What’s your B2B business’ average time-to-purchase? Do you feel that customers are taking longer and longer to decide on their B2B purchase decisions?
A new subscriber to this newsletter asked me what businesses are doing in the face of lengthening sales cycles because recent trends indicate that these cycles are becoming even more prolonged, presenting a significant challenge for B2B companies.
I can’t answer for every business or sector however I suspect that what many B2Bs are doing about this decision is either minimal changes that don’t affect outcomes or they are doing absolutely nothing about it, choosing instead to shrug their shoulders and say “that’s just the way it is”.
So I thought I would explore some options for small to midsize B2B services when they want to navigate and mitigate the impact of a lengthening time-to-purchase.
Identifying the causes for lengthening sales cycles
Before diving into strategies, it’s essential to understand why sales cycles are lengthening. Several factors contribute to this trend, and they all pose unique challenges:
- Economic Uncertainty: Fluctuating economic conditions make companies more cautious in their purchasing decisions. When the market is unpredictable, businesses delay investments and scrutinize costs more closely, prolonging the decision-making process.
- Information Overload: With the increasing availability of information and the constant emergence of new competitors, buyers are overwhelmed with options. This makes it harder for them to commit to a single solution, extending the time it takes to make a purchase.
- Internal Decision-Making Processes: In many B2B scenarios, purchasing decisions involve multiple stakeholders. Coordinating these decision-makers, each with their priorities and concerns, can significantly slow down the sales cycle.
- Your Sales and Marketing Processes: Yes, are you part of the problem? Are your funnels too slow? Do they not present the case for buying in a strong enough way, or not push buyers for timely decisions?
Understanding these causes is crucial because behind each reason for delay lies a potential solution that can help mitigate the impact on your sales process.
Identify how long your sales cycle should be
There are big differences between the sales cycles of different Industries.
Aerospace and defence, oil and gas, ERP, and medical devices have longer sales processes, from 12 to 24 months, and that’s understandable when you have to deal with high regulatory oversight, significant financial investment, complex technical requirements and multiple stakeholders in both private and public positions.
On the flip side, professional services such as accounting, IT and managed services, and training services have shorter sales cycles, maybe 1 to 3 months. These services are often required due to regulatory deadlines or specific business needs, leading to a shorter decision-making process. Pre-existing relationships and referrals can also expedite the process. These services are often standardized, and decision-making is straightforward with a clear ROI. The need for rapid deployment of IT solutions to maintain business continuity also accelerates the sales process. The need for rapid deployment of IT solutions to maintain business continuity also accelerates the sales process.
Review previous sales and calculate the average sales cycle length. Is it a reasonable time? Has it increased over time? Does it allow you to achieve your business growth plans according to your business plan’s schedule?
Tailoring Campaigns to Match Sales Cycle Length
Understanding your industry’s typical sales cycle length is the first step in tailoring your marketing and sales strategies to better match the expectations and decision-making processes of your potential clients. Your principal campaigns should align with the length of your sales cycle because running out of conversation while your lead is still considering your services can be detrimental. Ensure your campaign answers all the questions posed during the sales cycle, such as:
- Basic keyword-influenced content
- Addressing all FAQs
- Making it easy to compare to the market
- Showing value on all levels
By adopting these strategies, B2B companies can effectively navigate the challenges of lengthening sales cycles, ultimately driving growth and success in an increasingly competitive market.
Other Strategies to Address Lengthening B2B Purchase Decisions
Still need to speed up their decision-making process? Let’s remove some of the potential obstacles.
Reframe your pitch: be more confident, show value, gather metrics
So many pitches and presentations that I read from B2B services usually describe processes and qualifications, which are necessary components. Most presentations focus on irrelevant details, do not show the value of the product/service, do not show client outcomes and they lack confidence.
Introduce new buying options
New pricing, new bundles or buying options, packages, upselling, cross-selling, deadline offers. These tactics are easy to monitor for success and to change if it isn’t working.
Increase the frequency of contact
Many clients I work with share a concern that their marketing will become too instant to bothersome for their customers. that’s the legitimate conversation to have when it comes to both marketing and sales funnels but listen really the Frequency it’s just how it’s done. leads get bombarded with terrible presumptive campaigns arrogant pictures and nonsensical messaging. your campaigns will come across like a breath of fresh air! Relevant, brief and helpful campaigns do not outstay their welcome.
Cut the chit-chat
whilst I do recommend a more consultative selling approach some businesses are just not like good at it and in the end they just waste the leads time with waffle and irrelevant messaging. Try a more selling selling approach which can be a refreshing transparent experience for the customer.
Improve the product
It might be time to address those inherent product issues. The economic uncertainty your lead mentions may not be the real reason they’re hesitant to buy—perhaps it’s because your product lacks key features or doesn’t fully address their needs. If your product has unresolved flaws, now is the time to fix them. Expecting customers to overlook these problems is a big ask, especially when your marketing and sales teams are already aware of them. Remember, if your team knows about these shortcomings, your leads likely do too.
Rethink the selling process
Does the customer have all the information they need to make a buying decision?
Can you remove any hoops that you ask leads to jump through? Can your demo sign-up process be simpler? Why do they have to wait a month for a webinar? Can they get a personalised email in less time?
Ask your leads
Finally, have you considered directly asking your leads why the decision-making process is taking so long? While it can be a difficult and potentially uncomfortable question, it can be highly effective when approached with honesty and professionalism. It’s important to ask without sounding annoyed or pushy—framing it as a genuine inquiry into how you can better support their needs. Even if you don’t get a truly direct or honest answer, asking the question shows that you’re attentive to the situation and that it matters to you, which can positively impact your business relationship moving forward.
