Sales cycles have become much shorter in this day and age. With the amount of competition, it’s hard for businesses to stand out. With their marketing budgets being cut and salespeople using or using social media, buyers have many choices
Do you want to get your products into the hands of your clients as soon as possible?
You might know that there are tons of ways one can speed up their sales cycle. If you are in any business, selling anything that requires receiving, storing, and shipping, i.e., whatever you sell, then you know that speed is key!
Sales acceleration is the best way that helps businesses move prospects through the sales pipeline with greater efficiency.
Here are some quick tips to help speed up your sales cycle:
1. Use Social Proof to Gain Trust
Social proof is the persuasion effect of seeing others follow certain behavior. It’s why you often see people in your neighborhood wearing the same clothes or using the same car.
Use social proof by sharing positive experiences with your customers, such as testimonials from happy customers. If you can showcase how other businesses have benefited from your products or services, it will give them more confidence in buying from you.
For example, if you are selling a product through an ecommerce platform like Shopify or BigCommerce, consider adding a “tags” section that allows users to search for their friends and family members who have purchased similar items from your store.
As such, it will help them see what other potential customers are thinking about your product line and make it easier for them to buy from you.
2. Sell Only To Qualified Leads
The best way to speed up the sales cycle is to increase qualified leads. A marketing campaign that is focused on qualified leads will increase the number of sales in a shorter period than a marketing campaign that focuses on unqualified or non-qualified leads.
The key to increasing qualified leads is to focus on delivering value to your customers via your marketing materials and website.
The right path to qualify a lead is by asking for their name and email address. If they don’t know anything about you, or if you don’t have any information about them on your website, then they’re not worth talking to.
Once you get their name and email address, make sure that you follow up with them within 24 hours (or 48 hours if it’s a weekend or holiday). More importantly, gives you enough time to research their interests and determine whether they’re a good fit for your product or service.
4. Automate Your Process
Speed up your sales cycle by automating your process. More so, this can be done using software such as MailChimp or simply outsourcing the process to a company specializing in automation.
Automating your sales cycle can save you time and money in the long run. It gives you more time to focus on other aspects of your business, such as growing your social media presence and increasing brand awareness.
5. Use Chatbots and Live Chat
Chatbots are computer programs designed to look human, respond like humans and help people solve problems. They can appear in-browser or as an app on mobile devices.
Chatbots can provide instant answers to common questions and help customers get answers faster than they would with a human agent. For example, if a client asks, “How do I activate my trial?” the chatbot can quickly respond with the answer — without having to wait for an agent to check their understanding of the question first.
The best part about chatbots and live chat is that they don’t require any technical knowledge from you or your team — so you don’t have to hire new employees just for this purpose!
6. Publish the Right Content
A good way to speed up your sales cycle is to publish the right content. You want to publish content that helps you close more deals, so you have to ensure it is high quality. In other words, don’t just publish anything!
Here are some ideas:
- Create a high-quality blog post with a high-traffic potential
- Create a video that’s easy on the eyes and can be shared easily
- Write an eBook or guide for your audience
- Produce a webinar that has good content and is easy to share
In Conclusion
In conclusion, as with many things in business, sales is all about having a proven process that works and then doing it often enough to be successful. You should never take the sales cycle for granted. It’s a vital part of any company and needs to be treated that way.
Finally, there are some steps you should take. Know your buyer, build a relationship with the buyer and expand your customer base through networking.
When you incorporate these steps into your sales process, you’ll have better luck closing deals in less time.
