4 Ways Marketing Automation Shortens Sales Cycles
How long is your company’s sales cycle? Two weeks? Six Months? A year? Brand leaders in the B2B space constantly seek ways to shorten their sales cycles. Many have found that a marketing automation platform helps to reduce the number of days to close. Why? Here are four of the most popular feedback points we get when we talk with our markets.
“Some leads are deeper in the funnel.” Not all leads are at the same stage of the buying cycle. Some come to your brand fully educated about the solutions they seek; others just starting to explore their options. Through consistent, automated outbound messaging, your brand’s presence is continuously in the market. Marketing messages can be varied – and personalized. Automated personalization is one way to connect faster so qualification can move swiftly, shortening the “get to know you” phase. Using marketing automation, marketers are able to manage leads at different stages of the buying cycle, which provides the sales team with a continuous pipeline of leads.
“You can fire on all cylinders.” Marketing automation allows marketers to easily connect through more channels simultaneously. Email, social, PPC, and search can be integrated under one campaign, which increases the ability to “flood” your leads by connecting channels and delivering escalating engagements. Response rates can be quickly analyzed so agile companies can adjust practices quickly. Multi-channel campaigns that offer incrementally higher value can be deployed alongside campaigns that simply introduce your solution.
“Makes our sales agents hungry.” Sales likes quality leads. It’s the same in every organization. Marketing automation allows sales agents to focus on the hottest prospects in the pipeline. This usually means the ones that are most qualified to buy and most knowledgeable about your solutions. Nurturing campaigns and scoring features qualify how ready prospects are so sales people aren’t wasting valuable time chasing leads that aren’t ready to buy. Less waste leads to shorter buying cycles.
“Leads are going to the right people.” Let’s face it – not every sales rep is good for every lead. Marketing automation distributes leads effectively assigning ownership to the most appropriate sales person who can respond quickly and close fast. Lead assignment can be set upon first touch or somewhere during the qualification period. Getting the leads into the right rep’s hands can shorten the cycle by several days to several weeks.
