6 Ways to Reduce Long Sales Cycles in LMS Sales and Consulting

One of the biggest obstacles many Learning Management System salespeople face is reducing the lengthy sales cycle. As you know, unlike B2C, the B2B sales process includes involving a lot of decision-makers and telling them about the value of your option. It takes a long time to persuade each of them that your remedy is the one to meet their needs. Since everyone will have a different opinion about your solution, and since there are many decision-makers, the sales cycle can become agonizingly long. In fact, a recent Demand Gen report found that the Buyer’s Journey for many B2B buyers is getting longer and more difficult, which doesn’t help the already lengthy sales process. But there is good news out there! There are many strategies that could help you reduce the sales cycle for your Learning Management System company:

1. Recognize your Buyer Personas

Don’t try to engage everyone, even if they are unqualified. This could trap you in a long sales cycle that produces little results. Before you start the sales process, take some time to identify who you are targeting. Your Buyer Personas (also known as your ideal buyers) can be ‘Physician Philip’, ‘Hospital Administrator Alice’ or ‘Medical Director Daniel’. Preferably, your Buyer Personas should be the decision makers of the companies you are targeting, and, in some cases, important influencers. Once you have built your Personas, detail their main qualities by asking the following questions: What are their obligations? What are their objectives? What issues are they dealing with? What makes them want to buy? What stops them from buying? How do they get their information? The answers to these questions will provide you with a better idea of how to approach them.

2. Send out an initial video

Typically, potential customers learn about how the salesperson looks during an in-person meeting. To create a sense of familiarity before this first meeting, consider sending an introductory video talking about why you are interested in them (flattery), something helpful to them (research you conducted, etc), and a call-to-action (“let’s set up a time to talk.”) By doing this, when you engage them by phone, they are already familiar with you. This does not mean you should spend a lot making this video. A good cell phone camera with great lighting will work fine. A preferred application to develop these videos is called Soapbox by Wistia.

3. Offer pre-sales meeting content

A huge mistake you can make is to have a sales meeting with a prospective customer and not give them any information with which to engage. This means you might have to have several meetings to persuade the prospect, and this could take a long time. Instead, try sending out Lead Nurturing Emails with interesting content that they can look at before your meeting. For example, if you are trying to sell X-Ray equipment to “Hospital Administrator Alice,” send her links to a blog post that gives data on how managers save time with new tools. You could also send comparison charts that reveal the benefits your product has over your competition. Keep strategically informing your leads throughout the process to position yourself as a reliable source.

4. Give post-sales visit content

After your first meeting, the prospect is likely to have questions or concerns. Your job as the salesperson for your Learning Management System company is to answer these questions and get rid of any concerns. You can send out follow-up emails with reports, case studies, or videos that resolve their significant worries. This content could also be used to engage other leads. Getting over barriers using this content will help reduce the sales cycle dramatically.

5. Be upfront with pricing

A primary concern for leads is the pricing of your services or products. Nevertheless, many salespeople skirt around the issue of cost until late in the sales process. This only makes the sales process longer, and you don’t want that. What’s more, if you don’t give the price upfront, you could lose the trust of your potential customers. Being clear with cost early in the sales process will save you from problems later on. So just how do you skillfully offer this information without scaring customers away? Show the value your remedy provides so that the price is considered in context. You can also use phrases like “beginning at $…” or “from $…”

6. Use social proof

Social proof could help you develop your prospect’s trust much faster and help you more quickly close the deal. You can send them case studies showcasing the ROI or influence of your services or product. Be sure the companies in the studies resemble that of your prospect’s company. You could also find a common connection on LinkedIn that could introduce you. This strategy is even more useful than just sending out arbitrary emails. According to the B2B news network, 84% of B2B decision makers start the buying process with a recommendation. You could also invite the prospect to a live event with existing clients. Here, the prospect is more likely to make a quicker buying choice.

The bottom line

Although you may want to only focus on closing sales, it is critical to understand your potential customers. Your sales cycle must be linked to the lead nurturing process so you can position yourself as an expert for your leads, build trust, and increase the chances of them buying your product or service. But this is a lot to do alone. We at Responsify partner with Learning Management System (LMS) sales and development pros to offer strategy, support, as assistance in carrying out these tasks. By collaborating, we help marketing and salespeople purposefully bring in brand-new website visitors, convert them to qualified leads, and then satisfied clients. We’ve helped numerous sales pros like you include Inbound right into their sales procedures. Schedule a cost-free strategy session to learn new ways to engage your leads and shorten the seemingly never-ending sales cycle.