Alex shares 5 proven tips to shorten sales cycles.
If selling seems to be taking longer than it used to, you are regrettably not dreaming. In today's sales environment, deals involve more parties, sales cycles are getting longer, and the phrase "we just need one more internal approval" has become the new norm.
If this sounds familiar and your pipeline looks healthy, you are most likely suffering from a sales velocity problem rather than a lead-gen problem.
So what can we do to speed up this process and get some control and pace back into the sales process? Old-school thinking would have come from the point of view of how we can apply pressure to move things along, but in my experience, this very rarely works and often results in a lost sale rather than a signed contract.
Having both been at the sharp end of sales and managed sales teams, I would advocate selling with clarity and purpose, so to that end, I have shared below some of the initiatives that I have put into play that will help accelerate your sales cycles.
Tightening your ideal customer profile by industry, company size, and requirement will quickly remove friction from your pipeline, as when your team chases the wrong accounts, deals will drag, discounts will start creeping in, and nothing will close quickly.
Buyers move faster when they understand how your product helps them now, so focus demos around one or two high-impact use cases and show real outcomes early in the process. In short, the faster prospects see value, the faster they can make a decision.
Most deals stall after a great call, not during it, as your internal champion has to convince finance, IT, or leadership stakeholders to move forward. So help them to help yourself, by providing them simple business cases, clear pricing, and ready-to-share materials, as if they can’t explain your value in five minutes, the deal will lag behind those vendors who can.
Every meeting should end with a specific action, owner, and timeline, as the “We’ll circle back” kills velocity whilst the “Let’s review pricing with procurement by Friday” keeps things moving forward.
Simplify the paperwork wherever possible, as complicated pricing, long contracts, and legal redlines will slow deals to a crawl.
Selling SaaS now isn’t about pushing harder and applying more pressure, it’s about making decisions easier, as when you do that, deals move faster.