Time is money!
Two things are paramount in determining your business development success: Your ability to establish a trust-based relationship and the length of your selling cycle. Both require focus, perhaps even more focus than you’re employing now. I invite you to consider taking on the challenge of working on both.
Trust is hard to come by and given the current climate it’s even more challenging. Salespeople everywhere tell me getting through to a decision-maker is harder than ever. It’s tough to develop trust when you can’t get in.
A key tactic to start the trust building process is called social proof. When people know that family, friends and business associates are doing something new and different, there automatic response is, “then, it must be OK for me, too.” The principle is at its best when developing new contacts. If friends and colleagues recommend your name, company or service to one of your prospects, the chance that the prospect will take your call rises significantly. The prospect’s subconscious mind says, “If these people recommend it, it’s OK for to take the call because I trust them.” You get a trust boost from the get go.
The second key tactic is to track the length of your selling cycle with every prospect, whether the file is closed or not. This is especially crucial in the world of B2B selling of intangible services. Far too many salespeople have selling cycles 50% longer than necessary. Unfortunately, managers are often the enablers of long selling cycles. Accountability is rarely matched with the time, money and energy it takes to close deals.
If you had one goal in 2010 – and you put it in writing for all to see – it should be simple: GET RECOMMENDED IN.
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