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17 Tips On How To Accelerate Sales Cycle And Close Deals Faster
Want to know how to accelerate sales cycle? These 17 actionable tips will help you close deals faster and increase sales success.
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Decreasing the sales cycle is a common goal for both sales and marketing teams. Shortening how long it takes to close a deal can help you boost revenue, improve cash flow, and make your sales process more efficient. But what do you do when your sales cycle takes longer than usual? Learning how to Sales Acceleration Software can help you get back on track and avoid the adverse effects of prolonged sales cycles. This article will cover some of the best strategies to speed up your sales process and get your organization back to hitting its targets.
Aomni's sales intelligence software is a valuable tool for achieving objectives such as accelerating sales cycles. This platform lets you find, analyze, and leverage data to improve your sales process and close deals faster.
What is a Sales Cycle, and How Long Does it Take?
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A sales cycle is the collection of sequential stages sales reps follow when converting a prospect into a customer. Think of it like the structure of a deal, the building blocks, like lead qualification and sales calls, that need to be stacked in a specific order so it’s possible to drive deals to close.
The goal of a sales cycle is to ensure reps are uncovering customer needs and resources they can map to product solutions before making a pitch. Sure, every rep wants to win another deal, but first, you must find a mutual fit between seller and buyer. You don’t have a deal if you don’t have that fit.
Understanding the Key Difference Between the Sales Cycle and Sales Process
The terms “sales cycle” and “sales process” are similar, but there’s one crucial difference. A sales cycle is the “what,” and a sales process is the “how.” A sales cycle describes the steps from lead to nurture to close, and a sales process describes your methodology and strategy for getting there effectively.
How Long Is a Sales Cycle?
So, what period signifies a sales cycle as long as opposed to short? No benchmark period can apply to all industries. Still, any sale that typically takes several touch points and spans several weeks to months is considered a longer sales cycle, for example:
- Paid search
- Display
- Email marketing
- Organic
- White paper download, etc.
A Databox survey of 300 companies shows that the median B2B sales cycle lasts 2.1 months.
Comparing B2B and B2C Sales Cycles: Key Differences in Length and Frequency
Think about B2B projects involving a business proposal. Stakeholders must carefully analyze the following:
- Project’s price
- ROI
- Scope
In contrast, most B2C offerings have a short sales cycle often repeated significantly more frequently than B2B sales cycles, such as:
- Hygiene
- Retail
- Buying online products
Related Reading
- How to Increase B2B Sales
- Strategies to Increase Market Share
What are the 7 Stages of a Sales Cycle?
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1. Customer Research
Many people think that prospecting is the first stage in the sales cycle. That’s a big mistake. If you start by doing customer research, you’ll be able to find and focus on the most promising prospects instead of chasing leads that go nowhere. To guide your research, define your ideal customer (a buyer persona). This includes demographic traits like industry and business size, as well as psychological traits like the motivations and challenges of target decision-makers.
Take a look at the characteristics of past customers to get this started, and then get additional insights from online research. Set up Google alerts for headlines about companies or individuals that mirror existing customers. Read headlines about target industries in trade publications. Track relevant industry keywords on LinkedIn. This will help you better understand your ideal customer needs and where you can find them.
2. Prospecting
After doing your customer research, you can start prospecting. This is when you reach out to the people or companies that match your buyer persona. There are many ways to make that first prospecting connection:
- Emails
- Cold calls
- Videos
- Events
- Customer referrals
And then, of course, there are social media platforms like LinkedIn. Start by following companies that fit my ideal customer profile. Then, look for contacts within that company and follow them on the social platforms they use most (likely LinkedIn). To show interest, do this on their posts:
- Comment
- Like
- Share
Personalizing Prospect Outreach and Engaging Through Tailored Content and Research
You can also catch their eye by posting helpful content that addresses needs articulated in their posts. If I get a follow-up or engagement, I send them a message introducing myself and my company after:
- Posting
- Sharing
- Liking their content
Another simple, powerful prospecting strategy is to do a Google search with their name and company to see if they’ve been featured in any:
- Articles
- Videos
- Podcasts
Read or listen to whatever you find so you can identify a need or pain point you can use in your prospecting outreach.
A warning: Make sure your messages are tailored to each prospect. Don’t rely on the standard “Hey, let’s talk!” Stand out by saying something relevant: “I read your post about the new initiative you led last quarter – how did that turn out?” Your prospects will be more likely to respond if you personalize your communication.
