10 Tips for Speeding Up Your Sales Cycle

Every business should have a goal to achieve a successful sales cycle. Perfection is unattainable, but you can do a lot to get close if you’re willing to put in the work. The first step comes in realizing that your business is unique, and therefore, so is your sales cycle. There are plenty of strategies and tips out there to help, but you’ll have to figure out which ones are best suited to your needs. 

The sales cycle refers to the tactical, repeatable process that your sales reps follow to turn leads into customers. Note the use of “repeatable” – this should be something that each rep can repeat with each lead, making the necessary adjustments to tailor the process as they go. When you have a solid sales cycle in place, you will always know your next move, which means you can easily repeat successes and find room for improvement with the failures. 

One way to speed up your sales cycle is to outsource to a team like Smith.ai, which can assist with outreach campaigns, sales support, and more. We’ll cover more on that later. For now, here are 10 tips you need to know if speed is the solution you need. 

Tip #1 – Automate repetitive tasks 

Your sales reps spend a lot of time writing emails and researching leads. They spend even more time sifting through data, segmenting lead lists, and figuring out which leads have the most potential for a sale. There’s a lot of this that you can take off their plate with sales automation tools. Figure out which repetitive tasks you can automate, starting with things like data entry and research. 

You can even get more advanced and create automated email campaigns and sales cadences that are designed to deliver at specific points in the sales cycle so that your team doesn’t have to stop everything to do follow-up. 

Tip #2 – Set goals with your prospects 

When you reach out to prospects, they might not know what to expect in terms of the sales cycle. They may be uncertain or have questions along the way. If you’ve got leads that you think are hot, take the time to set goals with them that focus on their needs and pain points. Ask them how you can work together to create a solution that fits. If you make their goals your own, you’ll run into fewer objections and concerns. 

Tip #3 – Research objections ahead of time 

Speaking of objections, you should always be prepared for those, too. Make sure that your sales team knows how to handle all manner of rejections for an agile response that gets better results. You can practice with templates and examples, and even have your team work with each other to overcome objections before getting into a discussion with leads. Whatever you do, make sure that your reps are prepared for every possible answer they get that isn’t a “yes.” 

Tip #4 – Make it easy for prospects to sign contracts or make purchases 

People live on their mobile devices these days. The last thing they want is a complicated sales process or a contract they can’t sign until they sit down at their desk (and who knows when that will be). Make it super easy for people to sign contracts or complete a purchase, no matter what type of device they’re using. UX (user experience) is critical when it comes to getting prospects turned into buyers. 

Tip #5 – Focus on the highest-performing channels 

In sales, you are always going to have some channels that produce better leads than others. It’s going to be important that you put your effort into those channels first. That way, you’re maximizing your effort and your reach, and generating the most incoming leads for those efforts. If you are getting hot leads from social media, make sure that you’ve got sales reps focused on that traffic so you can reel in the conversions. And while they’re doing that, tweak the channels that aren’t doing as well to get better results there. 

Tip #6 – Clean your CRM data 

Too often, people assume they have clean data just because they don’t know any better. When is the last time that you looked at your CRM, your lead lists, and your customer information? Even with the best intentions, your data can get muddied over time and that can make it more difficult for you to find good leads and get the conversions that you need. Take the time to clean your data and watch the conversions improve as the bad leads disappear. 

Tip #7 – Make sure sales and marketing goals are aligned 

You need to have sales and marketing on the same page, working together toward a collective goal. That’s the only way to be successful in business today. No longer can these teams work in silos. They need to collaborate and work collectively to help you improve the quality of your leads and the speed of your sales cycle. 

Tip #8 – Create a personalized experience every time 

If you do your homework and create a personalized experience from the start, you’re taking a lot of time out of the sales cycle just by giving people peace of mind and the information they need. You can address their pain points directly and show how you can resolve them, getting more conversions and leaving your leads spending less time in the pipeline. 

Tip #9 – Analyze and optimize 

As with anything, you have to measure your results and optimize them to improve them as you go. Once you start making changes to your sales cycle, monitor your progress and see how much things improve. Find other areas to make changes. Tweak things that need a little more adjusting. If you seek continuous improvement, you will get much closer to perfection with your sales cycle. 

Tip #10 – Outsource what you can 

As mentioned, outsourcing is a great way to speed up any process in your business. It also gives you access to more resources than you can get in-house at a fraction of the cost. When you partner with the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai, your sales team will have more time to focus on closing those qualified leads. 

We can provide support for outreach campaigns, along with lead intake and appointment scheduling, which automatically takes a lot off your plate in the lead generation part of the sales cycle. Plus, we can even act as your 24/7 answering service so you never miss an opportunity. To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai. 

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