How to Cut Your Sales Cycle in Half

Over the past years, I had the chance to work with countless companies in expanding in the Swiss market. One thing that often struck me are the long sales cycles.

Not only are sales cycles long in B2B environments but they are often longer in the Swiss market than in other markets.

Here’s an article about why that is.

One of the reasons is that we Swiss require a lot of trust before we do business. In my experience, more than in other markets.

I personally love that, because if there is one thing I have mastered in my career, it’s the art of building massive amounts of trust in a short amount of time.

Trust, Credibility & Likability

In order for two parties to do business with each other, these three things need to be in place.

I need to like

1. You as a person
2. Your product or service 
3. Your company’s vision, mission and values

I need to believe

1. What you say is true
2. Your product or service actually works
3. Your company stands for what it says

I need to trust

1. You have my best interests at heart
2. Your product or service will work for me
3. Your company will deliver what it promises

Tell vs. Show

Now one way of building trust, credibility and likability is through words. That works, but takes a long time and can become very complicated.

Another way is to show them they can trust, believe and like you. 

It’s a bit like the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”. It’s similar here. Showing somebody they can trust you is 1000x more worth than trying to convince them.

For example, let’s say your way of making decision makers believe your product or service works is to show them testimonials and case studies. 

Now that’s effective. However, what’s even more effective is to demonstrate that it works for their specific case. Meaning, generating a mini-version of the results they would get if they would work with you fully committed.

Doing that can dramatically accelerate the sales cycle because you speak to people’s subconscious. So by them experiencing similar, although much smaller, results that your product or service promises, they get a positive gut feeling that tells them to trust you. 

And of course, if you do what you promise, you are worthy of that positive gut feeling.

The Perfect Case Study

The challenge with case studies is that it’s never “copy-paste”. Every situation is different, everyone’s challenges are different, even if they are similar.

So the perfect case study is only possible if you create that case study with the decision maker you want to do business with.

If you are in strategy consulting and you pride yourself in a more innovative and agile approach, then demonstrate that from the first moment you meet with the decision maker. Make that very first conversation innovative and agile so they walk out with that feeling. Their gut feeling will say “They deliver what they promise”.

If you are selling software development and you pride yourself to increase development speed by 4x or more, then demonstrate that. Find a way to show, based on the case of the potential client, how well that works.

A Real Life Example

In the early days of my career, I worked in IT recruitment. I was always tasked with opening new markets in Switzerland.

So on one occasion, I was tasked with building a new branch from the ground up in a new region.

Instead of going the old way of cold calling decision makers and asking “Are there any projects we can staff?” or calling job ads and asking “Do you work with recruitment agencies?”, I decided it was time for a change.

The way we built it up was to first build a portfolio of talents every company wanted to hire but most could not find or acquire. So we recruited these talents for us by proposing to be their agent.

We knew they were not looking for a job but we also knew everyone is always open for their dream opportunity.

These talents became our assets and by proposing them to the companies we wanted to win as clients, we instantly demonstrated that we had access to the talents they can’t find or acquire.

That put us in a unique power position and led to this new branch becoming one of the most profitable in the country within a short period of time.

In Summary

So in order to cut your sales cycle, especially in the Swiss market, and to increase deal sizes at the same time, focus on these keys.

1. Show instead of tell
2. Approach decision makers 1-2 levels higher than you do now
3. Make your potential client the perfect case study

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If you’re looking for some great example messages that have generated meetings with top Decision Makers and Influencers, download the 23 Mental Triggers That Make Busy People Say YES.

Daniel works with high-growth companies to expand in the Swiss market and acts as the cultural bridge, strategy advisor and door opener.

He builds High-Profile Boards, Interview Series’ and Roundtable Gatherings with his clients, to help them access the insights, influence & networks they can’t buy.

He’s also the Founder of LeadersBridge.org, Switzerland’s leading peer-to-peer network for Digital Leaders, to connect on business, partnership and board opportunities.

LeadersBridge is running different initiatives like the CEO Collaboration Day and The Aligned Leader Show, to accelerate Switzerland’s entrepreneurial growth & innovation.