3. Qualification and Discovery
You’ve made a connection. Now, you need to determine whether the prospect has a problem I can help solve and the resources to purchase my solution. This vetting process is commonly referred to as lead qualification. After introductions, ask to set up a call to learn more about the prospects:
- Business
- Needs
- Goals
This is called a discovery call. I’m trying to determine whether they’re a good fit based on:
- Demographic traits
- Company size
- Industry
- The problem they want to solve
- Whether they have decision-making authority
Qualifying Leads, Multi-Threading, and Building Stronger Connections with Key Stakeholders
If the lead isn’t fit, remove them from my list of prospects for now. Remember that just because they’re not qualified now doesn’t mean they won’t be down the road. Hold onto their contact information and be prepared to reach out again if their role or company changes. If I get a string of “yesses,” dig in to learn more about their business.
- What are their current pains, and how can your product help?
- What does this problem cost the company?
- What happens if they do nothing?
- What solutions are they considering?
Also, identify any decision-makers who need to weigh in on the deal. If there are stakeholders that I need to meet, ask for an introduction and do discovery with them as well. This is called multi-threading and is critical for more significant deals involving many stakeholders.
4. Presentation and Demo
After uncovering a bounty of pain points and needs that align seamlessly with your solution, ask to schedule a time with your prospect and critical stakeholders to walk them through your solution with a sales presentation or product demo. Tailor your presentation to make it relevant, personal, and engaging. For example, match your language to the language of your prospect’s specific industry and business. Show how your product will work in their unique environment. Describe how your solution alone is positioned to solve the problems I uncovered during the discovery phase.
Fair warning: You should eventually expect to hear objections. This is normal. To overcome an objection, ask follow-up questions to understand the root of their concerns and respond with details that address their concerns. These can be about topics such as:
- Price (“The cost is too high”)
- Timing (“We’re not ready to decide yet”)
- Lack of urgency (“We’re sticking with what we have.”)
5. Proposal
You’ve led a successful demonstration, and the prospect wants to move forward. In a small business, that might end the sales cycle, you close the deal immediately. But you’re not over the last hurdle in a more complex sale. You still need to draft a formal proposal to get buy-in from all stakeholders and decision-makers, especially those in finance who cut the checks. Because your quote needs to make a business case to these executives, it should cover the total cost of your solution, including:
- Initial implementation
- Onboarding
- Ongoing maintenance
Your quote should also show a clear return on investment (ROI). Three critical questions to answer in your proposal are:
- Why does the customer need to change?
- Why now?
- What’s the financial impact?
I recommend showing the cost of delay, too, which shows the monthly cost of waiting and can drive urgency.
6. Negotiation
After reviewing the proposal, stakeholders often want to negotiate a better price. In enterprise companies, this usually happens with a procurement or purchasing department set up to negotiate directly with vendors. The legal department will also scrutinize your deal and the terms of the agreement. That’s why I’ve emphasized the need to show an ROI earlier. It’s how you can win over the CFO and the legal team. Even if ROI is clear, the prospect might make a case for a lower price by comparing your cost to the cost of:
- Other solutions on the market
- Their current solution
- Their budget
Be prepared to address discrepancies and include a discount or price-cut option to sweeten the deal. If procurement delays the deal or asks for unreasonable concessions, lean on stakeholders who are completely bought in to help expedite things.
7. Close the Deal
Many say closing is the hardest part of the sales cycle, but it doesn’t have to be. If you’ve done everything else right, closing the deal is the easiest part of the process:
- There’s a fit
- You’re solving a problem
- You can prove ROI
- You have the right people engaged
You don’t have to close very hard if you’re helping the business. But let’s say you’ve presented the deal paperwork, and the signature line is still blank. There are a few closing techniques to seal the deal. For example, there’s “The Take Away Close,” where you suggest that your prospect may not qualify for my solution if circumstances change. This is reverse psychology, and it works because people want what they can’t have.
Effective Closing Techniques: Using the Alternative Choice and Potential Cost Close
There’s the “Alternative Choice Close” where you offer two payment options and ask them which one they prefer:
- A 60-month
- a 36-month term
This gives them two options for saying yes instead of an option for saying no. Finally, there’s “The Potential Cost Close,” where you hammer on the cost of not buying your solution.
