Shortening Your Sales Cycle
I have a friend Barry, a professional driver who regularly drives from Toronto Ontario to Long Beach California, a trip of roughly 4,100 KM. I have done the same drive a number of times, so we often compare notes about restaurants, places of interest, etc. We also talk about how long the drive takes, and what is interesting is that if you take the weather out of it, he tends to make the drive in about 2.8 to 3 days, while it usually takes me 4.75 to 5.5 days. We both go to the same destination, covering the same ground, driving within acceptable and safe speed limits.
Looked at another way, if we both got $2,500 every time we got to Long Beach, and another $2,500 every time we got back to Toronto, Barry would collect $187,500 in a 225 day work year; while I would only collect $102,272 in the same period. Wow, not what you'd call chump change!
We see a similar phenomenon with many of the sales people we work with, some close a sale in 16 weeks, while the lady in the next stall closes the same type of deal in 12 weeks. What ever other skills and abilities may be at play, it is clear that with a shorter cycle, she will sell more, earn more, and probably last longer in her position than Mr. 16 Weeks.
Shortening your sales cycle is one of the easiest and most efficient ways for an organization to increase sales and simultaneously reduce the cost of sales. This in itself is not news or a revelation, most Sales VP's I work clearly state that they want to help their people reduce the sales cycle, but many are just not sure how to do that, some lack the conviction, but as always, some just do it intuitively and can't seem to sustain it over time.
To begin with, many sales people just don't know how long their sales cycle is, we ask and we hear things like "depends" (sometime it fits), "it changes" (it always seems longer during Daylight Savings Time), and the all time favorite, "well you know it's different in our business". Well it's not really.
Underlying this is the fact that many reps and organizations do not know what their sale looks like, they have not deconstructing their sale, identified the basic building blocks to identify and truly understand what it should look like and when efficiencies can be had. One facet of this process is covered in "Working Backwards From Your Goals"
While there are a number of ways to affect the length of the sales cycle, by far the easiest to implement with the highest rate of return, no technology required, is to always secure a next step with your prospects. Sounds simple enough, but for some reason, it is hard to get reps and managers to adopt.
Looked at another way, if we both got $2,500 every time we got to Long Beach, and another $2,500 every time we got back to Toronto, Barry would collect $187,500 in a 225 day work year; while I would only collect $102,272 in the same period. Wow, not what you'd call chump change!
We see a similar phenomenon with many of the sales people we work with, some close a sale in 16 weeks, while the lady in the next stall closes the same type of deal in 12 weeks. What ever other skills and abilities may be at play, it is clear that with a shorter cycle, she will sell more, earn more, and probably last longer in her position than Mr. 16 Weeks.
Shortening your sales cycle is one of the easiest and most efficient ways for an organization to increase sales and simultaneously reduce the cost of sales. This in itself is not news or a revelation, most Sales VP's I work clearly state that they want to help their people reduce the sales cycle, but many are just not sure how to do that, some lack the conviction, but as always, some just do it intuitively and can't seem to sustain it over time.
To begin with, many sales people just don't know how long their sales cycle is, we ask and we hear things like "depends" (sometime it fits), "it changes" (it always seems longer during Daylight Savings Time), and the all time favorite, "well you know it's different in our business". Well it's not really.
Underlying this is the fact that many reps and organizations do not know what their sale looks like, they have not deconstructing their sale, identified the basic building blocks to identify and truly understand what it should look like and when efficiencies can be had. One facet of this process is covered in "Working Backwards From Your Goals"
While there are a number of ways to affect the length of the sales cycle, by far the easiest to implement with the highest rate of return, no technology required, is to always secure a next step with your prospects. Sounds simple enough, but for some reason, it is hard to get reps and managers to adopt.
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