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Are Sales Cycles Really Getting Shorter?
I read an article that claimed that winning sales cycles are getting shorter. While I agree with everything else in the article, I questioned the 23% shorter because our substantial data does not support this claim. So where could the discrepancy be? Let's start with the author's statement, "from qualify to close has reduced by a little more than 23%".

Sales Cycle-Building Rapport
In the seven steps of the sales cycle, building rapport is probably the most important aspect of the sales cycle. One thing that we know is that people will do business with people that they like and trust. When building rapport we are also building trust.
Defining Moments in Your Sales Cycle
What are some of the more subtle, but important, key moments in your sales process that affect every sales outcome? If I were to review some recent conversations with clients and their salespeople, crucial accomplishments included:

Buying Facilitation® and Sales: the dynamic duo
Sales is a great model for understanding need, discovering problems, and introducing/placing solutions. Buying Facilitation® is a great model for helping buyers navigate their behind-the-scenes political and relationship issues that must achieve buy-in before they get consensus to purchase a solution – you know, that mysterious stuff buyers go through privately while we sit and wait for them to buy. By using both two models consecutively, selling and buying becomes a very different experience than the one we are accustomed to: the timing is different, the skills are different, the outcomes are different, the relationship is different and the competitive and money factors fade away.
The More Things Change--The More They Stay the Same
With change occurring all around us daily, there are some pieces of advice that stand the test of time (and dramatic market shifts!) Occasionally, we will revisit an article from previous years at the request of some of our readers. In this particular instance, we discovered that advice that's sound for good times is even more sound during tough times! Below, you will find an article that I wrote back in Spring of 2005 at the height of the new construction "boom" here in Northern California. The article points out the need to pay attention when things are really rocking in your business. The interesting part is that the advice given as a result of the example in the article holds true today in the midst of a much different marketplace. The more things change, the more they stay the same---pay attention! Gerry
The Steps of a Sale: from the buying decision to the close
Here are the steps in selling with Buying Facilitation® at the front end. The first phase helps decisions get made to promote buy-in, change, and recognition of what needs to be addressed. We usually wait for buyers to do this, but now we can help. Have a look at the steps, and see how you can add them to what you’re doing.
Adopting Consultative Selling
How a prospect competitively positions your company is a critical factor when engaging in the buying/selling process. Fundamentally, positioning is about aligning your business with theirs, so that a clear synergy can be visualized by the prospect. When there is a perfect fit between organizations, selling becomes much easier because the in the early stages of the sales cycle the prospect mentally puts your organization ahead of the competition, in principle. Therefore, it is essential that the prospect is comfortable with the salesperson, and correctly positions your company.

Election Day - Like Decision Making Day for Salespeople
The presentation, and still later, the proposal, are simply a formality that leads to getting the business when the selling that was conducted earlier was effective.
Why You Should be Scared When Your Salespeople are Closing Lots of Business
Sales managers get caught up in the excitement of a closing frenzy when they should be taking a step back and asking themselves, what's wrong with this picture?
6th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies that are Key to Building a Sales Culture
SLOW DOWN TO SPEED UP Your salespeople can't wait to do the things at which they are: * most competent * most comfortable * having the most fun * in control * in the spot light The problem with all of that is with what they do: * present * demo * tell your story * provide capabilities * give references * do proposals * give quotes * use company resources and when they do it: * as soon as they can!
Enough Leads for the Sales Force? How to Convert More of Them More Quickly
If you presently get a lot of leads, simply read it without the marketing assumptions in place. If you don't presently get a lot of leads, read both the marketing and sales assumptions.
Sales Cycles and Time - Is it Running Out?
We are always focused on sales cycles. Are they optimized? Are they taking too long? Can they be improved? How many calls should they take? Are we doing things that make the sales cycle take longer than necessary? For example, the sales cycle can be shortened in direct proportion to how high your salespeople call in the company. If we are have begun a sales development program, you won't see results from top line revenue until 6 months plus the length of the sales cycle have passed. I have a couple of things to discuss today relative to sales cycle.
Add Up-selling and Cross-selling to Your Sale Cycle
If you´ve been probing, listening and solving problems for your customer throughout your sales call, the next step - upselling and cross-selling should come naturally. The idea is actually to resell your customer, not only to increase sales, but also to ensure that your customer has no reason to turn to your competition. Your objective is to become your customer´s sole supplier of your product line. Don´t be reluctant about this phase of the sales cycle. Your customer has already invested time with you, and has decided to buy your product or service. That an upselling/cross-selling message will fall on receptive ears.
How to Shorten your Sales Cycle
Does it seem like it takes forever to close new business deals? You’re running strong campaigns, generating plenty of leads, seeing a flurry of sales activity. But even though your sales reps are consistently following up, prospects just aren’t ready to buy. Your sales cycle used to be 4 weeks, but now it’s 6, 8 or even twelve. And the longer it gets, the harder it is to hit your goals.
Improve Your Sales Process
A good sales process is structured around the way your customers prefer to purchase your product/service. At each step, you should deliver the information that your prospect needs in order to move that prospect at least one step closer to purchase. Here are typical stages that a buyer for a complex product/service may go through. Check the steps that you think are relevant for your company.

How to Increase Sales Starts with Embracing a Just Another 10% Belief
Is 10% very much? Learn how 10% can dramatically increase sales.
Easy Way to Shorten Your Sales Cycle
If a “yes” decision requires a significant investment you probably have a relatively long sales cycle. Some of you currently have sales cycles of 12-18 months. Long sales cycles require a huge investment of your resources: time, money, and energy.

