A B2B sales cycle is a set of activities or steps performed by the buyer (i.e., the customer) and the seller (i.e., the supplier) to complete a transaction. This article will tell you all you need to know about a Sales Cycle.
The main purpose of a B2B sales cycle is to make sure that both parties are satisfied with the way things are going and that they reach an agreement on all aspects of the deal.
There's no one-size-fits-all approach for creating successful business deals, but there are some key principles you can follow to help ensure your company gets what it needs from its customers:
1) Be Proactive - When you're proactive in reaching out and establishing contact with potential clients, you'll be able to get the information you need to understand their needs and build a relationship with them.
2) Be Flexible - Make sure that your sales strategy is flexible enough to adapt as things change, so it doesn't become outdated in relation to your customer's changing needs.
3) Keep Your Customers Informed - Communicate progress regularly by email or phone calls, even if they don't ask for updates directly themselves. This will help keep customers happy while also showing them how much you value their business!
The length of a B2B sales cycle depends on the type of product or service you're selling. If it's something that can be shipped quickly, like software downloads, for example, then your sales process will probably take less than a week to complete.
However, if it involves more complex processes and decisions, such as purchasing machinery or building materials from an engineering firm, then the timeframes involved could stretch out over several months.
The key thing is to make sure that no matter what stage in the process your customer is at, they always feel valued by you throughout their experience with you!
Sales prospecting and lead generation are two parts of the sales cycle that often get lumped together in one big category, but they're actually very different things.
Sales Prospecting involves finding potential customers for your product or service by searching online to find out what's already being sold on the market. This can involve researching existing products from companies you know about as well as checking out new ideas on blogs, forums and social media sites like LinkedIn.
Lead Generation is more focused on creating a list of people who might be interested in buying your product or service, so it's important not to confuse these two things.
Sales Prospecting is a very important part of the sales cycle and can be done for free on sites like Google Adwords, Facebook Ads or LinkedIn Ads to generate leads that you then follow up with later in the sales process.
This type of lead generation isn't just about finding people who will buy from you but also discovering which industries your potential customers are interested in! If they're looking into buying something related to their industry, it's likely that they might be able to see value in what you have too, so this could make them more attractive as a prospect for sale than someone else selling the same thing.
Lead Generation is often a more expensive way to generate leads as you'll have to pay for the traffic that's being generated and then convert these visitors into potential customers, but it can be cheaper than paying for advertising which only generates new prospects!
This is the phase where you'll be getting to know your potential customer and finding out what they're looking for. This involves sending emails, making phone calls or meeting up in person with them to talk about their needs and also how your product or service might help them.
This can all happen before you've even made a sales call, but it's more common when someone has already been on the other end of an email from one of these types of businesses because then there are usually some questions that need answering first, so this is also known as 'pre-sales'.
Once you've got a good idea of what they're looking for, you can then start to look at other ways that your product or service might be able to help them, this is also known as 'post-sales', and it's a good idea if you have multiple products/services because each one will usually solve different problems.
In this part of the sales cycle, just like with any type of business, there are many things that need to take place before someone actually makes an offer on anything so let's go through some steps here:
1) You'll need to have a sales funnel or pipeline that's going to lead you from someone who is interested in your product/service, through them buying it and then on into the next person.
2) Once they've made an offer for something, you can now start working out how much money they're willing to pay for your products/services, along with what their payment terms are likely to be.
3) You should also ask them some questions about themselves so that you can get more information about where exactly they want this solution delivered and what else might be involved, like if there are any other products or services that they need to be able to use it with.
4) You should also ask them about their budget for the project and how much of a percentage you can take from that.
5) Now you'll want to get some quotes back from various suppliers so that those prices start coming down while at the same time making sure everything else is still on track.
Objection handling is something that you'll have to deal with no matter what type of sales cycle you're using, it's just a part of the process, and there are certain things that need to be taken into account when dealing with objections.
1) The first thing is to make sure your objection handling plan has been thought out in advance so if an objection comes up, then they can't get away from the problem as easily as possible.
