How You Can Improve Your Sales Cycle

Buyers today are business-savvy, tech-savvy and well-informed. This is primarily because consumers have access to more information and options, which, in turn, makes sales cycles longer and more complex. Forecasting the quarter with accuracy becomes a challenge, and zoning in on a tentative close date may be near impossible. So, what can you do? Here are a couple of different ways you can improve your sales cycle and your sales organization:

Align Interests

Businesses with a high level of interdepartmental communication tend to have better sales growth compared to those who don’t. By sharing information between marketing and sales, such as the success of campaigns, qualified leads brought in and so on, teams are able to define their ideal leads and targets better and achieve them. Real sales and marketing alignment is now becoming a must-do rather than an option.

Know Your Customers, Know Your Business

Strong selling is about knowing your customers and your business. For most businesses, a bulk of their business will come in from a small group of dedicated and loyal customers, which is also known as the 80-20 rule. Make it a practice to get to know your loyal customers and anticipate their needs. Offer them a freebie or add in some extra value without them asking. There are certain seasonal and cyclical changes which your business is bound to go through. For example, if you specialize in B2B sales, your business is going to be slow during holiday seasons and the summer, when people are busy with family and friends. But, during the spring and fall, you will see peaks in sales and activity. Plan for the peaks and the drops. All businesses have cycles, and, by working your sales around it, you can plan better.

Be Flexible

Business live in a state of flux. Situations, needs and requirements change over time, and the selling landscape changes with it. Managing the sales force and gathering data is important, but so is preparing your team for changing lifecycle of a product/service or business. This includes altering the size of the sales force, as well as the roles each rep plays and their specializations.

Use Time Wisely

Time is another factor in sales growth success. Almost half of a sales representative’s time is wasted on administrative activities and mundane tasks. More time spent engaging prospects and customers is what will grow revenue and make forecasting easier. Using a business intelligence tool that can capture data and business activities as they happen can help teams find a well-defined sales process. What other ways have you improved your sales cycle? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Salesvue’s integration with Salesforce allows sales and marketing teams to work in tandem and uncover what your business drivers are, accelerate the sale when things swing in your favor and identify possible roadblocks.