The B2B Sales Cycle: Does It Have to be A Long Agonizing Multi-Quarter Climb to Full-Earning Potential?
We’ve all heard about the dreaded sales cycle: the long, agonizing multi-quarter climb to full-earning potential. It can feel like there are very few prospects who are actually interested in what you have to sell — especially if they don’t get back to you right away. But what if there was a better way? What if your B2B sales cycle could be shorter, more predictable and easier on both sides?
If you are in the business of selling to other businesses, you understand that it can be a very long process and full of uncertainty.
If you are in the business of selling to other businesses, you understand that it can be a very long process and full of uncertainty. The sales cycle is long - often taking months or even years to complete. The process includes multiple stages: discovery, qualification, closing and post-sales service or support. Each stage has its own unique challenges and opportunities but all these stages must be completed before any money changes hands (or at least most people hope). In some cases, an important decision may need to be made at each stage—for example: Should we offer this as an add-on? Should we price this differently? What kind of training do we provide? How much will it cost us per month versus our competitors’ prices/services/features etc…
If you’re like most B2B companies, your sales cycle is probably:
Long. The average length of a B2B sales cycle is currently around 50 days (or one quarter), and it can take even longer if there are multiple decision makers involved in the process.
Most likely involves many different decision-makers. As you move through each step of the process, you may need to interact with more than one person—for example, when approaching potential customers or partners for an opportunity or to discuss pricing options with them. This can make it difficult for reps who lack experience in this area of business to navigate through these interactions effectively on behalf of their company's interests as well as theirs personally."
Most B2B companies have a sales cycle that looks something like this: Introduce yourself (perhaps via email, phone or social media), Send information about your company and products (usually through email), Schedule a call/meeting over the phone or in person to learn more about their needs.
The B2B sales cycle is a long, agonizing multi-quarter climb to full-earning potential.
Most companies have a sales cycle that looks something like this: Introduce yourself (perhaps via email, phone or social media), Send information about your company and products (usually through email), Schedule a call/meeting over the phone or in person to learn more about their needs. If you’re lucky enough to get them on board after an initial meeting with no problems—that’s great! But if not? Then there will be another round of emails back and forth until it becomes clear that there isn't much common ground between them and your company. At this point you may need some additional momentum from outside sources before moving forward with any kind of deal or partnership (e.g., referrals).
There are challenges to overcome with each of these steps.
If you've ever had the opportunity to meet someone who was just getting started in sales, they'll probably tell you that the first step is introducing themselves. It's an essential skill for anyone who wants to be successful at selling and it can be one of the most difficult aspects of sales to master.
There are several challenges that come with introducing yourself:
How do I introduce myself? Do I use my own name or another name? Should I use my title (e.g., Dr.), profession (e.g., lawyer), or company affiliation (e.g., XYZ Corp)? The answer depends on what type of person we're talking about—a lawyer might want his last name used because he wants people to know him personally before trusting them enough for business dealings; meanwhile, someone like me might opt for something more generic like "I'm from XYZ Corp."
How much information do I share? Do I keep it brief and simple or dive into details about myself so that there's not much left unsaid once our conversation ends? Again, this depends largely on personalities but also how comfortable either party feels sharing personal details outside work environments where confidentiality agreements are expected
The challenges, then, come with getting their attention and earning their interest.
The B2B sales cycle is a long and challenging one, but it doesn’t have to be an agonizing multi-quarter climb up the mountain. If you are able to make it through this phase with your prospects, there is hope for success in your next sales cycle: if they like what you do and want more of what you offer (or if they don’t like what you do and feel alienated), then they will be receptive when the time comes for them to buy.
The challenge comes with getting their attention in the first place—and earning their interest during each stage of that process.
That requires more than just good emails and calls; it requires constant contact throughout every stage of the sales cycle so that someone can answer any questions or concerns at any point along its route through three stages: “contingency-based inquiries” (CBIs); “lead generation” (GLs); and finally “opportunity-based inquiries."
When trying to introduce yourself through an email, it can be difficult to find prospects who are ready for what you have to sell — especially from cold emails. You might only get responses from prospects who aren’t qualified for your product or service, or maybe you don’t get any responses at all.
The first step in the B2B sales cycle is getting prospects’ attention.
You can do this by sending an email that mentions your company, its products or services and why you think it will be helpful for them.You should also include some kind of value proposition statement that provides information about what you’re offering, who will benefit from it and how much money they stand to make by using your product or service. This will help potential customers understand why they should care about buying from you over other companies in their industry who may have similar products or services available as yours does.
Once a prospect has opened up their inboxes (or clicked on a link if they haven’t yet), the next step is getting interested users into conversations with you so those users become potential customers who buy something from you later on down the line once certain criteria have been met such as having positive feedback from past clients/customers etcetera…
From there, you might have trouble scheduling meetings with prospects, either because they go dark right when you think everything is set or because they don’t reply to your attempts to schedule something.
From there, you might have trouble scheduling meetings with prospects, either because they go dark right when you think everything is set or because they don’t reply to your attempts to schedule something.
This is where the B2B Sales Cycle causes problems for many salespeople. You have spent hours working on someone’s email and phone account, but instead of getting a response back from them (or even seeing their name in your inbox), you get an automated message saying that their account has been deleted due to inactivity. As a result of this auto-reply service, many people simply stop responding altogether—and then leave without taking any action at all!
Conclusion
You might have some success with social media marketing and other forms of content marketing, but you’ll always have to work harder than your competitors who have a sales team already set up. Even if you do get a response from someone who is interested in what you have to sell, there are so many more factors that go into making a sale than just getting them to buy something. This means that every step of your B2B sales cycle has its own challenges — even if it looks like just one isolated point in the process for most companies. If we want B2B companies to reach full-earning potential sooner rather than later, then there needs to be more effort put into solving these problems along their way!
