It’s obvious that many marketers never served in the infantry or competed in archery. We’ve all heard the edict, “Ready, aim, fire.” Unfortunately, many marketers follow a different directive – “Fire, ready, aim.” They have it backwards. They jump into executing marketing tactics and campaigns before they understand their target. Then they try to adjust and optimize after the fact.

The objective of every inbound marketing program is to generate leads and build a consistent sales pipeline. It would be ideal if every lead that was generated was highly qualified and highly motivated. That’s what the sales team is craving, right? If that was the case, then it would make sense that every lead should be handed off to the sales team right away. Unfortunately, the real world is not that straightforward.

While inbound marketing will generate qualified/motivated leads, it will also produce “not-ready-to-buy-yet” leads (Not Ready) and “not-sure-if-this-is-an-opportunity-or-not” leads (Not Sure).  So how should these leads be handled?  Should they be passed to sales too?

In the work we do with media companies, staffing firms, and other professional service businesses, two topics consistently appearing on our clients’ radar screens are how to accelerate prospects’ movement through their sales pipeline and how to close more sales, faster.

There are basically two areas we focus on as causes for a slow sales process.

First, we look for key infrastructure that may be missing or misused or underused. This can range from lack of sales training programs to missing technology like a CRM or marketing automation platform.

Second, we look at micro-level factors focused mainly on how the firm engages with prospects on a one-to-one or customized level. We know to a high degree of certainty that if a firm is using a one-size-fits-all approach to closing a sale, then a more customizable approach may be just the ticket for reaching sales goals quicker.

In this post, I’ve summarized what's holding you back from making your sales process faster.

As an inbound marketing agency that’s part of a company that has 30 years of sales training experience, we know a lot about sales and the importance of having a defined sales process. That’s one of the reasons we are so excited about what HubSpot is doing in the CRM and sales enablement space. As experts in sales training, we are regularly approached by companies to review their sales processes or to help them develop a sales process in order to generate more leads for their sales teams.

Today’s prospects are more in control of the buying process than ever before. They don’t care about what the next step in your sales process is or even the typical buying journey that your marketing team has spent countless hours researching and mapping.  

The premier thought leaders in business today all seem to agree that the B2B sales paradigm has shifted and sales organizations need to re-evaluate their go-to-market strategies and sales processes if they are to succeed in meeting their growth objectives. Below are links to some recent research I found.

Gartner: "The Future of Sales Is More Digitally Supported, Customer-Focused and Strategically Aligned"

Key Quote: “Business unit and strategy leaders must better enable their sellers with skills that drive customer value. A targeted focus and tighter alignment with digital marketing initiatives and new buyer journeys can create a competitive advantage.” – Tiffani Bova