How to speed up the sales cycle
Sales cycles have become much shorter in this day and age. With the amount of competition, it is difficult for companies to stand out. With their marketing budgets cut and the use of salespeople or social media use, buyers have many options
Do you want to get your products to your customers as quickly as possible?
You may know that there are plenty of ways they can speed up their sales cycle. If you work in any business, selling anything that requires receiving, storing, and shipping, whatever you sell, you know that speed is key!
Accelerating sales is the best way to help businesses move leads through the sales pipeline more efficiently.
Here are some quick tips to help speed up your sales cycle:
1. Use social proof to gain trust
Social proof is the persuasive effect of seeing others follows a certain behavior. That's why you often see people in your area 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 show how other companies are taking advantage of your products or services, it will give them more confidence in buying from you.
For example, if you're 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 know 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 focused on qualified leads will increase the number of sales in a shorter period than a marketing campaign focused on unqualified or unqualified leads.
The key to increasing qualified leads is to focus on delivering value to your customers across marketing materials and the website.
The right path to qualify a potential customer is to ask 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, they're not worth talking to.
Once you have their name and email address, be sure to follow up with them within 24 hours (or 48 hours if it's a weekend or holiday). Most importantly, it gives you enough time to research their interests and determine if they are suitable 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 like MailChimp or simply outsource the process to a company that specializes in automation.
Sales cycle automation 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 increasing your social media presence and increasing brand awareness.
5. Use Chatbots and Live Chat
Chatbots are computer programs designed to look like a human, respond like humans, and help people solve problems. They can appear in the browser or as an application on mobile devices.
Chatbots can provide instant answers to common questions and help customers get answers faster than they would with any human agent. For example, if a customer asks, "How do I activate my beta?" the chatbot can quickly respond with an answer – without having to wait for the agent to verify that they understand 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 that!
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 need to make sure it's high-quality. In other words, don't post anything!
Here are some ideas:
- Create a high-quality blog post with the ability to increase traffic
- Create a video that is easy on the eyes and can be easily shared
- Write an eBook or Guide for Your Audience
- Create a webinar with good content and easy to share
Conclusion
In conclusion, as with many things in a business, sales is about having a proven process that works and then doing it often enough to be successful. You don't have to take the sales cycle for granted. It is a vital part of any company and needs to be handled this way.
Finally, there are some steps you should take. Get to know your buyer, build a relationship with the buyer and expand your customer base through communication.
When you incorporate these steps into your sales process, you'll have better luck completing deals in less time.