The sales cycle is crucial to a company’s success and efficiency. By optimizing each of these stages, you can increase your conversion rate, sell more, and even retain more customers.
Ultimately, the business becomes more competitive and can achieve its goals more easily. As each phase offers opportunities and challenges, it is essential to have the right strategies and tools in place.
In this article, I will show you how to optimize the sales cycle to achieve increasingly better results. Follow along!
How to measure the sales cycle?
Measuring a business’s sales cycle is like identifying how long it takes to complete a path — in this case, we’re talking about the audience’s purchasing journey. Therefore, the focus should be on capturing and analyzing information from the entire lead journey, focusing on the most relevant points of contact.
It all starts with identifying leads from the first contact. Using a good CRM allows you to record and track how the lead reached the business and what all their interactions have been up to that point.
Lead qualification can be done with the help of resources such as lead scoring. By assigning points to each characteristic or behavior of the audience, it is possible to identify which leads are most prepared for commercial contact, for example.
Measuring the sales cycle also involves managing and nurturing prospects throughout this period. By offering relevant content, you can maintain interest and build trust, including moving leads forward in their journey.
Closing strategies include defining and monitoring engagement signals. Interaction with emails, downloading rich materials, and visiting the website can indicate that a person is more prepared to receive a commercial contact.
When assessing the “temperature” of leads, considering their readiness to make a decision, it is worth investing in follow-up to close the sale. In general, therefore, measuring and monitoring the sales cycle depends on a broad understanding of the phases and the behavior of leads at each stage.
What can be done to reduce the sales cycle?
Reducing the sales cycle depends on one main strategy: reducing the friction that exists along the way. It’s like adjusting a gear to ensure that the equipment operates more smoothly and efficiently.
Common problems include inefficient communication and a lack of alignment between the Marketing and Sales teams. It’s as if each area speaks different languages, making it difficult to achieve results.
To resolve this scenario, it is worth working better on qualifying leads in Marketing and ensuring that teams share information and objectives, right?
Another villain in the sales cycle is the dependence on manual workflows. If everything depends on your team’s manual actions, a lot of time is wasted — and opportunities end up being wasted.
To avoid this error, it is a good idea to use marketing automation tools, such as CRM. From sending personalized emails to updating each lead’s data, this feature helps save time.
It is also important to keep an eye on leads that remain stagnant in the sales funnel. This is the case of a potential customer who takes days or weeks to respond, you know? It is essential to be proactive and resume communication to reduce the risk of loss and help the person make the best decision.
With a well-planned strategy, it is possible to achieve incredible results.
With our unique Content+Performance method, we create an audience education strategy at different stages of the journey. We also increase blog visibility through SEO and optimize Paid Media campaigns.
The result? A 53% increase in sales, a 60% reduction in the sales cycle, and a ROAS of 7,936%. Not bad, right?
How to optimize the 7 stages of the sales cycle?
Now that we’ve talked about the importance of optimizing the sales cycle, it’s time to understand how to speed up the journey from lead entry to conversion into a customer.
Come and I’ll show you the 7 steps you need to check out!
1. Prospecting
Prospecting is the first step in attracting the right people for your business. It’s like the initial phase of fishing, where you need to make good decisions to catch the fish you want.
To optimize this step, it is essential to filter and qualify leads from the beginning and know which channels are the right ones to find them.
Therefore, the first step involves defining the ideal customer profile ( ICP ). This is the time to map out who the business wants to reach, which makes prospecting more accurate and avoids wasting resources on those who are not interested.
One possibility is to analyze current customers and create a profile with common characteristics. It is also worth considering the attributes and behavior of the target audience.
It is also interesting to prospect across multiple channels. Even with a well-defined profile, it is likely that your ICP will be present in different online environments.
However, don’t forget that it’s essential to have a personalized approach, with a targeted message. This way, there’s a greater chance of getting a positive and faster response.
2. Qualification
You know that idea that not all that glitters is gold? Well, this has to do with the next stage of the sales cycle: qualification. This consists of identifying which leads really have the potential to become customers. After all, not every lead generated has a chance of converting into sales.
The better the qualification stage, the better the use of resources — such as time, money and human capital. The focus should be on identifying the ideal opportunities to prioritize them and discard those that do not fit the ICP.
To do this, it is essential to ask strategic questions from the beginning. When creating a conversion form on your website, define questions that help you verify whether the solution really makes sense for the lead and whether it fits the ICP.
Lead scoring, which I mentioned earlier, is also a welcome addition to this step. It provides a kind of thermometer to measure the interest and suitability of the lead. This way, you can qualify opportunities based on those with the highest score.
3. Presentation
The presentation is a critical step, as its main role is to impress and demonstrate that the company’s solution is suitable for the lead. This is an important step to awaken or increase the person’s desire and bring them closer to the decision.
However, there is no way to impress if you give a generic presentation, right? Therefore, the ideal is to connect the solution with the pains and needs that the lead has already expressed.
Consider the case of an e-commerce management software company. If the lead has demonstrated a lack of time to manage the business, the presentation should focus on showing how the software streamlines day-to-day operations and automates tasks, for example.
The presentation should also be filled with what we call social proof. This is a mental trigger that can be triggered with the help of concrete data and, especially, success stories.
Sharing how other customers with similar problems resolved their difficulties with the company’s help is a way to build trust and strengthen the relationship.
Furthermore, the presentation should be concise and focused on solutions — not on technical details. Knowing how to tell a good story and present the product or service in a convincing way is much more important than just highlighting features.
4. Overcoming objections
Even if the presentation is ideal, the customer is likely to have objections. This is even more common with products or services that have high added value or that can make a big impact. After all, the decision is important, isn’t it?
