Four Ways to Shorten The B2B Sales Cycle

Written by Dave Lorenzo on April 16, 2019 / B2B Sales

The goal of everyone in business to business sales is always to get in front of the ultimate decision-maker and help him/her solve problems. This often involves a long process. Here are four ways to shorten the B2B sales cycle broken down into a four step process.

Step One: Ask for and receive a referral to the person who has economic authority.

What problem do you solve? What company has that problem? Who within that company has control of the budget to solve that problem? Who do you know who can introduce you to that person?

These days it is easier than ever to find connections to people in your target company. Leverage your connections and technology to get a referral to the person who has economic authority and demonstrate your solution to their problem.

Your natural network should be well aware of your skills, knowledge and capability because your connecting with them on a regular basis by sending out a weekly email newsletter. Your also connecting with them via telephone on a regular basis – to deliver value – to refer them to people who are valuable to them. This way, when you ask for the referral, it is not the first time you’ve contacted them in years.

Step Two: Provide value to your prospective client by doing a “Learn At Lunch.”

If the prospective client doesn’t immediately realize the depth of his/her problem or they don’t have the urgency to solve the problem now, you need to develop a relationship based upon trust and then discuss your solution.

One of the ways to initiate this relationship is to do a “Learn at Lunch” for your prospective client’s team. This educational session can be on any topic and is designed to help position you as a valuable expert.

This will set up your opportunity to discuss the problem you can solve.

Step Three: Host a breakfast meeting of executives who all have the same problem.

Bringing like-minded executives together to discuss a common issue is a great way deepen urgency. When you facilitate this discussion and present the solution, the discussion validates your expertise. Business leaders leave this meeting realizing they must act.

Step Four: Add value to civic and community organizations.

Doing presentations for civic and community organizations will help introduce you to decision-makers. This introduction will position you as an expert and get you invited into companies to help solve he problems you are best a solving.

The key when you are looking to shorten the B2B sales process is in positioning yourself as an expert who solves problems. These four steps are designed to do that.

Here is a video from my YouTube channel, The Dave Lorenzo Daily, that highlights these four steps.