What is a sales cycle?

‘Sales Cycle’, is a term I use quite often in my blogs. If you are in a conversation with people from this industry, you’ll hear about it innumerable times. In fact for some of the young folks trying to get into the world of sales, this will be a good crash course on what it’s all about. 

A very good yardstick to measure a lot of things in Sales is the ‘sales cycle’. If you are new to sales, or don’t know what to do next or don’t know how far you are before you get the actual sale or any other such question, the sales cycle will act as a good guide to point you in the right direction.

There are multiple ways a sales cycle is represented. Google the keywords Sales Cycle and you’ll see a host of sites presenting their own version. All of them have their own terminologies. But of course, If you pay closer attention to them, they all are saying almost the same thing. 

In this blog, I have tried to give a snapshot of everything you must know about the sales cycle in its most generic form. My suggestion is to read and absorb the information as-is. With some experience, you can modify the individual sections to suit your environment and working style as you get more experienced.

Sales cycle can be divided into seven different categories, which are:

1. Sales Prospecting

Being the first step in the framework, it’s obviously the most critical. Prospecting is the stand on which your entire career stands. Miss this step, and you won’t even have a sales cycle. Shopify defines Prospecting as the first step in the sales process, which consists of identifying potential customers, aka prospects. The goal of prospecting is to develop a database of likely customers and then systematically communicate with them in the hopes of converting them from potential customers to current customers. 

There are a lot of ways that prospects are obtained. High profit prospecting by Mark Hunter is one book that I highly recommend you read.

2. Making Contact

The next step of the process is to use the information curated in the above step and make contact with the prospect. 

This can be undertaken in multiple ways as well. The 3 most used ways is to do it through the phone, via emails or in-person. Cold-calling is one of the scariest activities in the life of a person. Read this blog to overcome that feeling in order to initiate that first contact.

3. Qualifying the Lead

Qualifying, as the name suggests, is when you as a sales person measure the willingness and want of the customer to evaluate if the product/solution that you are selling will be the right fit for them. 

This is where the rubber meets the road. It’s essential that this step is taken seriously. A lot of sales folks spend too much time chasing the wrong prospects thereby losing crucial time needed to convert sales with the people who are actually interested in buying the product/solution that the sales professional has to offer. Asking pertinent questions and knowing about their needs and their buying windows is an important part of this step.

4. Nurturing the Lead

This step is one where you are working closely with the prospect, going over their needs and expectations with them, and pairing them with the solution that you have to offer.

Going over this framework might make you believe that this is a straightforward process with simple steps to be followed. However, nothing can be further than that. Each step and the corresponding activities associated with that step take considerable skill, experience and time to get through. Technology sales isn’t like regular sales where closures happen quickly. A prospect has to be well understood and the solution being offered has to be the real deal for the sale to go through. Trust plays a major part in this process. Go through it too fast and you’ll easily lose the edge to someone else who is willing to put in the time.

5. Making an Offer

This is the step where you first present to the prospect the solution you have on offer and the price that it’s on offer for. 

A lot of the sales people feel uncomfortable making that first offer. It may seem a bit startling in the beginning as the fear of rejection kicks in. That’s where the previous step (nurturing the lead) helps as that’s where most of the build up happens and can be reassuring to both parties. In fact if the prospect knows about the solution well and trusts your ability to deliver it, this step becomes a mere formality.

6. Handling Objections

A sales objection is a rebuttal from your prospect that states a reason why they will not be buying from you. 

To sail through this step, you should have the ability to answer some of the questions that are put forth to you, almost real-time. Like it or not, you’ll have to face this more often than not. Not because your prospect isn’t convinced about what you have to offer, but because the sale of a technological solution or product doesn’t occur without the blessings of multiple stakeholders. When these stakeholders come into the picture, they will put forth questions that they believe are important to be qualified before they can allow the sale to go through. These objections can be on various topics ranging from financials, solution, competitors, delivery, renewals etc. As a sales professional , you have got to keep your calm and answer these objections in a manner that not only satisfies the questioner but also is in tune with the rest of the stakeholders. Some objections and the ways to handle them have been answered in my previous blogs.

7. Closing the Sale:

Closing of the sale is when the contract between the buyer and seller is completed (‘executed’ in the legal parlance). This is the final step and the reason we’ve worked so hard on all of the previous ones. 

Every sales professional waits for the day when this step becomes a reality. However, this step is the culmination of the six steps that must happen before this one. Execute them well, and you’ll be quite successful in making it to this final step.