Marketing Tips

Understanding sales cycles A small discussion for INC - MBA students

Lets define these 1. Sale 2. Market 3. Product 4. Marketing 5. Positioning

Few sales ratios 

100:10:1 Cold calls: prospects: Orders



80:20 split in revenue



50:50 split in new and old calls



60:40 split of fixed and variable salary



Everybody has 24 hours

Only 50% of committed orders are converted but still commit double the numbers 

Some things that are liked 1. FAB : Feature, Advantages and Benefits

3. Complaining customers

5. Talk less, listen more

7. MAN level calls

9. Closing techniques

Some things that are not liked •

Sell and run behavior

•

Down-to-top approach

•

Talking ill about competition

•

Over commit and under deliver

•

Not covering all possible bases

•

Too many demos

Sales Cycles • This is customer engagement process • Sales cycles differ. Product, industry, purchase value, type of customer [Govt/ corporate/firm], their buying behavior, mission criticality are some of the variables • Sales cycles start from knocking the doors to Cheque realization [cash in bank ] • Involvement of top management may shorten sales cycles for few products • Govt uses tenders, rate contracts as tools

SPANCO • This is the most common and simplest approach of understanding sales cycles • SPANCO is more relevant to direct sales. E.g. Life Insurance, office automation, IT products, telecom • Suspecting, Prospecting, Approach, Negotiate, Close and Order • Approach: Probe, affect building, Proposal writing, FAB, Demonstration, Objection handling • Negotiate: Art of accommodating, never use NO

Objection handling •

This is part of buying process and denotes interest

•

Objections are of two types: perceived and real

•

Listen [writing, nodding, eye-contact] test understand, accept, gain commitment ,draw out other objections [if any], offer proof / standards, confirm and close

•

Major-minor objections: striking off some, postponing few

WHY PROSPECTS OBJECT Psychological • Dislike decision making • Reluctance to give up something old for something new • Unpleasant previous transactions with you or your company • Perceived threat to self image Logical reasons • All or part of the sales presentation was misunderstood • Prospect is not convinced • Doubts on product performance, price, company

Few notable examples

Few notable examples

Few notable examples