Sales velocity. Here is how to increase sales whilst making the sales process better

Sales Velocity is one of the most impactful sales metrics and it is criminally under measured. 

So what is it? Sales Velocity simply means, how fast leads move through the sales process. The easiest way to measure Sales Velocity is to look at how much time on average a lead stays in each stage of your pipeline, as well as the time to move through the entire pipeline as a whole.

For example, a company could measure that it takes them on average 15 days to send a proposal to a new lead, and an average of 27 days total for a deal to close. 

They could then break it down to look at what stages are taking the longest to move through. For example, how long are deals sitting in stage 1 before booking a meeting? How long does it take to get the scoping / quoting stage completed? How long does it take to deliver the proposal? And so on. 

Fundamentally, the main thing to care about is the amount of time between the lead being created, and the proposal being offered. 

The problem? Too many sales teams, especially in B2B, think it's fine to wait a week or so to prepare it, that this is the norm, that other competitors will do the same, that it looks professional to wait some time, etc. 

Now here’s the thing. Moving deals through the sales process quickly has helped us at Hashlock close deals at a ridiculously high rate, and our customers feel more valued and attended to because of it! 

So here are some ways to increase your sales velocity. 

Allowing sales people to quote autonomously 

This is by far the most impactful thing I have seen in increasing sales Velocity. If you take anything away from this article, it's this. 

My biggest pet peeve is the idea that a sales professional, after the initial call, too often has to go and talk to someone completely external in order to create a proposal. 

In B2B Sales, the Sales professional should have the authority to quote deals based on their own knowledge and judgment. 

This change alone can allow a sales person to send a proposal literally right after a sales call, or even negotiate live on the call.  

Put a video meeting booking link in the first email

In your first written communication with a new lead, send them your booking link. This will make it easier for them to book a call with the sales person, increasing the percentage of leads that make it into a meeting. 

Use a fast paced communication platform

Emails can hurt sales teams. It is socially acceptable to reply to an email in 24 hours or even more. Simply moving a conversation to whatsapp, text, telegram, etc can make a sales relationship feel more connected, and will get you responses within minutes rather than days. This will win you more deals each month, at a higher closing rate. 

Improve things by removing things! Have a shorter sales process. 

One of the easiest trades you can make is to make your sales process faster with less steps. In this, you are trading touch points, for velocity. Oftentimes, the extra rapport and relationship building is worth sacrificing for a faster and more convenient process for the customer. You can then continue building the relationship after the sale. Obviously you don't want to remove too much, just what isn't worth the extra time.

Other things you can do

• Checking in daily on deals started and proposals sent

• Sometimes sending a proposal without a meeting. With a good proposal, the velocity and being the first quote will have a higher impact on your conversion rate than a meeting would. You can then meet after! This requires discretion. 

• Train velocity creating questions. Eg "I'll put together a proposal for that?”

What not to do?

Don't add time in between the first meeting and sending the proposal / quote just to look like you spent time on it. A lot of firms do this, and the slight increase in how professional you look isn't close to the probability you are losing by not sending it fast before your competitors.