How would your business sustain if you were to have a longer sales cycle? This is a conversation that I have been having quite a bit recently with my clients. We are starting to notice for certain clients in particular industries, that the sales cycle is not quite as quick as it may have been in the past. So, what do you do? Can your business sustain a longer sales cycle?
The Doyenne Agency is a global sales and sales training agency. We work with clients on training their sales team and also helping them to make whatever adjustments they may need in their sales processes (especially when we are providing that sales support). A longer sales cycle for many could mean that you are potentially courting a prospect for years. In some of our research (particularly with our clients) we are starting to notice that some of our clients are watching or “dating” (that is the word I would use) in that process of the buyer’s journey, if you will, for multiple years. Moreover, we are also starting to see how that may impact revenue goals, ideas, or things that you may want to do in terms of things you have planned for your year.
How would your business survive? What adjustments do you need to make? One of the things I have noticed we are leveraging and helping clients leverage is the ability to leverage conversations and events. It’s not to sell, so we are not talking about a pitch-fest kind of deal. We are just talking about building trust and connection. How is your business leveraging conversation and events to build connection and trust during your customer or client journey?
This is a BIGGIE. You can leverage this big adjustment. It does not have to be overly complicated. These are things you will want to pay attention to and start to make those adjustments. Research is showing that 84% of your clients or customers are saying that they want to be treated as a human and not as a number. Of course, now they are vetting and really taking their time to determine, “Are you really what and who you say you are? Are you really aligning with the values you say you align with?” One of the ways again to build that connection and trust and maybe even speed up and shorten that sales cycle are conversations and events.
Which one will you choose to leverage and grow in your business to keep those sales cycles at a place and pace that is best and feels good for you so that you are not finding yourself starting to see your sales cycle take longer? You do not want to question what the heck is going on. It could make you nervous and make you a little stressed out.
Those are just two of the suggestions I have: Events and Conversations. How is your team doing that and how are you building those connections with your prospects as you continue to guide them to make a decision and the decision that is best for them?
This is another episode of Straight Talk about Sales with Dr. Nadia. I just wanted to pop in quickly and talk about those longer sales cycles. This is trend that we are starting to see in the industry and I would love to hear any comments or questions that you may have. Head on over to https://thedoyenneagency.com/ where you can get these videos delivered directly to your inbox.
