Most data center firms, especially those in the colocation business, have a VP of sales who reports directly to the CEO. In most cases, the VP of sales is responsible for growing both the quantity of revenue and the quality of revenue (profitability). But a timing element also comes into play when sales execs always want to accelerate the sales cycle.
In this post, we’ll look at three data center best practices for accelerating the close of new business.
Now the data center colocation business definitely has a considered sales process. To help you get your mind around its length and key milestones, analyze the length of your sales cycle as a starting point.
In this context, lead generation is only half of the puzzle. The other part is lead nurturing, workflows, marketing automation, sales funnel optimization, and sales and marketing alignment.
Once we know the average sales cycle length (the number of days, weeks, months, or even years) that it can take a typical lead of yours to navigate the buyer’s journey for the first time, the question is, what can you do to speed up your sales cycle, so high-value, long-term sales close sooner? Or, more bluntly, so potential clients don’t go elsewhere for their data center needs?
Now, you need lead generation in the first place because without effective lead generation, your data center’s website will only be capable of interacting with those who are ready to buy, on the spot, on their first visit.
Here’s a simple analogy. Think about the last time you purchased or leased a car. What would’ve happened if the salesperson refused to talk with you upon entering the dealership’s showroom for the first time because you didn’t have your checkbook out, ready to buy on the spot, on that first visit?
Not exactly the way to build trust and a long-term relationship!
So, two basic steps to this process can speed up the sales cycle. To close sales faster:
To succeed with lead generation that powers the full sales funnel, you have to combine content with context.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re planning a conference session on designing and building mission-critical IT facilities. In order for that session to be well-attended, you need to know (a) who the conference session is for (an experienced data center decision maker or someone new to data center planning) and (b) where that person is in their journey to acquire that skill.
So, to help ensure that the seats are all filled up for your conference session, you need to combine:
If we don’t address context, your website visitors will assume you aren’t listening and hit the back button. Not kidding! Context is critical.
So, this is a pretty interesting diagram and a really important concept.
We’re looking at how to pick the right lead generation offer for where a lead is in the data center buyer’s journey.
At the top of the sales funnel (on the left-hand side of the diagram), in the awareness stage, buyers are researching problems. During this part of the sales cycle, the lead generation offers that are usually most effective include white papers, eBooks, downloadable guides, downloadable checklists, videos, and informational resource kits.
At stage two of the sales cycle, the middle of the sales funnel, or the consideration stage, your targeted decision-makers look to establish their buying criteria. So, what does that mean if you have no lead generation offers for buyers in the middle of the sales funnel? It’s like not showing up at all. Your company is completely invisible and absent from the consideration set. So, if you need to use lead generation to accelerate the sales cycle, use tools like webinars, case studies, calculators, data sheets, and planning guides to help your data center establish and strongly influence buying criteria.
Then, during stage three of the sales cycle, at the bottom of the funnel -- also known as the decision-making stage, your leads evaluate vendors to make their final purchase decisions. If you have persona-specific lead generation offers for the bottom of the sales funnel leads, you’ll be in really good shape...definitely in the mix. If you don’t, no one will look for you, and no one will find you. So, make sure that you take the time to build out lead generation offers for free trials, demos, tours, needs assessments, and custom quote requests.
The key best practice for your data center is always to develop the right lead-generation offers to fill your sales funnel.
If you have a revenue gap -- meaning that you don’t have enough revenue to meet your goals -- it’s critical that you invest properly in the ideas introduced here:
In this post, you’ve been introduced to three data center best practices for accelerating the sales cycle for adding new clients.
What have you found most important for getting prospects onto your client list, sooner rather than later? Let us know your take in the Comments below.
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