You are currently viewing What is Sales Cycle: Meaning, Stages & Hacks to Use It Effectively to Close Deals Faster

What is Sales Cycle: Meaning, Stages & Hacks to Use It Effectively to Close Deals Faster

👨‍💼🎯📢 Businesses with formal sales cycle processes can experience an 18% higher rate of revenue growth than those without. It implies that in order for your salespeople to be successful, you may need clearly defined sales cycle stages and goals.

Do keep in mind that, regardless of industry, every organisation follows a basic sales cycle to close deals. Additionally, we made the procedure even simpler for you.

📌 Because the main focus of this blog is to share a straightforward and consistent method for nurturing leads. So before we dive into the different phases of the sales cycle, let’s start with the fundamentals!

Here, in this complete article on what is sales cycle & how to create the right stages and why it is crucial for your sales growth. Let’s start with the sales cycle definition first.

🚀 Without further ado, Let’s jump right into it.

👉  What is Sales Cycle?

The phrase “sales cycle” refers to each stage of the sales process, from the initial customer contact to deal closing and follow-ups.

It’s the process a potential customer goes through from realising they need a product to actually making a purchase. The sales process is also a road map for a salesperson because it is a journey for a prospect.

The journey a potential customer takes from realising their need for a service or product to actually making a purchase. The sales representatives use the sales process as a guide.

A salesperson must follow a step-by-step procedure to turn a prospect into a loyal customer. Organizations in both the B2B and B2C sectors interchangeably refer to the sales cycle and sales process.

More than just a sales script is included in a sales cycle. It includes everything a salesperson does prior to getting in touch with a lead, throughout the nurturing stage, and following the sale. Additionally, it specifies when your prospect has advanced from one level to another. Also, get to know the basic to the advanced practical concepts from what is lead generation to high-quality strategies to make your goal successful.  

Having that structure in place is the best way to increase your sales consistency, coordinate the efforts of your entire team, and scale up. Keep reading this complete guide to What is Sales Cycle to get in-depth knowledge of it. 

The best sales processes also have steps or phases that specify how salespeople can maintain healthy customer relationships.

✅  An ideal sales process is:

  • Customer-centric: Modern consumers have more power because they have access to more information and options. The steps of an effective sales process are in line with the preferences and procedures of the customers.
  • Clear and actionable: All parties involved in the sales process should have a thorough understanding of each stage and component. Clarifying the required actions will remove uncertainty and the chance for mistakes.
  • Replicable: Any salesperson should be able to follow the sales process step-by-step exactly. Reps must be able to use the sales process or any of its steps in a variety of sales situations.
  • Predictable: Each stage’s expected results as well as how to move from one to the next should be specified beforehand.
  • Goal-oriented: The sales process should provide direction to sales teams on how to meet their objectives.
  • Measurable: To ensure compliance and facilitate improvement, you should be able to quantify every step of the sales process.
  • Flexible: Rigidity prevents advancement. The sales process should be flexible enough to respond to evolving client and business requirements, technological advancements, or adjustments to sales operations.

👉  Why is the sales cycle important?

Businesses should monitor the length of their sales life cycle to make sure their selling process is effective. The majority of marketing teams are aware that they experience a similar sales cycle. However, few of them define and organise the cycle, leaving it up to specific sales representatives to choose which steps to take when.

A company can assess the efficiency of its sales cycle processes by keeping track of the entire sales cycle. These processes’ lengths can be tracked, investigated, and contrasted with the average length across all business niches. Your company’s sales team may be more effective than that of your rivals if your sales cycle is shorter than the average for your niche.

Additionally, you can see which steps in your sales cycle are taking longer than others and make improvements there. When the process of closing deals is broken down step by step, it is simpler to pinpoint actions that result in successes or problems. Keep reading this complete guide to What is Sales Cycle to get in-depth knowledge of it. 

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👉  The 7 Crucial Steps Of The Sales Cycle Process

Prospecting is usually the first step in a sales process, followed by gathering customer feedback and fostering supplier relationships. Here is how each step might proceed:

1. Prospecting

In prospecting, fresh sales leads are sought after. Prospecting is the first step in the sales process, and it is crucial because it dictates how the other steps will proceed.

