On Tuesday, I told a room of 20 business owners that the average B2B sales cycle is 16 months and 29 touchpoints.
Nobody laughed. A few looked like they wanted to lie down.
That’s session 1 of 4 done with our Halifax Chamber of Commerce cohort, “The AI Sales Accelerator.”
Chris Johnston and I are running this over four weeks: clarity, volume, velocity, rhythm.
Week 1 was clarity, and it’s the least sexy, most important one.
We talked:
Most sales problems get blamed on positioning or conversion. They’re usually a prbolem of clarity.
What problem do you solve? (Not what do you sell)
What is the value of solving it? (It is normally worth different amounts depending on who you sell too)
What is the attribute map in your market (What are you terrible at in the service of great)
There is no point in volume, velocity, and more conversion if you land the wrong clients.
16 months and 29 touchpoints doesn’t have to be a law of nature. It’s a function of a poorly focused sales effort.
We’ve gotten our own sales cycle down to 3 to 7 touchpoints.
That starts with clarity on who should should sell to.
Three more weeks with this group. Following along here if you want the highlights.
