If you are having a problem with your sales cycle, you might want to take a look at your salespeople and your system. It might not be your customers who are making the cycle long. The problem might be you. You might be pushing your product prematurely or your salespeople don’t know how to properly present your solution to your client’s needs.
Clarity
Before making any sales pitch, your customer needs to have a moment of clarity and understanding. He must understand his current personal situation or the situation of his business. This is where you start pinpointing a need or a problem. Once your customer understands that he has a need to fill, he will listen to you.
Change
Change is always met with some appreciation. Nobody wants to change a routine or something that he is familiar with. Make your client understand that change can be a good thing. List both positive and negative effects that your product can bring to them and discuss it. For example, your client gets his supplies from XYZ Company because the owner was his high school classmate. The problem is those supplies are not updated and are not up to par with industry standards. Yours are. If they get supplies from you, they will have to end their contract with XYZ and it might affect their friendship (negative). On the other hand, his business will be better and sales will increase (positive). Change is something that your clients need to accept in order to buy from you.
Value
Now this is the part where you take out the big guns. Show your customers the value of your product or service. Give facts if you can. For example, studies have shown that productivity goes up by 90% by using your product. Show them exactly how your product or service will solve their problems, improve their systems and increase their sales. Always say what’s in it for them.
Decision
After you have done your best, the decision now lies in your customer. If he buys, then you did a good job. If not, don’t think that you made a mistake somewhere in the process. Ask your client why he thinks that your product is not a good fit for his business or his lifestyle. Ask him if he has any suggestions on how to make your product or presentation better then thank your client and walk away and move on to the next customer. Take your customer’s suggestions into consideration the next time you make a pitch.
The length of your sales cycle is within your control so take that to heart the next time you present to a client.
This article was brought to you by sykes-gala.com, the fulfillment and sales cycle experts.