Proper prospecting can guarantee success and keep sales representatives from investing in leads that may lose interest at some point during the sales process.

Make buyer personas and ideal customer profiles based on individuals who have already made purchases from you and can explain why they did so in order to find the right prospects.

Recognize the challenges prospects face and consider how to position your offerings as a solution to their most pressing issues.

Prospecting can be done by salespeople using a variety of offline and online tools. Emailing and social selling on websites like LinkedIn are examples of online tools.

Cold calling, meetings in person or online, trade shows, and industry gatherings are examples of offline tools. Smart sales representatives also make an effort to obtain referral leads from current clients.

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2. Qualifying

Connecting with prospects and determining whether or not your offerings are a good fit for them should be the next step in the sales process. 

Also, consider whether continuing the sales process with them would be beneficial. A sales representative can contact a lead through a discovery call or email to learn:

  • What roles do they play in their company 
  • What their day-to-day responsibilities include
  • What problems they are looking to solve
  • Why solving the problem is important for their business
  • Other solutions they are considering

 You can use a sales qualification method to make sure that the prospects you are pursuing are likely to make a purchase from you. Keep reading this complete guide to What is Sales Cycle to get in-depth knowledge of it.

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3. Research

The sales representative needs to know more at this point about the prospect. By conducting such research, they are able to put themselves in the client’s position and better comprehend their needs and problems.

As a result, sales representatives are able to customise their sales presentations and position their products as the solution. A sales representative must conduct extensive, in-depth research.

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4. Pitching

The salesperson can give the prospect a formal demonstration of the offerings once they are sure they are knowledgeable enough to comprehend their needs.

Each presentation or pitch needs to be customised to the specific use case of the prospect. An engineer who can address any technical queries during the pitch may also be considered by a salesperson for certain types of offerings, such as technological solutions.

Lead qualification is crucial because pitching takes time, which is why it is a necessary step. The limited time that salespeople have should not be used to make pitches to prospects who are not likely to become customers.

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5. Objection handling

Prospects will inevitably have queries and worries about your offerings. This crucial stage in the sales process has the power to make or break a deal.

Your reps will have an easier time closing the deal without any hiccups if they are able to satisfactorily address all the concerns and questions raised by prospects. Representatives should anticipate and get ready for typical objections like:

  •  Right now, we don’t have the budget. Is there a less expensive model of your product we can purchase?
  • Your competitor is providing more features for less cost.
  • I’m not sure how your product can assist me in achieving my business objectives. 

As a matter of fact, salespeople should use the lead qualification and research phases to compile a list of every potential objection the prospect might make and prepare responses to each one.

By handling objections, salespeople have the chance to strengthen the prospect’s understanding of why your offerings are the best choice. Moreover, you must follow these Digital Marketing strategy complete guides which will help you get the best understanding and help you convert the clicks into conversions.

6. Closing 

Every salesperson aspires to get to this stage. To be considered closed, a sale must go through a number of stages, such as submitting a quote, holding closing negotiations, signing the contract and other important documents, etc.

In order to maintain the prospect’s interest in the future if the close does not go as planned, sales representatives should enrol them in a nurturing programme. Keep reading this complete guide to What is Sales Cycle to get in-depth knowledge of it. 

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7. Nurturing and continuing to sell

The sales process is not over after a sale is closed. Once a prospect becomes a client, they can be handed off to customer success or account manager who will start the onboarding procedure.

A salesperson should keep in touch with the client regarding any potential post-sale assistance needs. The salesperson will have opportunities to cross-sell, upsell, and receive qualified referrals by maintaining a relationship with the customer.

👉  How Is The Sales Cycle Different From Sales Funnel And Sales Process?

The sales cycle is the process you use to find, qualify, contact, negotiate, close the deal, follow up with, and develop a relationship with clients.

The sales funnel, however, follows the same procedure for viewing deals that are in progress. It includes a list of all ongoing sales initiatives brought on by interactions with prospects and clients.

