How do you know when to move on from a prospect during a sales cycle?

Being able to qualify out fast where the following applies is critical for success - your biggest enemy is time! - Are the right resources keen to engage (decision / money man)? No = ?? - Budget? No = ?? - Why do they want to talk - what is their objective? not clear, no real objective other than education = ?? - When do they want to do it? Current contract doesn't expire for 3 yrs and it isn't a priority project = ?? Investing the right level of time and resource with enterprise customers is key as they will likely at some point want to seriously consider what you offer - use this time to build rapport and fully assess what the effort is worth. Time waits for nobody!

Identify indications of disinterest or a lack of commitment in a prospect. If decisions are frequently postponed, engagement is minimal, or objections are unyielding, consider shifting focus to more promising leads. Continuously evaluate the prospect's responsiveness, adjusting your approach to allocate time and resources efficiently in the sales process.

5 ways I use to create my ICP using AI 1. View & scrape customer reviews from capterra, Trustpilot, g2 and other review platforms. 2. 'Crayon' to keep track of competitors, identifying unique opportunities for your USP. 3. Export your CRM Data and upload it to ChatGPT to analyse your customer base and create your ICP. 4. Use 10-20 call transcriptions from your discovery calls and upload them into ChatGPT. Ask it to analyse the calls and use the Jobs-to-be-done framework to create your persona 5. Scrape job postings from pages like Indeed and upload them into ChatGPT. Have it analyse the problems & goals companies trying to solve by hiring these new people.

Prior to engaging prospects, I craft a vivid Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). By pinpointing criteria like industry, size, and goals, I efficiently qualify prospects, saving time and ensuring relevance.

Post ICP - delivered an awesome Pitch but the prospect hesitates: 1. Reconsider the product pitch and value add? 2. Check for Sales Cadence Accuracy. 3. Follow up diligently. 4. Ask for a referral and any summit attendances. 5. Ask for feedback. 6. Review this particular sales cycle with your Sales Director. 7. If a prospect stalls reassess interest and urgency. 8. Track sales progress against KPI's, use CRM tools to keep your pipeline on track.

In my approach, tracking sales cycle stages is paramount. From lead generation to closing, I monitor progress. If a prospect stalls, I reassess interest and urgency, ensuring efficient follow-up decisions.

Map your standard sales progression milestones from initial contact to close - expected conversion rates, duration ranges and qualification criteria at each phase. Instrument CRM tracking plus lead scoring algorithms monitoring pipeline health accordingly.

In my experience, you need to have a clear definition of every single stage of your sales cycle, this way you will be able to understand how your pipeline is behaving. Clear-defined stages will also provide a clear picture to your team members on how to allocate the deals in the different pipeline stages. In our playbook, we have a guide that details the criteria each deal must meet to be in stages such as: qualification, discovery, proposal sent, commited, etc

Tracking the stages of your sales cycle is vital for effective sales management. It helps you understand where each prospect is in their journey, from lead generation to closing the deal. By measuring the time a prospect spends in each stage and comparing it to your average, you can identify delays or stalls. This insight is key to deciding whether to invest more time in nurturing the prospect or if it's more strategic to move on. How do you keep track of and analyze your sales cycle stages to make informed decisions?

In my sales strategy, I leverage BANT – Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing – to assess prospect readiness. It ensures alignment with financial resources, decision-making power, problem awareness, and urgency for effective prioritization.

I pay close attention to objections and feedback in my sales interactions. Positive objections guide me to provide more value, while negative ones signal potential deal-breakers. Feedback shapes my strategy for pursuing or moving on from prospects.

It is crucial to position your solution customization options and flexibility. Tailoring your offering to meet specific needs can address concerns related to both budget constraints and specific requirements.

Something I would like to add here: How quickly your prospect provides feedback, interacts with you via email, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, is a good indicator of the interest and progress of your deal. Prospects who interact more frequently and faster are those who have more interest

In my sales strategy, defining my walk-away point is crucial. It sets the minimum acceptable outcome, guiding decisions on price, terms, and more. This clarity empowers confident negotiations and avoids detrimental compromises.

It′s okay to walk-away, as a company or a seller you need to have clear those: must-have and nice to have from your customers. If the prospect/client is not matching your requirements it′s okay to stop and move forward to the next one. Remember trying to sell to everybody will only hurt your company.

If I've done everything right up until this point and the prospect still isn't buying I'll take these steps: 1. Did I identify all the reasons this wouldn't close and address them? 2. Agree on a date to follow up. 3. Ask for a referral (this is a great question to gauge what they think of your product fit). 4. Ask for feedback. 5. Ask if there are any industry conferences or networking events their company is attending. 6. Review this particular sales cycle with your director

During a sales cycle its crucial to land the price range early with the prospect. “Oh this looks like a $ 2 million deal. I hope you have that kind of budget. “ Two reactions are likely. “Are you Mad? We have no such budget” If you are very clear with the problem statement and the solution outline you should know the budget range. When you get such a reaction Walk Away. Usually the reaction will be “Just send your proposal. We will figure”. Then you can stay the course. The other thing to watch out for is being strung along. The CIO is taking inputs to present to management so s/he can look good. That’s why you need many more stakeholders to be contacted to validate and confirm that the opportunity is real and deal will close.

In my extensive 14 years of software sales experience, one crucial framework to consider is the "Engagement and Readiness Matrix." This matrix allows you to efficiently assess a prospect's position in the sales cycle and make informed decisions. High engagement and readiness indicate a prospect ready for closure, while low engagement and readiness may signal the need for nurturing or re-engagement. By applying this framework, I've consistently optimized my sales approach, ensuring that valuable resources are dedicated to the most promising opportunities. It's a practical tool that can help fellow sales professionals navigate complex software sales cycles effectively.

Disqualify as early as possible, there are a lot of reps that spend time in the wrong opportunities because they think those opportunities can close. If you are able to understand that the prospect is not a match you can easily walk away and move forward.

According to my experiences if your clients call you after lunch and give priority to other customer than the deal is not yours,this is what I observed with my clients in GULF. Wait never quit You might be having time problems but get your management approval handy. After lunch you will hardly get 30 mins to pitch your self , no need to explain about your company etc etc and waste time in 100 slides just talk about your solution and try to solve there pain point it work and it already work in my 2 important cases although I was there as delivery PM but my account manager really supported me??