Salesperson: “My company’s number one goal is to shorten the sales cycle. How can I do that?”

His question was timely and challenging. It seems as if your customers’ number one goal is to lengthen it! The economy and an environment of heightened skepticism have doubled or even tripled the length of the sales cycle in many industries.

So what can you do that is in your control to accelerate the close?

1. Early on, qualify more diligently. Position every qualifying question from the perspective of meeting the customer’s need. Find out:

   - Budget — Has it been allocated? How much? Who controls it?

   - Time Frame — What are the timelines to develop and implement? (In today’s world, the two schedules can be very different.)

   - Compelling Event — “Must do” dates are a blessing and the absence of one can signal a long decision cycle.

   - Decision-making Process — Who will be involved in the decision — economic, technical, users, and other influencers? Clarify the buying process and steps.

2. Understand the BUSINESS need that your solution will address. How will your solution help your customer achieve his/her business objectives.
3. Develop a compelling Value Proposition to show ROI (ideally year one or soon).
4. Identify milestones of the sales process so you can measure progress against them.
5. Set a call objective that is measurable for every meeting — face-to-face or virtual. And debrief each meeting against the objective.
6. Continue to check for change.
7. If things slow down, ask the hard qualifying questions again, but start with the driving need — is it still a priority? Tactfully ask questions to multiple customers.
8. Develop a coach! Almost nothing will help you win the deal and know where things really stand than a well-placed coach.
9. Position your benefits and ask for the business.
10. Know when to put a deal on the back burner or no burner and when to try to resuscitate it.

Comments

A sales methodology is the system a sales organization follows to win business. In one sense (not the best sense), every sales organization and/or salesperson has a sales methodology whether it is the remnants of one that had once been put in place, the norm people follow, or what a particular salesperson has figured out for him or herself.

An effective sales methodology is one that a sales organization has thought out clearly and provides it to its salesforce. The differences between a sales methodology that just exists because a company or most salespeople pretty much operate that way and a highly effective sales methodology boils down to six critical success factors.

Documentation: Map out clear steps as a guide for salespeople to follow/repeat.

Best Practices: Embed it with what your top performers consistently do.

Training: Prepare your salesforce to ensure they have the knowledge and skills needed to carry out the steps.

Tools: Give salespeople and sales managers tools, such as easy to use CRMs, planners, access to research … to make them more productive.

Execution: Follow it and coach to it.

Assessment: Ongoing feedback, tweaking and refinement.

The goal of having a sales methodology is to win more deals and to win them more quickly.

The initial question was do you have a sales methodology. The second question is if not should you have one?

Take the time to map out the steps it takes to identify and convert a lead into a customer. Make it a collaborative process with marketing team and your top performers. It is more than worth the effort. 10% of your reps will do fine without a clear sales methodology. But 80% will do better with one.

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