an ideal sales cycle

The Sales Cycle

What is it?

Modern Sales Cycle

Prospecting• Finding new prospects to fill the hopper is a vital first step

• Prospecting is like setting a target to reach out to

• A good start to prospecting is to define what a good prospect is like for your business, and think about how you could approach such a prospect

Initiate Contact• Different approaches work better for different industries. Often times, the first

contact is either a phone call, an email or even physical mail

• Offering help, support and information is likely to be more successful than a hard sell

• The first contact should leave an impression in the prospects mind that the we are there for help

Needs Analysis• You can only determine whether your solution is a good fit if you truly understand

your prospect’s needs

• Equip yourself and your sales reps with the questions and resources they need to uncover the right information

Sales Pitch/Proposal• This phase of the sales cycle is critical. You need to present your offering as a

solution to your prospect’s needs

• Tailor your proposal to the information you have gathered in the previous phases of the sales cycle

• Numbers catch eyes and interest. Thus, forecasted numbers always have their way

Manage Objections• Understanding the likely objections, such as price and timing, and equipping your

sales team to handle them appropriately will increase your win rate and speed up your sales process

Close a Sale• In this phase, you will have to drive the deal to close and get the prospect’s

signature on the dotted line

• Mastering the different techniques for closing takes both training and experience

Keep Existing Clients Happy

• Put a follow-up process in place to make sure your customers are happy

• This will earn you repeat sales, as well as get you referrals for new leads you can start driving through the sales cycle

Four tips to improve your sales process• Look at your most consistent salespeople, and see what exactly they are doing.

Capture the knowledge, turn it into a process for other salespeople and replicate success

• Define the sales cycle for your own business. For each of the phases, create easily accessible templates, checklists and questions that your sales reps could use

• Set targets for the number of deals you want to have at each stage of the sales process at any time, and track the figures meticulously

• Set targets for how long a deal should stay at a sales cycle stage. If you see that a deal has no activity for longer than that period, immediately follow up to avoid the deal falling through the cracks

Mistakes Salespeople Make!!

Assuming the problem stated to them as the actual problem

Believing that the sales presentation will help in closing the deal

Hoping the loop holes that you leave will go unnoticed

Talking too much

Believing that you can sell anything to anybody

Excessive knowledge to prospect

Acting as an unpaid consultant to Seal the deal

What we should do instead!!

Stop the deal. Begin a conversation, approach as a Consultant not a Salesperson

Find out if you and prospect are a good fit

First impression is the last impression

Don't let the sales pressure get over you

Never chase prospect

Keep your pitch crisp and transparent

BANT

B- BudgetA- AuthorityN- NeedT- Time

GPCT

G- Goal P- PlansC- ChallengesT- Timeline

Optimization

• It is very important to optimise the sales cycle of the organization in order to minimize the efforts and maximize the number of sales. It is very important to identiy the right time to pull out from a deal

Remember-

EVERY PROSPECT WILL NOT BECOME A CLIENT!!

THANK YOU!