Have you noticed the sales cycle had gotten so much longer in today’s marketplace? They say (not sure who they are) that in tough economic times it can take eight to ten touches to close a sale. In a healthy economy only two to three. However, in an uncertain economy – which is the economy we are in right now – it can take as many as 15 to 16 touches to close a sale.
If you have to interact, touch a customer 15 to 16 times to get a deal to close, well you are going to go out of business. To succeed in today’s marketplace, you need to shorten the sales cycle – get those interactions and those touches down to reasonable amounts – so that it is still cost-effective to gain new customers.
So how do you shorten the sales cycle? You begin by understanding that not everyone wants