How To Assess Your Sales Intelligence Quota
Answer the following questions. If you answer "No," you could be missing a strategic advantage that you could incorporate in to your sales system to make it more effective. 1. Do you know exactly how many calls it takes to make a sale? If not, perform an analysis. 2. Do you know how long your sales cycle is?

Why Your Sales Cycle is So Long (Hint: It’s Not About Your Solution)
Do you know why it takes so long for a buyer to buy? If the buyer knows they have a need, and they like you and your solution, shouldn’t it be easy?
How to Shorten Your Sales Cycle?
Shortening the sales cycle is a key objective for most sales organizations and sales professionals. How to do that continues to be a challenge. There are a number of proven ways, this article discusses one approach. As with any though, you do have to apply discipline and effort to make it work.

12 Questions About Your Sales Process
A sales process is defined as a customized, formal process including the sequence of steps, to-do's, milestones and goals that must be achieved during your sales cycle. And your sales cycle is one of four cycles in your business that impacts cash flow (the other cycles: make/prepare to deliver, deliver, billing and collections).
Start of Year Tune Up!
New year, new beginnings. Give yourself an edge and get ahead of the fray by doing a few simple things at the start that will pay of the entire year and beyond.
Sales Training London: Money's Not a Problem Ever Had Deja Moo
When a prospect says to you, "Money's no problem," does your smoke detector go bananas? It should. It seems that people for whom money is "not a problem" are the ones who don't have a budget for your product or service; or if they do, they haggle the most over price.

Other sales cycle Related Articles

8 Strategies to Guarantee Success in Cold Calling
No one will buy from you if they do not know of you, your company/products/services. Every sale has its own cycle. Depending on what you are selling, it could be a short cycle of a day or two, or it could be a long cycle of a year or two.
Reengineer Your Sales Cycle: Reduce your time-to-sale and increase your lead-to-close rate
The sales cycle is a system of activities that starts when a new lead is generated and ends when a sale is booked. Like any business process, the sales cycle can be streamlined to reduce inefficiencies, decrease time between lead and order, and increase the lead-to-sale conversion rate. We've provided a way to streamline your sales cycle.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR SHORTENING YOUR SALES CYCLE OVER TIME
By John Doerr It usually takes a long time to find a shorter way. ~Anonymous I spend a good percentage of my time selling. I also teach selling to professional service providers. And one issue that comes up time after time is, "How do I get prospects to buy faster? Why don't people respond to my proposals, my calls, my emails, or me? How do I shorten the sales cycle?" My flip answer, "Have more in the pipeline at all times, so the sales cycle just seems shorter." Of course, that rarely makes anyone feel better. So based on our research and experience, here are my Ten Commandments to Making the Sales Process Move More Quickly.

The Sales Management Equivalent to Baseball's Pitch Count
One friend suggested I find a way to correlate pitch count to sales. No problem. I am not a proponent of a sales manager doing the closing for his salespeople, however, should a two-call close cycle be on its fourth call; a six month sales cycle be in its tenth month, an exception is certainly called for. Or, if you consider a salesperson who is expected to perform certain levels of activity, who isn't meeting expectations, another exception might be called for.

Sales Messaging Must Fuel Your Sales Cycle: Does Yours?
It seems self-evident – to be effective, sales messaging must support the sales cycle. But research indicates that the majority of sales and marketing executives fail to follow this “obvious” rule – and thus rob themselves of up to 15% percent of the market share they could be capturing. Understanding and answering your buyer’s key question at every phase in the sales cycle produces a fundamental change in perspective.
Does Sales Messaging Fuel Your Product Life Cycle? It Should.
Business-to-business marketing professionals who create sales messaging for each stage in their product’s life cycle reap great rewards – consistently attaining 5% more market share, 5-10% better margins, and the bonuses and promotions that come with these numbers. However, many marketing professionals fail to optimize messaging for each phase of the cycle – rendering their sales tools and promotions ineffective. This leads to underproduction in Sales, as Sales must re-create marketing materials in order to sell. Closing the gap between Marketing’s offerings and Sales’ needs is easy if Marketing uses proper sales messaging.
Sales Cycles and Time - Is it Running Out?
We are always focused on sales cycles. Are they optimized? Are they taking too long? Can they be improved? How many calls should they take? Are we doing things that make the sales cycle take longer than necessary? For example, the sales cycle can be shortened in direct proportion to how high your salespeople call in the company. If we are have begun a sales development program, you won't see results from top line revenue until 6 months plus the length of the sales cycle have passed. I have a couple of things to discuss today relative to sales cycle.
Small business administration
Small business administration is top of the list of important considerations for success in business. All businesses have a life cycle and depending on where you are in this cycle will depend on your focus at that time. The business cycle in this context is not the economic business cycle, but instead refers to the various stages a business goes through from "Start-up" and all the way through to "Selling-up" and getting out of your business. The stages in a business cycle Start-up stage of a business - at this stage in the life cycle of a business the considerations and planning needed fall into how to start a small business. A well prepared business plan will see your business get off to a great start and set it off in the right direction.
The Top 5 Factors That Predict Sales Turnover
Our data shows that only 16% of the A players with experience stick for more than two years. And that brings us back to the original question. What do you think - A's or Longevity? Should the answer be a direct relation to the length of your sales cycle? Should you go for longevity when you have a long sales cycle and for A's when you have a short sales cycle? We're interested in what you have to say!

12 Questions About Your Sales Process
A sales process is defined as a customized, formal process including the sequence of steps, to-do's, milestones and goals that must be achieved during your sales cycle. And your sales cycle is one of four cycles in your business that impacts cash flow (the other cycles: make/prepare to deliver, deliver, billing and collections).
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