Bridging the Marketing to Sales Gap

As a sales catalyst and marketing strategist it’s important to know how to shorten the sales cycle for my clients.

But even though the topic is a pretty complex one there are a few pointers I want to give you today that you might find useful in your own endeavours to reduce sales cycles.

And that’s to…

Focus in on your sales process

The most important thing to remember is that prospects buy when they are good and ready. And by understanding how your prospects actually come to make a buying decision will give you deep insight into how the entire sales process works.

Buying cycles vary from industry to industry; some are very short and some are very long. And all don’t follow a straight line but this is the process all buyers go through:

Eight Phases of the Buy Cycle

Phase 1: No awareness

Who are you? I don’t know anything about your product, and I don’t know that I have a need for your product.

Phase 2: Awareness

I’ve heard a little about you. I know a little about the product category. I have an opinion about your product. It’s either positive, negative or neutral.

Phase 3: Interest

I have a problem. But can you can help me I wonder?

Phase 4: Research

I think you can solve my problem but who else can too? I’m afraid of making a mistake; getting the best deal is important to me. Let’s see what others are saying about you?

Phase 5: Trial

Okay, I’ll give you a try. I’m interested to see how your product works and if I like you.

Phase 6: First purchase

Okay. I’ll purchase your product. I’m interested to see if it lives up to all those promises you made. What’s the price, terms and guarantee you’re offering me?

Phase 7: Second purchase

Wow, your product is great! I want to buy another one. Do you sell other products too?

Phase 8: Loyal customer

I am going to tell all my friends about you and I’m going to buy from you only. I appreciate you making me feel like a special customer.

Imagine yourself in a drug store and you want to buy some toothpaste. You stand in front of the assortment of toothpastes trying to figure out which one to buy. You scan the brands and suddenly remember a commercial you saw last night for a certain toothpaste that makes your teeth whiter in 10 days. In a matter of nano seconds you pick up the toothpaste that is right for you and place it in your cart. You’ve just gone through the entire buy cycle.

But consider, higher ticket items like cars, software systems and office equipment, the buy cycle for these products is considerably longer.

So how can you figure out at what stage of the buy cycle your market is?

Conduct Buy Cycle Analysis

There are number of areas you must look to find out how the buy cycle is working. Firstly, by reviewing your company’s sales history. Secondly, by speaking with your customers, then finally with the salespeople who sold them that product or service.

Once you’ve analysed your findings you now are in a better position to know how to shorten sales cycle.

Here’s how…

Phase 1 and 2: No Awareness? Start creating it

If you find yourself in a situation where no-one knows your company; that you’re just starting out and you need to get your name out there. There are many ways you can get your name out.

Here are some ideas; press releases, blogging, direct sales marketing, website (with subscriber box attached), articles, public relations, trade show participation, SEO optimization, TV appearances, radio; anything that can build awareness fast is great.

Phase 3: Interest is sparked

Your future client becomes aware of your existence and it triggers a need. They like what you have to say but their response is to find out more about you together with your competitors.

The key here is to make the right offer and make it very clear so as to pull the prospect into the ‘interested’ phrase and keeps you in their mind while they’re doing their research.

Phase 4: Encouraging prospects to research your product

This stage is very important in the buy cycle process, in as much as, what you send out, when and how fast is crucial in moving them ever closer to the sale.

In the process, you’ll discover that some of your prospects have pressing needs and will move quicker through the process. But most will not. So it’s vital to tailor your follow-up strategy accordingly.

This by far, is the most frustrating stage because — despite yourself — you’ll want them to hurry up and move along quicker but prospects will not buy from you until they are completely satisfied that they have done all the research they need to do.

Phase 5: The prospect decides on a trial

Your prospect has decided to buy from you but on a trial basis. To move the prospect forward; what works effectively is to offer them a first time discount, limited time offers, 60 to 90 day guarantees (depending on the product of course) or a thirty day trial period to name but a few.

Phase 6: The prospect becomes a customer – Yeah!

To ensure this stage goes off without a hitch, offering them the best terms and conditions you can is the way to go. The key here is to waylay any fears they may have by taking on all the risk yourself.

Phase 7: Seeking repeat business

At this stage you understand how expensive and time consuming it was to woe your customer to buy from you. So planning upsells, cross sells and repeat sales, is vital to ensure you enjoy the lifetime value of your customer.

The best way to do this is by conducting a survey to see how satisfied your customer is plus send a thank you note for their custom. Offer them any support they need, inform them of new products on offer, upgrades, exclusive price offers and discounts. All of these things will go a long way in bringing in a second sale.

Phase 8: Loyal customer development

This is where you want your customer to upgrade from a repeat buyer with you to; ‘never using any other product but yours’. How you do that, is by letting your customers know how special they are. Some sort of recognition and reward system works best in this stage.

So there you have it.

Did you find this article useful?

Your comments are important to me.