Recent years have seen a substantial lengthening of the average sales cycle. From 2012 to 2014, an increase of 24 percent has been reported with the average months of the cycle lengthening from 6.4 to 8.1 and over 90 percent of businesses reporting a cycle of over one month.
What is the cause of this increase? For starters, the economic problems of the last decade have made those in decision making positions fall to the conservative side and less likely to take risks without careful consideration. There are also a lot more people involved with the decision making than there used to be, with an average of 10 or more people taking active roles in deals that are greater than $500,000.
Another reason for the delay in committing to a brand is that there is now a plethora of information available for competitors, allowing more research to be done. No longer does a business rely on the information brought to them about prices and quality. Research can now be done online for price comparisons between similar companies. In addition, reviews can be accessed, giving decision makers feedback from previous users about their experience with the product and company. Modern day transparency offers a lot of food for thought.
Learn about how to strengthen your company in the digital era and shorten your sales cycle with tips at the following infographic.
Thanks to blog.contactually.com for the great infographic!
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