Smoothing the sales cycle path

Picture this: you’re on a journey, heading somewhere you really want to go, when you come across a fork in the road.

You can see that one of your options – let’s call it the high road – is a smooth path over predictable terrain, offering a direct route to your destination. The alternative low road is a far trickier proposition – the terrain is difficult and the route circuitous and littered with obstacles. You’re not even entirely sure it leads to where you want to go. Which path do you choose?

It’s not a trick question. Almost all of us would take the high road. After all, why would anyone make their journey harder than it has to be?

The same principle applies to managing your company’s sales cycle – the complex set of inter-connected activities and processes covering initial marketing activity to sales, order fulfilment and then ongoing customer support.

Your fork in the road is the choice between negotiating that customer journey using discrete, historical, sometimes manual processes for each element, or taking the high road option of adopting a fully integrated lead to cash CRM solution.

The lack of integration can make that low road journey a bumpy, difficult ride. It can make it frustratingly hard to see how effective your marketing activities are. It could result in a lack of coordination between your sales and marketing teams. It can make sales performance hard to measure and orders hard to stay on top of. And you could struggle to manage aged debt or customer service activities.

In short: taking the low road might slow down your company, increase your costs and damage the precious relationship you have with your customers. But by connecting these functions through a lead to cash CRM solution you can turn every one of these threats into genuine opportunities.

You’ll find it easier to make the most of lead generation and better manage campaigns and events. You’ll be able to segment and target more accurately and track opportunities more effectively. It’ll be easier to manage your pipeline and focus on the most profitable deals. And staying on top of invoices, bookings, billings and aged debt will be more straightforward too.

All of this will help you improve the support you offer your customers. It’ll give you a clearer picture of the customer service incidents that arise and how often they happen, helping you to improve your product. And you’ll be able to measure more accurately how well you respond to customers and how well you’re doing against the service level agreements you have with them.

Overall, it presents you with a golden opportunity to deepen your relationship with clients and to build customer satisfaction.

With customer expectations inexorably rising, fuelled by advances in technology and competitive pressure, you need the clearest possible view of the entire customer experience from lead to cash. Our infographic shows you how a CRM system will give you that clarity.

The sales cycle is complicated enough without adding needless extra obstacles. Make sure you have the right tools for the job. Always choose the high road.