To optimize the sales cycle, therefore, you need to be ready to overcome any objections that arise. In practice, an objection is a concern or doubt that the lead has that needs to be addressed in order to move forward in the journey.
The first step in dealing with the situation is to listen carefully to understand the objection. Often, it arises from a lack of information or understanding — not a lack of interest.
It is also important to help the lead think about their objection strategically. When someone complains about the closing price, it is worth questioning their expectations regarding the return on investment and even whether they would move forward if the price were not an obstacle.
Note that overcoming objections is not about trying to convince the lead at any cost. The focus is on clarifying doubts and eliminating concerns, paving the way for more effective decision-making.
5. Negotiation
Once objections have been overcome, it is time to negotiate the terms and conditions. This step requires a lot of balance, persuasion and flexibility to adapt to different scenarios.
Since the focus is on reaching an agreement that is advantageous for both the customer and the company, communication must be clear from the beginning. The product or service must be presented clearly, without making unrealistic promises just to gain an advantage in the negotiation.
In addition to knowing the product very well, it is worth defining the negotiation limits in advance. This involves knowing what the maximum discount that can be offered is or what the possibilities are for customizing the offer.
Throughout the negotiation, active listening is again important. Understanding the lead’s concerns, needs and expectations allows you to adjust the conditions in a personalized way.
Also remember that being flexible and creating options, whenever possible, helps demonstrate a commitment to reaching a mutually advantageous arrangement. In practice, this perception usually facilitates negotiation until conclusion.
6. Closing
Closing is the finish line of a marathon. It is the culmination of the relationship built with the lead and is primarily responsible for generating an effective result for the business.
However, this stage is also delicate and losing a lead at this stage could even direct it to a competitor. Therefore, it is essential to optimize this stage to increase the chances of having a positive result.
One of the tips at this stage is to identify whether the lead is really ready to make a decision. By asking if it is possible to take the next step, it is easy to identify any objections that have not yet been overcome.
It is also essential to simplify and facilitate the closing process. Making the process faster and more fluid avoids creating unnecessary barriers that could even make the person change their mind. Make this step as simple as possible, creating a good experience.
Depending on the case, it is important to trigger the mental urgency trigger. Indicating that the proposal has an expiration date or that certain conditions are limited to a period can help speed up the closing — but be careful not to overdo it in this sense.
7. After-sales
Instead of seeing this phase as a mere moment of finalization, the ideal is to see after-sales as an opportunity to create lasting relationships, maintain customer satisfaction and generate new sales.
The focus should be on offering good support and follow-up, helping the customer to have the best experience even after the purchase.
In this case, it is worth analyzing customer feedback. By identifying common points of difficulty or dissatisfaction, there is a way to act to overcome the problem and offer the necessary support.
In addition to monitoring customer satisfaction, it is worth identifying opportunities for new business. One example is an automation company that realized it was missing out on opportunities by not paying attention to its customer base.
After identifying the problem, a Customer Success strategy was implemented, focusing on taking care of existing customers before seeking new opportunities. This made it possible to explore cross-selling and upselling opportunities, for example.
The focus, then, becomes implementing Customer Marketing, seeking to offer a satisfactory experience at all times, even after the purchase.
Automation and data analysis tools for continuous optimization
Instead of just improving the sales cycle one-off, it’s best to promote continuous optimization, don’t you agree? To do this, you should rely on automation and data analysis tools.
With email automation, for example, you can send personalized messages, create knowledge trails, and take advantage of specific moments. With this approach, there are more chances of impacting your audience with the right message at the ideal time.
Content Marketing also plays a fundamental role. As I’ve shown, it supports the nurturing and qualification of leads, educating and engaging the base — and making people better prepared to make decisions.
Chatbots are also an ally in accelerating the sales cycle. With them, it is possible to offer basic support to the public at any time and every day, keeping the team focused on interactions that require more expertise.
With Orgânica’s solutions, process automation becomes more efficient and generates more results. Our options include lead nurturing via email, integration between content and performance, and real-time monitoring of customer interactions.
This way, it is easier to adjust Marketing strategies, in addition to saving time and enhancing each stage of the sales cycle.
Personalization at scale in the approach
There are no shortcuts: if the goal is to reduce the sales cycle, personalizing the approach is one of the keys to efficiency. Instead of creating generic messages, the focus is on offering a contact that is truly relevant!
To give you an idea, a survey of British consumers revealed that almost 70% of them say they receive irrelevant messages from brands. This makes 41% of people feel unvalued by businesses.
On the other hand, speaking in a personalized way strengthens the connection, which tends to increase conversion at each stage of the sales cycle. And we have good examples of this approach, you know?
One of the cases is Famiglia Valduga. When taking on the project, Enjoy Minder focused on creating valuable content to build organic audience, optimizing Paid Media and personalizing relationships via Email Marketing.
Each lead was enrolled in a thematic track, according to their interests. As a result, leads became more engaged and started to convert more.
As a result, the company now has a 38% lower Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), while generating 184% more leads. With 75% more new business per month, revenue increased by 93%.
Another success story is that of Rodojacto. Orgânica developed a content strategy geared towards each area of the company’s operations, creating thematic E-mail Marketing trails.
This made it possible to nurture leads in a personalized and segmented way, connecting them with the company’s solutions. As a result, the company had 361% more Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and 153% more sales.
Master the sales cycle the Organic way!
As I’ve shown, mastering the sales cycle depends on optimizing each stage. This will help you achieve greater business efficiency and commercial success. Be sure to implement these strategies to reap the benefits!
If you’re ready to take the next step towards an optimized sales cycle, Orgânica can help you through the process.
We are a Digital Marketing agency specialized in selling more and better! Through the Content+Performance methodology, we transform your visibility into sales.
So stop chasing clients. Contact our team of experts to learn more!
