This month, the KickStart partners take on the sales cycle - what it is, why you want it to be shorter, and what you can do to shorten it. Janet Gregory brings you the first of a two-part series on managing the sales cycle. Mike Gospe (Persona-Driven Marketing), Mary Sullivan and Mary Gospe (Ruthless Qualifying) provide their insights on steps marketing can take to expedite the sales process.

Best regards,

The KickStart Alliance Team
Janet Gregory: Sales Strategy & Leadership and Execution
Mary Gospe: Direct & Online Marketing, Inside Sales Leadership
Mary Sullivan: Product Marketing & Field Marketing
Mike Gospe: Marketing Strategy & Campaign Development

In this issue:

Shorten That Sales Cycle by Janet Gregory
The sales cycle time affects every aspect of your business. A successful shortening of the sales cycle accelerates every function within the company that touches customers. Janet discusses the sales process, and how accelerating it affects your customer.

Shortening the Sales Cycle with Persona-Driven Marketing
by Mike Gospe
In the race to help sales make their numbers, marketing often casts a wide net to catch every potential audience segment. Unfortunately, this can actually extend the sales cycle. Mike tells how to avoid that trap.

Sales Playbooks Shorten the Sales Cycle by Mary Sullivan
When sales reps deliver the right pitch at the right time, they keep deals on track and shorten the time to closure. Mary describes how sales playbooks provide reps with guidelines on the right conversations and tools to use throughout the sales process.

What's New on the KickStart Blog
See these recent blog posts:

• After Content: Where Does Your Prospect Go Next by Mary Sullivan
  
• The mousetrap the world has been waiting for? by Mike Gospe
  
• Setting up your 1st CAB? Here’s a sure-fire agenda by Mike Gospe
  
• Shortening the Sales Cycle Through Ruthless Qualifying
  by Mary Gospe

KickStart Alliance: Positioning, Lead Generation & Sales Readiness

KickStart Alliance is a Silicon Valley-based team of marketing and sales executives offering consulting services to B2B enterprises and emerging businesses. We've helped numerous companies refine their corporate and product positioning, boost their sales pipeline, and execute sales readiness programs to accelerate revenue generation. For more information, contact us at contactus@kickstartall.com.

KickStart Alliance
www.kickstartall.com
P.O. Box 705
Los Altos, CA 94023