Understanding my sales process has been a long and difficult process. Okay, maybe I still don’t understand it, but I know more today than when I started Creo Quality a few years ago. Here are some things I’ve learned:
- The sales cycle for Creo Quality services is way longer than I would like. The cycle is at least 6 months and in most cases 12+ months. This means I needed to meet prospects 12 – 18 months ago for business today.
- It’s worth the risk to approach medical device start-ups who don’t have funding today for the chance that they get funding down the road.
- Don’t sell services that don’t fit the Creo Quality niche. And I have almost committed this mistake several times in the past 18 months, as recently as last week.
- Find the pain of the prospect / customer as quickly as possible. And realize what the customer / prospect identifies as their pain is seldom the true source.
- Sometimes it is better to walk away, even if the customer needs fit our niche.
- The relationship with the customer almost always peaks at the beginning of the relationship.
So many businesses truly understand their sales process. Most don’t have a process either. Do you understand your sales process?
