There is no such thing as a sales cycle.  Does that surprise you?  If you have a traditional sales background then the sales cycle has become part of your daily lexicon.  But the reality is that it is just a myth.  A dangerous myth to believe in, but a myth nonetheless.

I constantly hear the same statement regarding sales cycles from virtually every organization I work with; “Our sales cycle is X weeks or months or light years”, as though there is some magic time frame which determines how long it takes to sell your product or service.  Most organizations simply take the good and the bad sales efforts, average them together and then cement into every sales person’s head that this is THE sales cycle.

Those who know me know that this is one of my biggest pet peeves because it almost guarantees that you will take THAT amount of time to close a deal since you are convinced that is how much time it should take.  Before I dive into this, let me provide a perfect example from my own sales career why this is nonsense.

The largest single deal I have ever closed in my life (a major 8 figure deal with a Fortune 100 company) was done under the following circumstances.  Please make sure and check out the caveats next to each item:

• The company which I was pursuing had enacted a complete freeze on spending and hiring (which would obviously make the sales cycle much longer or impossible).  The company’s stock was spiraling down, they had massive debt to pay down and their particular market was bombing.  The CEO issued a MANDATORY freeze on spending and hiring.  An impossible selling situation, right?
• The “normal” sales cycle for the solution which I was selling was 12-18 months (Which means that it would now have to be a minimum of two years since this was an abnormal selling environment.  I was also selling a software product which was not a necessity for the purchasing organization)
• There was an admission by the executives in MY organization that this was an “impossible” situation (meaning, spend your time somewhere else since this won’t produce squat in the short term)

I then went and closed an 8 figure deal in less than 10 weeks.  And the Terms and Conditions negotiations took 2 of those weeks so the deal was actually sold in 8 weeks.   WTH?  Where is the etched in granite sales cycle?  It must have taken a vacation.  I know we can always come up with exceptions to so called rules, but this was not an exception since the the “rule” is not a rule at all.

There is a simple reason for this.  As I stated above, a sales cycle is something which has been constructed in our minds, not in the actual business of selling.  There is only one cycle you deal with when you are successful in selling:

“The Buying Cycle”

The most successful sales people and sales organizations understand this and either directly or indirectly mirror their sales cycle to the buying cycle.  They understand that moving from decision to decision is ALWAYS fixed by the buying side of the relationship.  You can heavily influence those decisions, but only by understanding how and why those decisions are made.

You are probably thinking, “duh”.  So if this is so simple and it goes without saying,  how many times have you ever seen a buying cycle  used to create a sales cycle?  Probably never.  If we all know this, why don’t we simply start with a buying cycle and then work out our sales cycle so it matches the buying cycle?

The process is pretty simple since all you have do is map out a typical customer’s buying process which will look something like:

Recognition of Need—-Consensus on Need for External Help—-Initial Budgetary Approval—Search and Evaluate Options—Select a Solution Provider—-Negotiate—Execute Project—Measure Value

A typical sales process looks like:

Discovery—Collaborative Solution Design—Develop Business Case—Propose—Finalize Agreement—Execute Project—Manage Customer Relationship

So imagine if you are in YOUR sales process at “Propose”, but the prospective customer is still at the “Consensus on Need for External Help” in their buying process.  You know what happens, right?  We all know what happens;… diddly squat.

So do yourself and your revenue stream a favor and sit down with a current customer who is very friendly towards your company and simply ask them the steps they went through to purchase your solution.  Use it as a framework to develop your sales process so you can match each step of your sales process to their buying process.

You will find that you:

• Close more deals
• Close them faster
• Have a happier client since you did not “force” them into your sales process
• A HUGE edge on your old school competition

Hopefully this will give you the courage to turn your back on any thought of a sales cycle and simply work with your prospective customers by helping them buy.