Understand your sales cycle first, build in ... - Natural Training

As we discussed last month in Why being different will be vital to your sales success in 2013, knowing how to speed up the rate at which you move between ?contact? and ?contract? will help you to stand apart from the competition this year.

The problem is nowhere near enough sales professionals truly understand what their sales cycle looks like, and without this information they stand very little chance of being able to speed the process up.

So, what is your sales cycle? Well, if someone was to document every interaction you have with all prospects before they actually sign a contract and earn you commission, they would be able to start mapping out your sales cycle.

In a nutshell, it?s a bird?s eye view of the processes that occur before hearing that all-important ?yes?. Some of the milestones that sales professionals will hit along the way will include: Prospecting, connecting, objection handling, negotiation and closing.

Here?s an example of how the cycle can differ: A sales professional working for a luxury yacht company might take three years to nurture a lead to the point of closing a deal. Getting close to his or her prospect and earning their trust through regular human interaction and conversations at events all over the world is crucial. When, after three years, the deal is closed, it could be worth millions. The three-year cycle may be long, but the value at the end of it justifies the effort put in.

On the flip side, look at an online retailer like Amazon. Often, no human interaction is required, and while the ?deal? is worth much less, it is reached far quicker.

Two very different sales cycles for two very different businesses. What does yours look like?

Once you understand it, you?ll have the power to refine it, sharpen it and use it to reach targets faster. ?You see, if you can reduce the steps involved in closing deals and enhance the customer experience along the way, as a sales professional, you?ve done a great thing!

Try this out?

February is a great time to be sitting down with your team and mapping out your sales cycle. Write down the steps involved in closing new business, and be very specific and careful to bespoke it to your industry. So, if prospecting and connecting with new opportunities is easy, but the cycle slows down when you reach the negotiation stage, include that in the report.

This is your map, your blueprint and your guide to winning new business, so be detailed. Then, with your mapped out cycle and the areas that have the potential to slow your ?route to close? down, you can see exactly where you have to build in efficiency to the process.

Let?s assume that one of these cumbersome areas is somewhere between sending a proposal and closing the deal. Take action. Target this part of the cycle and change the way you operate, don?t continue in the same way it will only yield the same results.

Why not try booking in some time with your prospect ahead of sending the proposal? OK, might sound slightly strange as usually this would happen after the proposal is sent to discuss the contents, but it could be that your proposals never really hit the pain point, the nerve, the real challenge area for your potential customers.

By having a ten-minute conversation before sitting down to build a proposal you could identify the real challenges that the prospect is facing, and design your strategy to meet those challenges head on.

REMEMBER, people are busy. If the proposal doesn?t match up to expectations first time around, it will get filed away until you finally get the chance to have a conversation with your prospect and put it right.

Do you understand your sales cycle? Efficiency and improved performance can only be driven through knowledge and understanding ? so map out your unique approach to winning new business and then target the specific places that are causing the hold ups.

The Natural Training team would be happy to discuss our own unique approach to sales training and our proven strategies for developing the sales cycle map and identifying the areas where efficiency can be built. Call the team on 020 7613 7830 or email hello@NaturalTraining.com.

Also, we finally have our new book, The Natural Sales Evolution in stock with Amazon! ?If you ordered some previously, please accept our apologies, but you are REALLY welcome to go online and do so again ? you will have your new books in a day or two, just CLICK HERE.

Source: http://www.naturaltraining.com/blog/2013/02/12/understand-your-sales-cycle-first-build-in-efficiency-later/

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