4 Strategies to Improve and Accelerate Your B2B Sales Cycle Stages
Forget what you’ve heard about rainbows and unicorns. Creating a short, predictable, repeatable process for your B2B sales cycle is the stuff dreams are actually made of. Because when you spend less time closing one sale, you free up more time in your schedule to generate the next, and the next. In this article, we’ll provide some strategies on how to shorten your B2B sales cycle stages so you can accelerate the entire process from contact to closing.
We think you’ll find that, with these tips on how to improve the sales process, you’ll get to enjoy some additional benefits as well, including an increased bottom line (more time = more sales = more money) and a greater market share (while everyone else is caught up in their sales cycle, you keep closing deals).
B2B Sales Cycle Stages
Every business’s B2B sales cycle stages are going to differ slightly, but for the most part, the average sales process looks something like this:
- Lead generation. This refers to the process of finding qualified leads and prospects who would benefit from your products and/or services.
- Discovery. During the discovery phase is when you really get to know your prospective clients, including what their pain points are, what makes them tick, and identifying their buying triggers.
- Qualification. At this point in the process, it’s time to determine whether your leads would make good customers and whether they are worth your time in pursuing.
- Pitching. A good pitch is one that communicates to your prospective clients exactly how you can solve their problems.
- Objection handling. This is when you listen to your prospects’ concerns and try to reposition your offer in a way that appeases their worries.
- Closing. Once you’ve sold them, it’s time to discuss prices, negotiate if needed, and make the deal official.
- Follow-Up. The follow-up gives you an opportunity to let your new client know how much you appreciate them and their business.
- Check-In. After the client has had a chance to get a feel for your product or service first-hand, checking in allows you to gain valuable feedback on their experience. And if their experience has been a good one, it also opens up the door for referrals and new lead generations – which sets the B2B sales cycle stages in motion again.
4 Strategies to Shorten the Sales Cycle
If you’re wondering how to improve your sales cycle – or, more specifically, how to accelerate the sales cycle – we’ve got you covered. These four tips for shortening your B2B sales cycle stages will speed up the time it takes you to turn a prospect into a client, ultimately helping you close more sales, make more money, and get a leg up on your competitors.
- Refine your target market.
By narrowing down your target audience to those who you can identify as actual potential clients – ones who would derive real value from your products or services – you’ll spend less time trying to sell to someone who’s just not interested, and you can focus instead on those who you should be able to move swiftly, and successfully, through your B2B sales cycle stages.
- Know the right time to make your move.
Timing is everything, as they say. So you should familiarize yourself with your customers’ journey and be able to identify exactly when during that journey your services become most valuable to them, and when they are most likely to make a purchase decision.
- Create a joint engagement plan.
It’s a document that highlights what a working relationship between you and your prospect would look like. When you share a JEP with your prospects right from the beginning of your B2B sales cycle stages, it helps them make a quicker and more informed purchasing decision.
- Make sales your primary focus.
It’s not uncommon – whether you’re the business owner or a sales rep – to wear multiple hats within your role. But if selling is one of your responsibilities, then the more energy you can focus on sales, rather than on administrative or other tasks, the more you can prioritize things like identifying new prospects and following up with existing ones.
To get the ball rolling on accelerating your B2B sales cycle stages, contact Paradigm Marketing and Design today. One of our team members will be in touch to help you get started.
About the Author
Rachel is the Founder and President of Paradigm Marketing and Design. Blending data, creativity, and strategic marketing expertise, Rachel and her team help organizations with a complex sale shorten sales cycles, increase the number of quality meetings sales teams conduct, and boost ROI. A recipient of several coveted industry awards, Rachel is a highly regarded figure in the marketing realm, widely recognized for her exceptional business, sales, and marketing acumen.
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