Why are sales cycles so darn long?

If you’re like most salespeople, you’re probably feeling some pressure right now to close more sales sooner.

Isn’t it a shame your buyers didn’t get the memo?

It’s easy to understand why your bosses want you to reduce your sales cycle: better cash flow, lower cost of sales, a better fix on revenue and more time for you to go out and get even more sales. None of that interests your buyer in the least. In fact, buyers may have lots of incentives to drag out the sale as long as possible. Here are some:

• The longer they put off the purchase, the better their cash flow looks.
• In a time of zero to mild inflation, they don’t risk much in terms of a price increase by procrastinating. In fact, in many industries prices will fall the longer they wait.
• They may think they can get a better fix on their needs, budget and business conditions if they wait.
• They may be trying to make you desperate so you’ll offer concessions.
• They may be worried about making a wrong decision. They can’t be blamed for a BAD decision until they actually MAKE a decision.

Unless you’re aggressive about managing sales cycles, procrastinating buyers will find plenty of reasons to put you off. And in the end, these delays will cost you. You’ll find yourself spending more and more time on deals with little likelihood of ever getting to the finish line.

On the other hand, if you can reduce your average cycle by just 10%, you’ll book 10% more sales this year — without doing anything else. And you’ll free up 10% more time to look for new sales. That’s like getting an extra month and then some of selling time. That should be a powerful incentive to keep your prospects moving through the pipeline as quickly as possible.