The term “sales process” typically refers to the repeatable steps taken by your sales team to move prospects from an early stage of the deal-closing process to the final stage. 

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👉  B2B vs B2C Sales Cycles

B2B sales frequently involve multiple decision-makers. It relates to the transfer of products and services from one business to another. Cross-selling a product to a single customer is known as business-to-consumer (B2C) sales.

The customer is urged to purchase the product right away, which shortens the B2C sales cycle. The decision-making process is also rarely shared by more than one person. Also, get to know what is blogging & how to start blogging from scratch if you want to earn money online with fewer efforts but with the right approach. 

👉  13 Proven Ways To Improve Your Sales Process Effectively

You can continuously enhance a flexible sales process to meet shifting needs and objectives. Keep in mind that what has previously worked for you may not now.

It’s not necessary for the process you use to have a fundamental structure to completely alter or become complex. Simply consider the steps and components that can be strengthened to make each step more efficient.

To continually enhance your sales process, adhere to the following best practices:

1-  Reduce work with little added value

Only 36% of a salesperson’s time is spent actually selling; the rest is wasted on administrative work. Your staff can easily outsource their service-related duties in order to increase sales by concentrating on sales.

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2-  Observe your current sales process

Analyze your current process to determine where changes are required and how you can assist your sales team in performing better, just as you did when you first created a sales process. 

To hear how your reps typically interact with prospects, you can listen to the last 10 calls or sit through calls with prospects.

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3-  Develop and share best practices

Obtain industry experts’ and even your own top reps’ recommendations for best practices. To maximise the output of your sales team, identify what the top performers are doing well and replicate it across the board.

4-  Carry out follow-ups carefully

Sadly, lead generation can be very time-consuming. Additionally, as we’ve previously mentioned, most sales necessitate follow-ups before a deal is closed. Because of this, your salespeople should make it a habit to persevere through each task. Keep reading this complete guide to What is Sales Cycle to get in-depth knowledge of it.

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5-  Look at your processes from the buyer’s perspective

Does your sales process fit the research and purchasing journey of your ideal customers? Do you comprehend their problems and the reasons they’re looking for a solution like yours?

Knowing these things can help you design your sales process so that your team has all the knowledge and resources necessary to build trust with clients and tailor your offerings to meet their needs.

6-  Ask for small commitments

A foot-in-the-door strategy can help you build a stronger relationship with your prospects. This strategy involves requesting a series of small favours from them before finally persuading them to seal the deal.

Asking for the client’s phone number when you email them is a good place to start small. Ask to introduce the product to their purchasing team after going through a product demonstration.

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7-  Look into pipeline challenges 

You need to comprehend where your sales reps are having trouble if you want to know why deals are getting stuck in your pipeline. Ask them about their problems because they might not always come to you with them in order to resolve bottlenecks.

8-  Use social proof

The best type of social proof is case studies. To move the sale a little closer, encourage your staff to actively share them with their leads. Case studies can also be used to dispel the concerns of your leads.

For instance, they might worry that your product might require a thorough acclimating process. To demonstrate to them how quickly the tool can be put to use, use case studies from other clients. Keep reading this complete guide to What is Sales Cycle to get in-depth knowledge of it.

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9-  Provide actions to further sales process steps

Find the motivating factors that push prospects through the sales cycle. It could be anything from bringing up their concerns at the appropriate time to satisfactorily responding to their objections.

10-  Train your team

Make certain to produce all the sales documentation necessary to lead your team through the sales cycle. Keep track of each team member’s metrics.

You might discover that certain employees have issues at particular points in the sales cycle. If so, give them more tools and assistance from effective salespeople.

11-  Equip sales teams with the right resources

Your sales team can effectively follow the sales process with the aid of a variety of sales enablement tools and intelligent customer management solutions, which will enable them to close more deals more quickly.

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12-  Supplement a sales cycle with a service cycle

In order to keep up with the rising importance of service and customer care, more and more businesses are starting to incorporate a service cycle into their sales cycle. The cycles in this situation must be synchronised or coordinated.

