7-25 Decision makers on $25K plus sales deals, so says Marketing Sherpa in their 2007 report. If there was one metric which told the story as to why selling is more challenging today this is it. If even a small company involves 7 people on a $25K buy, that adds so much more complexity to any deal. We know that getting to people via cold calls takes three times more effort than few years ago (up to 19 tries at times!). Do you think that your sales folks are really going to be talking to the decision maker in a few cold calls and follow-ups? Is your nifty new sales process going to really speed up the sales cycle? Yah and that blazing fast CRM is going to save the day.

And I’m Santa Claus.

The only way that you will accelerate your sales revenues, is to ensure that your marketing is aligned with sales to drive prospects to sales , when prospects are much further along the sales process than your sales force has ever been prepared to engage them.  Prospects are already past the brochure, demo and product specs. They want to know how you and your product are uniquely better at solving their problem than the others on their short list!

Far from having one or two bluebirds who fly in each year, ready to buy something like your product, your sales funnel could be chock full of sales ready blue birds. Your sales people must be talking to people who want to buy, have the need and knowledge that you are a viable contender ready to solve it for them.

The ensuing buying process is still arduous, but you must engage the 7-25 people involved in the deal. Your insight into the client and pain will then be higher and your close rations will go up. Sales guys will make much more money and the company will make even more. As a bonus your competitive position will skyrocket up.

The real crime is that this is straightforward with the funds you are spending today. It requires you invest, not just spend the money. Rocket Builders has a service, where we sit down over lunch with select clients and expand on what we see is not working and explore if we can help them get more revenue for their money. In return the clients pledge that they have the desire and the will to change. If you are committed to change, give us a ping!