How Can I Shorten My Sales Cycle And Close Deals Faster? | Donald C. Kelly - 1978

9 snips

Feb 20, 2026

Discussion of why sales cycles are stretching and three macro causes behind the trend. The idea of teaching buyers how to buy and acting as a consultant rather than an order taker. How mutual action plans and multi-threading speed internal decisions. Tactics to uncover individual stakeholder motivations and reduce buyer risk with flexible options.

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INSIGHT

Why Sales Cycles Are Getting Longer

Sales cycles are lengthening because buyers fear making mistakes and involve large committees in decisions.
External factors like economic uncertainty also slow decisions and are often outside the seller's control.

ADVICE

Teach The Champion How To Buy

Teach your champion how to buy your product by outlining a clear buying process they can use internally.
Present a mutual action plan so you shorten delays and set expectations for stakeholders.

ADVICE

Multi‑Thread Early And Use Sales Navigator

Multi-thread accounts early by connecting with all decision influencers, not just the champion.
Use tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to map stakeholders and track engagement.

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You’ve been working on closing a deal for the last six months, but you thought you would have closed it three months ago. Why didn’t you reach your deadline sooner? I’m going to tell you why in this episode and show you how you can shorten your sales cycles.

Why Are Your Sales Cycles Longer?

I’ve found there are several reasons sellers experience longer sales cycles:
Fear of making mistakes
Job security concerns
Reliance on decision-making committees
But remember, you’re a consultant. Your job is to guide buyers to understand why your product is the solution to their problems. Don’t be an order taker. Lead with confidence to help move deals forward faster.

Introduce a Mutual Action Plan Early

The first step I share to shorten your sales cycles is creating a mutual action plan. You go over clear expectations and timelines with the prospect to let them know what their buying journey will look like.

Multi-Threading

There are way more people involved in closing a deal than you think. At first you may be talking to Sally, then Billy, then Jen. Keeping up with so many stakeholders can get confusing fast.
If you don’t have a clear way to track relationships, tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator can help you organize an account map and piece together your conversations across contacts.

Understand Individual Stakeholder Value

Yes, you’re trying to close the deal faster, but don’t rush through the sales cycle. Instead, identify what matters most to each stakeholder involved in the buying decision.
Ask questions to uncover specific priorities and pain points for every committee member, not just your main prospect.

De-Risk the Purchase

With so much noise being thrown at buyers, they often don’t feel safe making decisions or find it difficult to move forward.
Provide multiple purchasing options, bring in testimonials, and address concerns directly to help stakeholders feel more confident.

“Every conversation you have with the team, bring it back to the value. Because the value is going to be different for each individual.” — Donald Kelly

Resources

Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.

Join the LinkedIn Prospecting Course to improve how you use LinkedIn and book more consistent, high-quality sales appointments.

Visit Blue Mango Studios for help in creating podcast production content.

Sponsorship Offers

This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey . We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.