13-  Constantly measure the result

As previously mentioned, the secret to perfecting your sales process is to measure the appropriate metrics in order to identify areas where the process can be adjusted to maximise efficiency. Keep reading this complete guide to What is Sales Cycle to get in-depth knowledge of it.

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👉  How To Create A Powerful Sales Process To Boost Business Growth

When creating a formal sales process for the first time, make sure it is adaptable and fits with the customer’s purchasing process. Follow the steps that your sales team takes to map out your sales process.

In order to determine what works and what doesn’t, and how these steps help you achieve your business goals, try to understand how each of these steps affects the stakeholders—business, sales team, and customers.

Five easy steps are listed below to get started outlining a sales process:

1-  Work backwards from your goal

Define your destination before searching for the best route there. This means that in order to determine the steps that must be included in your sales process, you must first specify the goals that you have for the completion of each step or stage.

You might begin by setting objectives like shortening the length of the sales cycle or raising your win rates by a few percentage points.

2-  Involve all internal stakeholders

When setting goals for your sales teams, it’s crucial to include them as well as any other division or team that affects sales, like the marketing or product design teams.

Get their feedback on whether the established goals are effective or could be improved by sharing them with them. Getting all of these parties on the same page also makes it more likely that their processes and actions will eventually line up with your sales objectives. Keep reading this complete guide to What is Sales Cycle to get in-depth knowledge of it.

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3-  Define the sales process steps

To begin with, you can use a template for a sales process flowchart like the one shown above to determine which steps your sales team currently follows (or ought to follow).

Remember that your business type, industry, offerings, typical customer journeys, etc. will all influence the sequence and components of each step of your sales process.

When outlining the steps in your sales process, consider:

  • Which steps have been effective in the past
  • Which steps did not seem to add much value
  • Which stages do prospects usually drop off in
  • How long does it typically take for your sales team to advance from one stage to the next?
  • What teams can contribute (and how) at each stage of the sales process?

4-  Align with the buyer’s journey

You now have a basic outline of the sales procedure your team uses. List the typical steps your customers take in the sales process next to each one. This may apply to a single customer persona or several.

By doing this, you can learn how closely your sales process corresponds to the actual buyer journey and how to improve the harmony between the two. 

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5-  Try, test, and tweak

Implement and evaluate your concrete sales process after you’ve created it. When your sales representatives follow the process, they should gauge what’s working and what isn’t, as well as how your prospects react to each step.

You’ll eventually be able to recognise your areas of strength and need for development. Adjust the procedure little by little until the desired outcomes start to appear.

Your sales team’s need for tools and technologies to be more effective and productive can be better understood by looking at the sales process. Keep reading this complete guide to What is Sales Cycle to get in-depth knowledge of it.

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👉   Sales Process KPIs You Should Know About

It would be beneficial to monitor a few key performance indicators (KPIs) to further improve your sales process. You can use this to help evaluate the efficacy of your cycle. 

The following 2 crucial KPIs should be monitored for optimum sales performance:

  • A number of sales per month – This can help you estimate how many potential new customers you might acquire. You can determine where you stand by comparing these numbers to those from the previous month. You will be aware that it is time to optimise your sales process if your numbers are lower this month.
  • Length of your cycle – The cycle should be as brief as possible. Giving sales representatives the task of following up on cold leads to boost conversions can help you improve this quality. You can give them discounts, extend their trial period, or even share resources with them rather than sell them right away. Examine the length of the sales cycle for each sales representative separately. If their cycle is shorter than the competition’s, they are excelling. Work with them to make improvements if this isn’t the case.

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👉  Conclusion: How Can You Take Your Sales Cycle Strategy To The Next Level?

Hope you found this complete guide to what is Sales Cycle helpful. A sales process must constantly be dynamic in order to adapt to shifting priorities and ongoing team member feedback.

Although there is no one-size-fits-all sales process, any sales manager can use the information above as a template and guide to developing a suitable sales process to increase their company’s sales and revenues.

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This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Manoj 3 Aug 2022 Reply

    Thankyou for this info.

  2. Taniya 30 Aug 2022 Reply

    Very great information .keep it up

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