How Aomni’s AI-Powered Tools Revolutionize Account-Based Sales Strategies
Aomni is an AI agent platform designed specifically for B2B sales intelligence software. Our solution empowers enterprise and strategic account executives to execute account-based sales and marketing strategies with unprecedented efficiency and effectiveness. Our key features include:
- AI-powered prospect and account research
- Comprehensive account mapping and planning
- Data-driven sales strategy development
- Automated call preparation
- Personalized AI agents for sales optimization
- AI chat interface for streamlined sales processes
- AI-assisted Account Based Sales/Marketing campaign execution tool
How Aomni Empowers Sales Teams to Overcome Performance Challenges and Achieve Quotas
Aomni addresses critical pain points for sales managers whose Account Executives, Account Managers, and Customer Success Managers must perform better and include quotas. By leveraging our advanced AI technology, sales professionals can significantly enhance their preparation for customer conversations, leading to the following:
- Larger deal closures
- Increased promotion opportunities
For individual sales professionals, Aomni provides the tools and insights needed to:
- Elevate their performance
- Close more substantial deals
- Accelerate career progression
Transforming B2B Sales Interactions with Strategic Preparation and Positioning
Our platform transforms the way B2B sales teams operate, ensuring they enter every customer interaction:
- Fully prepared
- Strategically positioned for success
Try our sales intelligence software for free today!
Related Reading
- How to Increase Sales Revenue
- Sales Effectiveness Metrics
- How to Improve Sales Productivity
- Sales Closing Strategies
- B2B Sales Tools
- How to Shorten Sales Cycle
- B2B Sales Strategy
- B2B Sales App
17 Tips On How To Accelerate Sales Cycle And Close Deals Faster
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1. Present a Crisp, Clear Value Proposition
In the course of my work with all manner of firms, I hear a common lament: “We are becoming a commodity. The prospects just seem to buy on price. How can I separate myself from the crowd?” How will the prospect know if you don’t see how you’re different? Ask your clients, colleagues, and network, “How do I provide value in what I do?”
Once you get the answers:
- Refine the message
- Practice it
- Refine it again
Make sure your statement:
- Resonates (speaks to need)
- Differentiates (why you)
- Substantiates (proof you can do it)
2. Talk to the Right Person
Why do so many of us waste our time (and stretch out the sales cycle) by talking to prospects without the financial ability or the authority to buy our services? Is it a lack of confidence in our abilities to deliver, to sell, or both?
Whatever the reason, the shortest distance to a faster sale is the one to the decision maker. Go into a prospective company at the highest level possible. If you can't start high, determine who controls the purse strings and who makes the decisions as quickly as possible.
3. Uncover the Prospect's Aspirations and Afflictions
How directly are you connecting your products and services with the needs of the buyer and those of her company? Too often, we talk to the prospect rather than with the prospect. Ask questions that will allow you to find the most pressing and compelling needs that your offerings can address.
You can then draw a direct line from their needs to your products and services. As the saying goes, “The shortest distance…” Don’t only look for the pain points (afflictions) that will drive a buyer to solve a problem; also look for their dreams and goals (aspirations) that your services can address so you can drive the demand.
4. Engender Trust and Confidence in Your Company
Unless you have the good fortune to have been introduced through a referral, your buyer has a long list of reasons not to buy. As you are selling, buyers are asking,
- “Can you do what you say you can?”
- “Do you understand my company and what I am facing?”
- “Will I get the return on my investment for your fees?”
Provide stories, case studies, and examples of how you have helped similar companies. Refrain from talking about how good you are. Show it. By doing so, you help reduce the perceived risk of buying. The sooner you can lower the trust barrier, the faster you can move your prospect to make a decision.
5. Deal With Objections Early On
Contrary to popular belief, objections are helpful to the buying process. Objections are buying signals. When a prospect tells you there is an obstacle to buying your services, she engages in the buying process. She says, “I'm thinking about what it might be like to work with you, but I have a few things we need to address first.”
The earlier objections come up, the earlier you can fully explore what's getting in the way, deal with it, and move on. The worst possible scenario is for the prospect to nod in agreement and then disappear once you are out of sight (no phone calls, emails, or answers) because you never had the opportunity to hear what was in the way of the sale.
6. Plan Each Conversation
- What do you want to have happen during (and after) the first conversation?
- The second?
- The third?
The sales cycle gets stalled often because the service provider (or seller) needs a plan. Prepare for each conversation by asking yourself:
- What is my goal for this prospect?
- What is my goal for this conversation?
- What are my strengths going in?
- What are my vulnerabilities?
What can you expect based on the answers, and what is your next step? For the sales express, trying to figure it out as you go will be fine.
7. Advance the Sale (and Avoid Continuances)
An outcome of good planning is your ability to advance the sale to the next step. How often do you or your colleagues call to follow up with a client and say those uninspiring words:
“I was just checking to see how things were going?”
“Fine,” the prospect replies. Pause.
“Thanks for calling.” Long pause. End of conversation.
Supply answers to questions, new information, or a reason to have a new discussion about how you can and will meet their needs. How can you help the prospect see the value you will provide? Go into every new conversation with a clear idea of the steps needed to move the buying process.
