Speeding Up Your Consulting Sales Cycle
This was originally posted on my Seven Figure Consultant LinkedIn Newsletter. Subscribe today to get insights about how women are building powerful and impactful consulting businesses.
The sales process with corporate firms isn’t always quick.
Sometimes we do get in touch with the right person at the right time, and you can meet the person, shake their hand, and have the contract in the bag by the end of the week. It does happen, but it’s not necessarily how things normally play out.
Sometimes it can take six months.
Sometimes it can take 12 months.
These really long lead times can have a huge impact on your cash flow, and your anxiety levels.
And right now, surrounded by so much uncertainty, waiting for the deal to be sealed can be extra nerve-wracking.
So what can you do to help take control of the decision-making process? Should you keep chasing up your contact to help speed things along? Is there anything you can do to condense the decision-making time? And how many proposals should you have out at the same time? What if they all say ‘yes’ at the same time?
On this podcast episode, I talk to Laura Wright, an author, speaker, growth strategist and master sales coach. She has closed a cool $43 million and then some over the last 20 years, and during our interview she shared some ideas on how to speed up your sales process.
We also discussed:
- How recovering from big financial losses has made her stronger than ever.
- The strength information and skills-based businesses have over those that sell products (especially now)
- The benefits in experiencing times of stress and strain in your business
- The key question you should ask at the start of your B2B sales process
- How to understand and liaise with the decision-making hierarchy of your prospect’s organisation
- How to strengthen your pipeline with clients of varying sizes
- The true purpose behind stretch goals
- Making the most of referral opportunities
- What works best: nurturing one lead with multiple interactions, or connecting with multiple leads?
🎧 Head here to listen to the full episode – 038 Speeding Up Your Sales Cycle with Laura Wright
And tell me, what’s the shortest and longest decision times you’ve had when landing a new consulting contract?
Free Report – The Six Elements of a Seven Figure Consulting Business
I’ve created a free PDF report called The Six Elements of a Seven Figure Business. It’s my most popular free resource and in it I outline the 6 areas of unscaled businesses that need to change in order to move past being ‘booked up and burned out’ and shifting into that higher gear that gets you cruising again.
It’s the framework that helps consultant women like you find their feet and get back to leading the business, rather than being buried in client work and back-end business operations.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear your feedback and future topics you’d like me to feature.