Tell us something. Aren’t your main business goals the following-  

• Generating traffic
• Capturing leads  
• Converting them into prospects  

Now all of the above-mentioned goals need to be completed quickly, don’t they? 

After all, this is the reason why people all over the world want to accelerate their sales cycle.

We all know how the processes of managing and shortening your B2B sales cycles are one of the most difficult aspects for a business. 

Remember, the revenue intake relies on closing deals!

Thus, people in business are always trying to quickly move their leads through the pipeline of sales. 

Despite all the information provided, we are aware of how it can take a long time to work through.

We know how keen you are to shorten your B2B sales cycle. Irrespective of your efforts, you might not seem to reach your goals.

So, what exactly is the problem?

If you think you’re the one who has all the bad luck that does not allow your customers to make the final purchase quickly, then you could not be more wrong!  

We have decoded the real issue – the procedure of your sales. 

But don’t worry! We have got you covered. 

Read on and you’ll know some of the outcome-driven and verified strategies to shorten the B2B sales cycle. This will in turn heighten your productivity and also save resources.  

6 Result-Driven Ways To Shorten Your B2B Sales Cycle or Sales Cycle Optimization 

1. Formulating a relationship with your potential clients in the very beginning

If you are looking to shorten your B2B sales cycle, then this is one of the main steps to take on.  

In business, everybody wants to hook a big fish, but does that always happen?  

No, right? But why so?  

That’s because your prospects don’t always buy from anyone in the first go.  

And there is no doubt that one of the most troubling aspects of marketing is the trust factor! 

“3% of people said that they trust marketers and salespeople”. 

Trust is one of the main hardships while shortening your B2B Sales Cycle.

So what is the best process for it?  

The answer lies in formulating and crafting a relationship with your potential clients from the very beginning. 

The second question that arises is – how will you go about building a relationship with your prospect?

One of the tried and tested methods can be asking your prospects about their ideal agency. This will infuse confidence in your prospects that you truly care about their expectations. 

There is a reason why shortening B2B sales cycles require a longer time to work. 

We know, we know! It can be hard to have one approach singled out for all of your prospects but you can continually formulate a few templates for your potential clients. 

Explore important traits for conducting business with an agency. 

• Quick adaptation capacity 
• Transparency and measurable results 
• A good customer support system
• Budget-friendly 

There’s a very high chance of things working in your favour if you exhibit a few of the above-mentioned traits. 

Consequently, your prospects will decide on purchase very early on, in turn shortening your B2B sales cycle. 

Apart from this, knowing about what you can do best and how to attract interested clients is the first step.

As a result, you can slowly scale up to bigger fish here with ease. 

2. Qualifying leads early  

Next on the list of ways to shorten the B2B sales cycle we have the process of qualifying the leads, early on. 

Lead nurturing plays a significant role in your lead scoring for B2B businesses as no matter where your leads are coming from, most of them are not even ready to make the final purchase. 

We are aware of how essential it is to have a strong sense of work ethic while being in business. However, there’s always a risk of spending time quite ineffectively. 

Let’s say that you are spending days behind a single prospect. But this is not the best outcome for your productivity. 

The main job lies in identifying the correct prospect. Any time you come across a prospect having the motivation to buy, you know the deal will close much faster. 

All you need to do is figure out the pain points that your products or services can address, and fit your ideal customer profile, you can identify which leads will close fastest. 

With no wasted time, this will shorten the B2B sales cycle.

As high as 73% of your leads will not be sales-ready when first generated. 

So, the bonus to nurture them and make them sales-ready lies on you. And unless you go about nurturing them, your sales cycle will be extended for an abnormally long time. 

Unfortunately, not many sales professionals seem to focus on lead nurturing. However, there’s a silver lining. 

Sales professionals that take time to nurture their leads, see 50% more sales at a 33% lower cost. This means that they have succeeded in shortening their sales cycle to a large extent. 

Thus, it is clear that lead nurturing and focusing on qualifying your leads earlier in the sales cycle will yield better results. If possible, you can even implement it as the first step to shortening your B2B sales cycle. 

Apart from this, using the data of specific visitors to your website or other lead sources can also help you in better lead scoring. This kind of information helps in assessing what type of client will suit you better and be a better customer. 

Such factors not only help in assessing what kind of customers you have but also help you focus on the best. 

3. Who is a part of the decision-making process? 

The decision-making process can be very tricky but this is an important step in shortening the B2B sales cycle. 

