Why old school sales cycles don't work

Your company is a brand and a media organization, no matter your industry or size. To be successful in the 21st century your business needs to have a ruthless focus on output, transparency, and engagement. The variable is, how good is your creative and how well do you understand your customers?

Why old school sales models don't work

Old school sales models don't adapt to a changing society, demographic or technology. They never take into account the customers' sales cycle or pain points. Companies avoiding change still operate on a cold call scenario while others knock on doors and kick tires. Simply reaching out to as many people as you can because you “think they need your service” is no longer an acceptable tactic. Many businesses have adapted to these old school tactics by safeguarding employees from unwanted sales pitches through gatekeepers and spam filters. These tactics are commonly referred to as outbound marketing and while it's not dead, it’s just a small piece in the market cycle.

Why understanding your sales cycle is important

Customers now seek out answers to their business challenges across a variety of channels. Google, social media, LinkedIn, etc. These digital tools help direct your potential customers into your website funnel by how relevant your content is, how great is your creative, and how well do you understand their problem. If your company provides the necessary resources and content that aligns with those challenges you’ve completed the first step in a multi-step process — a possible lead.

Understanding your sales cycle allows your business to strategically place content in digital channels around customers pain points. These tactics create an in-bound marketing funnel that can start collecting leads for your business through the buyers journey. Mapping out your customer journey and understanding their process and psychology will help you create content that is valuable and relevant in timing. Offering FREE reports, downloads, blogs and other resources can set these potential customers on a path through 1. Prospecting 2. Initial Conctact/Follow Up 3. Qualification 4. Offer 5. Address Objections 6. Close Deal.

Adding brand experience to your sales cycle

While new strategies are conscious of inbound and outbound marketing it’s essential that you take your customers experience into account. Creating sales cycles aligned with your customers' journey produces a very telling story of interaction through your lead generation to purchase. You should ask yourself, what is the first interaction this potential employee gets with your company? Are they talking to a human? Is everything done through email? What is the follow-up process like and more importantly, what happens after they commit to your service? Understanding your brand experience from your marketing efforts, employee interactions, and sales is a strategic tool that is often overlooked. But when done correctly, your marketing efforts can triple through word of mouth and delighted customers.

If you’ve never developed your sales cycle or a customer journey map, The Generous Agency can help you lay these strategic foundations to move your business forward into the future and help generate results.

—

The Generous Agency is a Dallas Fort Worth branding and graphic design studio that helps companies implement a better brand experience impacting employees and customers. Sometimes we develop cool stuff. Reach out for a FREE Consultation.