Shortening the sales cycle produces “more sales in the same amount of time,” according to Janet Gregory in her article Shorten That Sales Cycle, and “accelerates every function in the company that touches customers.” In this blog post, I focus on the sales process of qualifying to shorten the sales cycle. Often times we refer to “qualifying” as a single step in the sales process. In fact, qualifying should happen continually. By constantly assessing the fit between a customer’s need and your product or service offering, and only pursuing those opportunities that are mutually beneficial, you can increase productivity and shorten the sales cycle. Sales reps can fall into the trap of continuing discussions if the prospect returns phone calls or their pipeline is weak. But results will suffer. Let’s take a look at how qualifying fits at each stage of a typical B2B sales process:
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