Presented By: By Joe Petro, Vice President of Product Development & Operations, TrueAdvantage
The pursuit of leads is the single most time-consuming aspect of a salesperson’s job. Often, the time spent searching for leads is spent in vain, because by the time the rep identifies a lead, the buy cycle is already replete with competitors. This situation leads sales reps to spend far more time prospecting than presenting, selling and closing business. So how do companies increase sales volume year after year, when reps struggle to identify qualified prospects early in their buy cycles? They pursue first mover advantage.
On the face of it, it would seem that prospecting practices have come a long way. Sales forces have gone from old-fashioned cold-calling, walking up and down city streets, to logging into sophisticated CRM systems that allow reps to track and manage business from a desktop computer or handheld device. No longer is prospecting a game of “hit or miss.” The information age has changed the way business is conducted in nearly every industry. The advent of the Internet and other information resources have armed sales reps with the information needed to identify and qualify prospects before making initial contact. Despite advances like search engine alerts and access to databases of rich company information; however, early identification of the buy cycle continues to elude the average sales rep.
According to analyst firm CSO Insights, buy cycles have always existed, and they start at the point when a buying entity (person or organization) first identifies a business pain that’s become too pervasive to ignore. By contrast, a sales cycle starts when a selling organization becomes aware of a prospect’s interest or need. Engaging with a prospect early in the buy cycle before the sales cycle begins puts a sales rep in the best position to establish value, influence buying criteria and command a higher selling price. This is much more difficult to do after the sales cycle has begun, and almost impossible to do after the prospect has started the vendor evaluation process. Knowing when a buy cycle commences is a strategic advantage that provides a sales rep with first-mover advantage and the opportunity to influence the buy.
Gaining first-mover advantage allows the salesperson more time to develop a relationship with the prospect and establish the value of his/her offering. Often, if the salesperson’s product or service eliminates the prospect’s business pain, it can obviate the prospect’s need for further research and the deal can be closed. Even if an RFP process can’t be avoided, getting to the opportunity first affords the sales rep the ability to have maximum influence over the RFP requirements. Conversely, if a rep arrives at the end of a sales cycle, he/she often has to sell strictly on price.
Identifying buy cycles is a challenging task if using traditional prospecting tactics. Although search engine alerts can provide information about companies and products, there is no way to filter the alerts for duplication or for a specific territory. Today’s technology-enabled lead generation solutions, however, identify buy cycles at the earliest possible point by mining the Internet and thousands of information resources for business events or triggers that indicate a high propensity to buy based on criteria set up by the individual sales rep within his/her CRM system. This valuable information is then filtered and delivered to the sales rep’s e-mail system or CRM solution, giving the salesperson first-mover advantage. For example, a telecommunications company sales rep may create a trigger to immediately alert her when companies in her specific territory have announced plans to acquire multiple sites or build a new facility thereby requiring the product or service that she is selling. A technology-enabled lead generation solution, automatically and immediately delivers the information to her Salesforce desktop giving her the opportunity to quickly act on the information, providing her with “first mover advantage” in the opportunity.
Adopting a buy cycle approach to selling inherently shortens the overall sales lifecycle, thereby potentially increasing the number of deals closed.
Technology-enabled lead generation resolves the age-old frustrations surrounding prospecting. The ability to gain first-mover advantage adds a critical dimension to the sales rep’s online toolkit. It is now incumbent upon companies to audit their sales reps for time spent researching leads versus time spent in front of prospects selling to determine exactly how first mover advantage impacts the overall effectiveness of their organization.