patiently listen to your prospects' concerns regarding price, ease of use, installation, etc. Remember that the option you’re targeting will be using your product for the first time and may not have used a similar product previously. Therefore, exploit your extensive experience in creating a sales system that will come in handy for guiding them into and out of the sales funnel.

You can take advantage of a sales CRM app or software for automating the selling modus operandi, thereby giving teeth to the procedure, which might ultimately lead to curtailment of the lead conversion time.