2) You should also know how long each step in your pipeline will take before anyone actually makes an offer for anything because this will give you some idea about how long it will take to get everything done.
3) You should also have a process in place for dealing with the objections that come up. This can be as simple as making sure they know exactly what's going on and why you're asking them these questions so that there are no misunderstandings about what needs to happen next.
4) And lastly, make sure your objection handling plan is something that everyone involved knows about because if not, then someone might try to bypass the problem by doing things without their knowledge which would cause problems down the road later on when things go wrong.
The road-mapping process is something that you'll want to do regardless of what type of sales cycle you're using. It's a very useful tool, and it can help with all sorts of things. One example would be where someone was buying from the middle man instead of directly from the manufacturer who could cause problems down the line when they wanted to return an item or claim on warranty etc.
1) The first thing that needs to happen is that everyone involved in this part (including your customers) needs to know about how everything works so there are no misunderstandings later on.
2) The last thing that you want is for someone who's buying from the middle man and not directly from the manufacturer to be able to claim on warranty or return an item which could cause problems down the line when they wanted a refund etc.
This is something that you'll want to do regardless of what type of sales cycle you're using. To do so, it is important that you have a system in place to track your customers and their data.
1) The first thing that you need to do is make sure that everyone knows about this process as it will help with all sorts of things down the line, such as where someone was buying from instead of directly from the manufacturer, which could cause problems later on when they wanted a refund etc.
2) The next thing you want to do is make sure everyone involved (including your buyers) know how everything works, so there are no misunderstandings later on. This can be done by having an information sheet or poster that you can post up in the shop or online. You can use a poster maker tool to create a cool design for your posters and grab people's attention.
3) You'll also want a system of checking orders as well and making sure they're correct before sending them out, which will help with ensuring all parties are happy down the line when it comes time for returns etc.
Building Brand Awareness
This is the type of sales cycle that most people are familiar with, as it's when someone first hears about your product or service and decides to purchase. The main thing you want to focus on here is building brand awareness which will help build credibility in the eyes of potential customers and keep them coming back for more information etc.
1) The first thing you want to do is make sure that your website and social media pages are up to date with all the latest information about the company, products etc. This can be done by having a blog or other type of page where you post regular updates on what's new in your shop as well as any news articles or reviews, which could help build brand awareness for people who don't know much about it yet.
2) You'll also want to have plenty of content (blog posts, videos etc.) available for potential customers so they can get more information about everything from how exactly the products work to what the different colors mean etc.
3) You'll also want to have a system of email marketing set up so that you can send out regular updates and information about your business, which will help build brand awareness as well as keep people coming back for more info. This is something I do with all my clients, but it's not always necessary (especially if you're already selling on other platforms such as eBay or Etsy).
Building Trust/Reliability
This sales cycle is when someone purchases from your shop after they've become confident in their purchase by doing research on the company and have decided to purchase. This is a very important sales cycle as it's when most people will make their final decision about whether they want to buy from you or not, so you'll need everything ready for them once they've made that decision!
You'll, first of all, want your website up-to-date with new product information, blog posts etc., which helps build trust between yourself and potential customers. It also gives them confidence in what exactly you're selling since there are no shady products popping up out of nowhere (which could be bad news).
This sales cycle is a crucial part of the process as it's when you'll need to make sure that potential customers are happy with their purchases. This is what makes your business work, and if you don't do this, then people won't be coming back for more which will kill all of your hard work!
You can think about how many emails, phone calls or cards (if any) you should send out after each sale, but I'd recommend sending at least 2 to 3 follow up emails so long as they're not automated ones.
This way, people feel like they have an actual person on the other end of the line, which gives them a sense of security. If you're selling on other platforms, then send out emails to those as well so that people can buy from you across all your different sales channels (which will also help increase your conversion rate).
A few things I recommend doing after each sale is sending an email thanking customers for their purchase and letting them know how they can contact you if they have any questions or concerns about their order. This way, it makes sure people feel like there's someone who actually cares!
