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The larger the sale, the longer the sales cycle, says senior marketing consultant Daniel Aronowitz. It can be hard to maintain a positive attitude as you and your company mark the milestones on the path to a sustainable enterprise relationship. But you can celebrate small wins to maintain momentum and keep your leads warm by following these five principles.
Form a Deep Understanding of Your Clients as Professionals
Before you ever approach a client, you should investigate their LinkedIn profiles, read their company reports and contributions to academic journals, and form an understanding of where they stand in their industries in relation to their competitors.
You should identify all the decision-makers who are stakeholders in the decision to adopt your product or service. Then you build relationships with those decision-makers and those who influence them.
Communication with Your Customers Needs to Be Consistent But Efficient
Long sales cycles require regular check-ins with your clients; provide updates. Address concerns. Maintain personal connections.
Share relevant information through whitepapers, case studies, and industry-level data to keep your client engaged with your product. And above all, keep communication transparent. Be clear about deadlines, challenges in product delivery, and the steps of the sales process. Make sure your customer can regard you as a trusted partner.
Maintain a Value Orientation
Your sales approach must clarify the value you offer your customer. Daniel Aronowitz counsels data discipline. Show the customer how your solution contributes to their bottom line. Use financial projections, case studies, and testimonials.
Match your sales pitch to the stakeholders in your sales conversations. In an enterprise market, no single solution fits all. Also offer strategic insights, Aronowitz says. Enhance your credibility as a trusted partner by sharing best practices, data insights in industry trends, and directions for technological innovation.
Use Data to Maintain a Smooth Customer Relationship
Make decisions on the basis of objective data, but use technology to maintain smooth relationships with your customers:
- Manage leads and track deals with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems such as Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho.
- Use sales analytics to identify cross-selling and up-selling opportunities for your customers. Help your customers fine-tune their approaches with your data analytics.
- Automate repetitive tasks such as follow-up emails, scheduling, and databases. Don’t invest your valuable time in manual maintenance of basic communications systems.
Build a Strong Team
To make the most of a long sales cycle, your team has to work together. Have a dedicated sales support team. Know where you can turn for writing sales proposals, keeping up with data analysis, and administrative tasks.
Involve technical experts early in the process. Maintain confidence in the feasibility of your solution.
Don’t forget about the relationship after the sale. Reassure your client they will receive return on investment with good support after the sale.
Success in enterprise sales, Aronowitz says, doesn’t come just from sales. It also comes from the long-term relationships built by the sales process. Using these five tactics, you can emerge as a trusted advisor who wins in the long game of enterprise selling.