How to shorten the sales cycle.

Community Mailbox

For sake of discussion let's say that...

...the prospect trusts you, respects you and values the relationship.
...you are working with a prospect who has the authority, budget, want and need for your product or service.
...the prospect feels you have the most compelling value proposition.
...both you and the prospect understand how your solution will help him/her reach his/her desired outcome.
...the prospect has not voiced an objection.
...the prospect has not yet decided to move forward with the sale.

Given those assumptions what can you do that is in your control to shorten the sales cycle?

rattus58

I don't know.... Being a greenhorn... I'd probably ask him Why he hasn't moved forward given the above.

Aloha....

Ace Coldiron

All of those things may be true. However, what is also apparent is that currently the prospect is working around all of that and will probably continue to do so until all the things behind the scene--not apparent to the seller-- are in place or resolved TO THE POINT where a purchase can be made.

The salesperson cannot control those things. However it is possible to get through the door and lead them in management of the changes, decision making, and resolutions that have to take place in order to buy. This could be effective in shortening the buying cycle.

Unfortunately most salespeople would be predisposed to stay on the selling end thinking they could speed the process in that way. But the fact is they won't speed the process.

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rattus58

Originally Posted by Community Mailbox
For sake of discussion let's say that...

...the prospect trusts you, respects you and values the relationship.
...you are working with a prospect who has the authority, budget, want and need for your product or service.
...the prospect feels you have the most compelling value proposition.
...both you and the prospect understand how your solution will help him/her reach his/her desired outcome.
...the prospect has not voiced an objection.
...the prospect has not yet decided to move forward with the sale.

Given those assumptions what can you do that is in your control to shorten the sales cycle?

So given that, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Aloha...

INFOCUS Selling

Move the conversation to other decisions he has made in the past. Look for similarities in his decision and action process. It sounds to me like he lacks the confidence to make a decision. If that is not the case, return to the cost of inaction to see if the cost of inaction is great enough to create urgency. Just because you have "the best" value proposition does not mean it surpasses ROI requirements.

Dvevwr

Discover the clients motivation strategy and associate it with the product/service.

The most important thing (aside from rapport) is to link a state of desire to the product/service. My favorite strategy for this is by asking about something they're motivated about, noticing how they talk, gesture, and look when talking about this thing. Then using the same tone, gestures and positions of the things they're motivated about, while presenting the product/service.

This is some cool NLP anchoring stuff. If you're interested in this idea, go check it out! Plenty of info online.

MarcEnriquez

Let's inject some Zig in this:

Shorten the sales cycle? This sounds like the sales cycle has been in motion prior to the start of the conversation. What else should you do next? Just ask already. AAFTO, right?

Based on your conditions it sounds like this person just needs you to let them buy already.

If I'm simply misinterpreting the last statement and you mean to say that you've asked and the prospect has given you a NO then there's still something they don't KNOW, and need to KNOW in order to conclude with a YES. So as for what that is, once again, just ask already. This is a different AAFTO... Always Ask For The Obstacle/Objection...

If they won't give you an objection, are you sure the previous conditions are still true? Particularly, of trust and respect? Because anything else the prospect would willingly tell you to your face. If it's a matter of trust and respect, that they likely won't tell you to your face, unless you're a jerk and making false assumptions based upon ego.

Jeff Blackwell

I absolutely agree and couldn't have said it better myself. Nice post Ace!

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rattus58

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ace Coldiron
All of those things may be true. However, what is also apparent is that currently the prospect is working around all of that and will probably continue to do so until all the things behind the scene--not apparent to the seller-- are in place or resolved TO THE POINT where a purchase can be made.

The salesperson cannot control those things. However it is possible to get through the door and lead them in management of the changes, decision making, and resolutions that have to take place in order to buy. This could be effective in shortening the buying cycle.

Unfortunately most salespeople would be predisposed to stay on the selling end thinking they could speed the process in that way. But the fact is they won't speed the process.


This is why I find these threads FOR ME... pointless excercises.

You ask a question about what would you do AFTER A SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES and then agree that a different approach would have been better from the start resetting and discarding your set of circumstances of which you asked. Why should one bother answering the original.

The question is what would you do.... not what you SHOULD HAVE DONE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Oh well....

Jeff Blackwell

Hello Rattus. The question was, "Given those assumptions what can you do that is in your control to shorten the sales cycle?"

Ace gave an example of how one might go about shortening the buying cycle:

When you shorten the buying cycle you in turn shorten the sales cycle.