The Sales Cycle
When you first begin selling your biz, yourself or a product, you’ll begin to notice the sale cycle. Some prospects seem to convert easily to sales and then others take months or years to convert. Why is this? And what can you do about it?
Planting the Seeds
The first step to convincing anyone to buy from you is actually letting them know that you have something to buy, your offering. You must plant the seeds, cultivate them and then hope that all your efforts will turn into a money tree. (You do have some control over this, it’s not so much a wish upon a star.) You must begin your sales process, build relationships and then the cycle of conversions will begin.
The Sales Process
This is bringing awareness about your offer to your potential client and then continuing to stay top of mind. I’ve discussed how to best do this on social media here. You want to build rapport, credibility, educate them and then ask for the sale. Will they always buy the first time you ask? No, but some might. The more prospects you can bring into your process, the more chances you have of converting them and at different intervals. Just like seeds, the more you plant, water, love, add sunshine, the more chances the flowers will grow. They might not all blossom at the same time, but the longer you’ve been planting the more regularly the flowers (and paychecks) will seem to come.
Getting a regular paycheck
The key to being a salesperson and ditching the feast/famine cycle is creating a sales process that's proven to convert leads and continue to add prospects to your process. Increase your reach, continue to plant more seeds, and your sales will become more steady.
Staying top of mind
You must stay top of mind to convert those pesky prospects that seem to stay on the fence. Reach out to them, connect with them, understand where they're at, build a relationship with them. Continue to show them you’re here, you're making a difference, and remind them why they can’t live without your offering.
Don’t give up
You've planted the seeds, worked on your sales process: connected, followed up, educated etc, keep going! As the flowers take time to bloom, so do your leads, trust the process. If you’re uncertain of your sales process or finding that your leads aren't converting, then give me a call. I would love to help you with your sales skills and process to make sure you're reaping what you’ve sown.
