Enterprise sales are difficult, and the sales cycles are long. For startups, selling to large companies can take even more time because of a number of factors that make it even more challenging to make a sale. This presentation describes the typical sales cycle for a large company, the additional hurdles that startups face, and tips for startups to overcome those hurdles.
19. 4) if the proposal is accepted, implementation begins* *this requires the customer’s time too for IT assistance & user training this takes two to four weeks
20. 5) the pilot begins this takes one to six months
21. 6) the pilot ends, and the evaluation of the pilot’s performance begins this takes two to four weeks
22. 7) if the pilot was determined to be a success, the purchase must then be approved by all decision makers this takes two to four weeks
23. 8) after a three to twelve month long cycle, the big company has made a sale
26. startups are unknown, so the customer worries about this more than price or features* * that means you need to address this with customer testimonials & case studies before the sale – these take time to acquire & develop
27. startups make IT angry, because the software is often poorly documented, buggy and hard to integrate into existing systems* i am IT cat * that means you need to figure out how to make IT’s life easier – this may delay or alter your release cycle
28. startups don’t understand the internal politics at the customer to know whose support they need to make the sale* * let’s explore this more by looking at the three sets of decision makers at each customer
29. customer decision maker #1: the person who will ultimately use the product or service “I want to know why this will let me do a better job – without having to do any extra work!”
40. You’ll do as much of the work as possible so they don’t have to
41. You’ll do as much of the work as possible so they don’t have tocustomer decision maker(s) #3: the lazy people who won’t use or pay for the product, but whose lives may be (even mildly) affected
42. once you have addressed your product’s reliability, its IT impact, and how it affects the lives of the three decision makers…only then does your sales cycle become shorter like the big company.
43. what is the single most important thing you can do to shorten the cycle? be aware of all decision makers, uncover their objections, and address their objections as early as possible!
44. one last thought: a sale is ultimately the result of great relationships the quickest sales occur when the customer is already in your network, or you’ve been introduced to them by someone they already know and trust
45. thanks for joining us for this presentation… …now join us for the easiest way to give and get great introductions for shorter sales cycles: SalesTie salestie.com@salestieinfo@salestie.com