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:
Target Market:
Marketing, Sales and the entire organization should be aligned on which markets to pursue. This may be determined by industry/vertical segment, company size, company geography, or company infrastructure (i.e. SAP or Oracle shop). In addition, the appropriate target functions (C-level, VP HR, Director Call Center, etc.) and buyer types (economic buyer, technical buyer, influencer, user buyer) should be identified. This will prevent marketing and sales from chasing after the wrong accounts and contacts. In addition, marketing can craft compelling messages, offers, and sales tools based on industry, applications and/or function, thus improving the relevancy of these messages to the target audience. See Mike Gospe’s article Shortening the Sales Cycle with Persona-Driven Marketing and Mary Sullivan’s article Sales Playbooks Help Shorten the Sales Cycle.
Ruthless qualifying: Do the account and contacts fit the target market? There can be exceptions (as in an RFP for a big project from another market), but by and large try to stay focused to improve win rates and your beachhead in key verticals.
Engage:
Marketing and Sales will need to identify and build relationships with multiple contacts at each account and nurture them over time to increase the likelihood that your company is top of mind when the prospect is looking for solutions. Also, expanding contacts improves the chances of engaging in meaningful conversations, rather than getting shut down by a gatekeeper and abandoning the account.
Once Sales has made contact with one or more buyers, they can probe to determine if there is a problem the prospect is experiencing that your product or service can address. Sales development teams often work accounts up to this stage to identify projects, budget, timeline and key players. If there is a fit, a sales opportunity is created and passed to an inside, field or channel rep to further develop. Accounts that do not pass this stage are returned to the marketing bucket for ongoing nurturing.
Ruthless qualifying: Make sure the account meets minimum criteria before passing on to Sales to develop. This will prevent wasting time and resources and ensure that your company has a good chance at winning the business.
Develop:
Once an opportunity is created, Sales works to dive deeper into the prospect’s business. What are the company’s key business initiatives? Are they in growth mode or downsizing? How can they be more nimble and competitive? In addition to understanding these key drivers and aligning your solutions, Sales works to expand contacts, demo the solution, bring in technical resources, and understand the competitive environment. Based on the information uncovered in this stage, the rep will determine if it’s appropriate to continue on with a proposal.
Ruthless qualifying: Sales should work to fully understand the project and buying process. Is there an incumbent vendor? Is the company already leaning toward a competitor or home-grown solution? Uncovering and addressing these red flags early on is critical to forecasting properly and improving win rates.
Proposal:
The proposal can be for a full solution, or for a trial or pilot.
Ruthless qualifying: Avoid creating a proposal for the sake of creating one (and avoid rewarding sales reps on the volume of proposals). Rather, shoot for quality and higher conversion rates. If possible, involve the prospect in collaborating on the proposal so that all requirements are covered and they take some ownership in the process.
Negotiation & Close:
Ruthless qualifying: Terms should be a win-win for both companies. Avoid low-ball pricing since you will need to live with that decision when renewal time comes around. Be willing to walk if the account will be too demanding on internal professional services and support organizations.
In summary, ruthless qualifying should happen at every stage of the sales cycle to increase win rates, improve sales productivity and shorten the sales cycle.