Owing to the diversity of the company, the decision-making process becomes complex and time-consuming.

Why? Because not everybody can be on the same page. 

Thus, it gets even more important to understand the diversity of the people to be dealt with. In this way, you will be spared from wasting time and effort on the wrong people. 

For shortening the B2B sales cycle, recognizing the people involved in the process of decision-making is of grave importance.

That said, according to 90% of sales professionals, there is always or usually one member of the committee who tries to influence the decision their way. 

This makes your task even more optimized. Now you just need to track down one decision-maker, analyze their behaviour and specifications, and you can easily shorten your B2B sales cycle. 

Getting the attention of the proper members of the company will get you more results rather than talking to some third party or someone at a lower position. 

If possible try to sell to the marketing heads or the people responsible for decision-making in the company.

4. Farsightedness to shorten your B2B sales cycle

Farsightedness or planning for the future is the next step for shortening the B2B sales cycle.

Knowing what you’re going to do in a sales meeting is important for both the client’s time and yours. Also, forecasting what actions you can take and how your client(s) might respond will help in turning the tide in your direction. 

Actionable steps are required for limiting the number of pitches to be given to the client. It will help in landing a client much sooner. Moreover, the sales process will speed up when there is an omelet clarity regarding any issues on both sides. 

Telling the further steps as per client decision will help them know what is in store and let you know early if they’d be going forward. 

The entire transparency is also a major part of shortening your B2B sales cycle and is a part of good corporate governance.  

5. Addressing the pain points is the ideal way to shorten your B2B sales cycle

It so happens that B2B clients often look for other businesses that will help them reach an ideal solution. 

Thus you have to demonstrate how you can help them address their pain points hassle-free. It is another major step in shortening the B2B sales cycle.  

However, there is no way of decoding the pain points without identifying them first. 

That’s why uncovering your client’s business concerns should constitute a large part of your initial cold-call pitch. 

In fact, according to research by Gong.io, “asking between 11-14 discovery call questions during the call correlates with the greatest success. The solutions hold a higher stake than budgeting issues”. 

The reason is they comprehend what they want and what effect it will have on their company’s interests. 

Identifying their pain points will help you gain the edge over any potential completion and impress your client as well. If you’re able to plan and work on your product/service and sales cycle for their needs, you solve the equation. 

This is not only helpful to the client but also allows your company to reduce the time wasted on revisions and constant requests until the deal is closed. 

Means, negotiating and getting a good deal by addressing the hardships on both ends will easily help you shorten your B2B sales cycle. 

6. Uncover what resources have your prospects tried in the past

You can save a lot of time if you try to uncover things like what resources or solutions your prospects have tried in the past. And why did these resources not work? 

Because if you end up trying out the same things that your prospect has already tried, then you are setting up yourself for failure. 

Or an unreasonably long sales cycle. 

However, our goal is to shorten the B2B sales cycle, not to make it longer. 

That’s why we suggest you go through these concerns carefully. 

You don’t even have to go to all undercover agents to mine information. Directly ask your leads about it. It might work in your favour as your lead will reminisce about what they have already tried, and realize how you can help them differently. 

It should also help them get a grasp of what they are exactly looking for. And the realization and enlightenment will help you smoothen your online B2B marketplace. 

It’s also great if you’re able to avoid the things that your lead has already tried and failed at, firsthand. Therefore, it is often better to analyze your prospects’ past cycles and take steps accordingly. 

Ideally, if the company has been marketing for a long time, it should be performed as a first step.  

Final thoughts on shortening the B2B sales cycle

So that’s it from our side. Now you have got some decisions to make! 

These are some of the tested strategies to shorten the B2B sales cycle.

Remember, it shouldn’t be done through any kind of untested shortcut as it doesn’t have any shortcuts. 

You just can’t make a jump to move over to the next step. So you know that there should not be any hurry.  

Also, if you would go through these points carefully, you will realize that all these steps have one unifying character. 

That is, each of the points is somewhat dependent on building a relationship with your leads and interacting with them. 

Your sales cycle can’t magically become shorter or more efficient without knowing about it in detail. Monitor what steps you could take to improve it. Take actionable steps and figure out your client’s exact needs.  

To sum it up, taking care of the client’s requirements will get you results beyond your imagination. 

However, some clients can take a while in the decision-making process but the rest is up to you. 

So, try it now and tell us your experience in the comment section.