8. Make It Easy for the Prospect to Buy
Even after you have refined your value proposition, engendered trust, uncovered needs, planned, etc., the prospect still might need help buying that $300,000 assignment as a first engagement. How can she try your services to feel comfortable with a larger project? The best way is to have an entry-level service that shows what you can do in a more manageable fashion. This can be:
- A pilot program
- An upfront assessment
- A strategy development day
9. Provide Value In Your Marketing
When you sit at the table with a prospective client for the first time, you might encounter one of two possibilities:
- Possibility #1: “I’ve never heard of you. I don't know what you offer. I don't know why you're here. What do you want to sell me?”
- Possibility #2: “I've read two of your white papers, saw you speak, and regularly read your newsletter. I love your website and your methodology. I've been looking forward to speaking with you for months now.”
Of course, possibility #2 is what you want to hear, but you can only accomplish this through your marketing if you create and leverage value-based offers and experiences. If you do, the sales cycle will have already started before you even have that first exchange.
10. Be Transparent About Pricing (very) Early On.
When was the last time you were rung up at a cash register and excited to learn about an extra fee? Probably never. People don’t like discovering unexpected costs and expenses in the eleventh hour. So, while it can be tempting to soften the blow of cost by veiling the price, it almost always adds time and frustration to a deal.
Instead of strategically doling out added costs or fees, which is difficult and time-consuming to explain later, clarify what a prospect will get from your service. Pricing transparency gives prospects a reason to trust you and saves you from unexpected objections.
11. Automation
Introducing automation into your sales process can be a game-changer. Did you know a sales rep is 21x more likely to qualify a prospect if they respond to their initial request within five minutes? And while you can’t be perched by your computer morning, noon, and night, automation is the only natural way to speed that process up. Most initial emails contain broadly the same information, so they are ripe for automation. Modern CRMs allow you to personalize your email responses to get the best of both worlds.
With SDRs spending nearly 21% of their time writing emails, these are far from marginal gains; they’re game-changers. Once you have gotten to grips with sales automation, you can streamline other workflow processes, like updating deal information. The more tasks you automate, the more time your sales team has to focus on higher-impact areas like relationships:
- Building
- Client research
- Closing deals
12. Create Your Mutual Action Plans Around the Buyer’s Timeline
Implementing mutual action plans is a powerful buyer enablement tactic used alongside a digital sales room. That’s because a mutual action plan allows you to clearly define the goals and anticipate roadblocks the buyer might encounter (e.g., budget approval security reviews) at every stage of the buying process.
Then, you can create personalized mutual action plans that outline the steps you and each stakeholder in your buying committee need to take to move the deal forward.
13. Make signing the deal seamless
By streamlining the entire proposal and signing process, you're cutting down on time-consuming back-and-forth communications that can get lost over email. With Qwilr, multiple sales process steps become one seamless buyer’s journey all in one interactive page:
- Pricing quote
- Agreement
- E-signature
- Payment options
Using compliant e-signatures, you can get sign-off from multiple buyers with instant notification as soon as they’ve signed on that (digital) dotted line. You are giving both you and your prospect more time to focus on what truly matters–generating revenue.
14. Get Ahead of Security Reviews and Other Deal Blockers
Security assessments are critical in any sales process, but they often become significant roadblocks that delay closing deals. When a buyer requests a vendor to complete a security assessment, the sales team usually passes the security questionnaire to another internal team. This typically results in constant back-and-forth with the security team, asking about:
- The location of security documents
- How to answer specific technical questions
- The sales team guessing their way through the buyer’s questionnaire
This can lead to providing incorrect information, eroding trust with the buyer, and potentially jeopardizing the deal. This familiar scenario:
- Slows the sales cycle
- Creates compliance issues for the security teams
- Can lead to lost revenue
Anticipating this common ask and objection by getting ahead of security reviews is essential.
15. Focus on your highest-performing channels.
There’s a reason companies don’t advertise certain products in newspapers anymore. Some channels just aren’t modern-day winners for featuring services or products. Focusing on poorly performing channels will almost definitely slow your roll. To determine where to focus your attention for the highest returns, track which channels perform best for your team (maybe LinkedIn InMail gets the highest response rate) and continue to build systems that support additional focus on those areas.
It’s essential to check your channels regularly. Just because one channel’s a winner this year doesn’t mean it’ll be the clear winner forever. Always stay curious about channel performance, and don’t be afraid to experiment by trying new prospecting techniques.
16. Align marketing and sales teams
In most companies, sales and marketing teams work independently, often in silos. This situation can lead to misalignment and have negative consequences. For example:
- The marketing team may waste sales reps’ time by bringing in the wrong leads that sales can't act on, which means lost resources and efforts.
