If there are two things always on a salesperson’s mind, it’s closing more deals and closing them faster. Sales reps are always looking to be more effective and get to “yes” faster. 

Here are some quick tips to help accelerate your sales cycle and close deals faster.

1. Nurture your leads.

The sales process differs for every prospect. Most sales cycles, though, can be long and you need to stay connected and on top of these prospects throughout that cycle. Lead nurturing programs can help you nurture your leads automatically. You can send personalized, automated emails to prospects throughout the sales cycle and even send triggered emails when they make actions that signify they’re moving down the funnel. You can then be automatically notified when your prospect opens and clicks your automated emails.

2. Implement lead scoring.

It’s always best to prioritize your sales prospects and spend your time on the most important, hottest leads. One way to be more productive and efficient in your prioritization is by automated lead scoring. You can use marketing automation, tracking cookies, and a tool like Pardot to automatically score and grade your leads, automatically letting you know which leads are hottest and ready to buy.

You can customize your own scoring and assign different actions like requesting a demo, reading a blog article, downloading an e-book, or visiting your careers site with different point values. You can also make sure that leads that don’t pass a minimum scoring threshold are put onto a nurturing track before you follow up with them. 

3. Utilize task management and project management tools.

Depending on your organization and the amount of prospects in your pipeline, staying on top of it all can be daunting. Being organized and using project and task management tools can be especially beneficial. It can help you not only be more productive, but it can also help shorten the sales cycle. 

4. Follow up promptly.

Going along with being organized and utilizing project and task management tools, it’s important to follow up promptly. The consequences of not following up quickly with a hot lead can be treacherous and they can lose interest. You can use marketing automation to enable quick follow-ups on small items, but also make sure to follow up personally when your prospect is interested, engaged, and wanting to talk.

5. Track your time and analyze your own productivity.

I recently started personally tracking the time I spend on different activities throughout the day. This can be especially beneficial for you as you try to optimize your time and shorten the sales cycle. Knowing how much time you spend on different tasks and different prospects can help you automate tasks and optimize your time. If you’re able to analyze your productivity based on different clients, you can start to analyze ways to optimize the sales cycle for different industries, company size, etc. 

6. Sell a solution, not a product.

Consultative selling has become a great way to build trust with your prospects and build real relationships. Understanding that you’re selling a solution and not just a product will help you build trust quicker and communicate the true value to your prospect.

7. Be productive on the go.

We live in a mobile-first world. Utilize mobile productivity tools to keep up while you’re on the go. Salesforce’s mobile apps can help you organize your tasks, plan your schedule for the day, take notes from an on-site meeting, update Salesforce records, and close deals all from your phone. You can run your entire sales operation faster and smarter right from your phone. 

To learn more about Salesforce and how to sell smarter and faster, visit our website or download our e-book, Grow Your Small Business with Salesforce, below.