- The sales teams may need to adequately communicate the seasonal buying fluctuations that only they know, which means marketing misses out on potentially valuable opportunities.
There’s also often a broader lack of understanding between the two teams, with sales typically focusing on existing customers and marketing targeting the more extensive, ever-changing market. Companies should prioritize a sales and marketing alignment strategy to accelerate the sales cycle. When these two teams share resources and goals and use streamlined processes with centralized tools, they can realize a 32% increase in year-over-year growth.
17. Be Persistent
The average complex sale takes five, six, seven, or more conversations to close. How often do you drop out of the running because you lose interest and quit the cycle halfway through? In the end, quick and steady wins the sale. You may be wondering if this effort is going to be worth it.
Where's the shorter path in this sales cycle? The effort is well worth it, but there are no shortcuts. Sales success takes a consistent and value-based approach that works over time. And maybe the quick response was the right (and short) one.
Why is a Shorter Sales Cycle Important?
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Boost Your Bottom Line with Shorter Sales Cycles
A shorter sales cycle accelerates revenue growth, allowing businesses to close deals faster and boost profits. When sales cycles are lengthy:
- Organizations get stuck on fewer deals
- Delaying revenue and profitability
- Impacting cash flow
Shortening the sales cycle helps businesses close more deals in less time, directly impacting the bottom line.
Cut Unnecessary Costs
Sales cycles can be costly. The longer it takes to close a deal, the more resources and operational costs are wasted. Resources include:
- Money spent on follow-up communications,
- Meetings
- The time staff dedicate to keeping the deal alive.
Shortening the sales cycle helps eliminate these unnecessary costs, allowing organizations to operate more efficiently.
Improve Business Scalability
A shorter sales cycle supports business scalability. When sales take less time to close, organizations can more easily manage larger sales volumes. This means that as business operations grow and require an increase in sales activity, there will be less strain on staff and resources, allowing for smoother transitions and continued business productivity.
Better Resource Allocation
A shorter sales cycle means better resource allocation, whether time, staff, or budget. Fewer sales cycles allow sales teams to engage more prospects without increasing team size. This improves operational efficiency and ensures that personnel, time, and budget are used as effectively as possible.
Enhance Sales Performance Tracking
Shortening the sales cycle helps improve sales tracking and forecasting. More frequent data points are needed to analyze sales performance with shorter cycles. This allows organizations to:
- Track sales trends
- Identify areas for improvement
- Better predict future revenue and budgeting needs.
Convert Cold Leads Faster
Shortening the sales cycle helps convert cold leads into customers faster. When sales cycles are lengthy, there’s a good chance that prospects will lose interest and look elsewhere for solutions.
Shortening this cycle helps keep momentum high throughout the sales process. This ensures prospects’ needs are met quickly, and they don’t feel “stuck” in a drawn-out process.
Improve Customer Satisfaction
Customers want their needs met quickly. The longer they wait to receive a solution, the more likely they will lose interest or become dissatisfied with the process. Shortening the sales cycle helps organizations deliver solutions to customers faster, improving their overall experience.
Related Reading
- Sales Tools for Sales Reps
- Fathom vs Gong
- Sales Productivity Tools
- Gong Alternatives
- Gong vs Salesloft
- Gong vs Chorus
- Best Sales Software for Small Business
- Salesloft Alternatives
- Sales Industry Trends
- HubSpot Sales Hub Features
Try Our Sales Intelligence Software for Free Today
Aomni is an AI agent platform designed specifically for B2B sales intelligence software. Our solution empowers enterprise and strategic account executives to execute account-based sales and marketing strategies with unprecedented efficiency and effectiveness. Our key features include:
- AI-powered prospect and account research
- Comprehensive account mapping and planning
- Data-driven sales strategy development
- Automated call preparation
- Personalized AI agents for sales optimization
- AI chat interface for streamlined sales processes
- AI-assisted Account Based Sales/Marketing campaign execution tool
Aomni addresses critical pain points for sales managers whose Account Executives, Account Managers, and Customer Success Managers must perform better and include quotas. By leveraging our advanced AI technology, sales professionals can significantly enhance their preparation for customer conversations, leading to the following:
- Larger deal closures
- Increased promotion opportunities
For individual sales professionals, Aomni provides the tools and insights needed to:
- Elevate their performance
- Close more substantial deals
- Accelerate career progression
Our platform transforms the way B2B sales teams operate, ensuring they enter every customer interaction:
- Fully prepared
- Strategically positioned for success
Try our sales intelligence software for free today!
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