What's the Average Sales Cycle for Meters & Controls Companies?

If you own or work for a meters and controls company, you might be wondering how long a typical sales cycle is. Defined as the multi-stage process from when a customer makes initial contact with a company to when the he or she makes a purchase, your company's sales cycle plays an important role in its success. Of course, it also depends on the type of product being sold: filters, flow meters, heat exchangers, or natural gas can also affect the length of the sales cycle. However, if your sales cycle is too long, you may lose some potential customers midway through. But if it's too short, you may fail to effectively nurture prospects and convince them to buy your products or services. So, how long is the average sales cycle for meters and controls companies?

3 Months

While no two meters and controls companies have the exact same sales cycle, statistics show that three months is the average length of a B2B sales cycle. A survey of more than 1,000 B2B marketers conducted by MarketingSherpa found that 26% of companies had an average sales cycle of three months. The second-most common sales cycle length was six months, with 22% of B2B marketers saying their company's average sales cycle was six months long.

102 Days

A separate study cited by Geckoboard found that the average B2B sales cycle is 102 days. That, of course, is just slightly longer than three months, so it falls in line with the aforementioned survey. This study also found that the average lead to opportunity cycle for B2B companies was 84 days.

Is a Long Sales Cycle Costing Your Meters & Controls Company Sales?

A long sales cycle can hinder your B2B company's ability to succeed. Not all industrial prospects will immediately purchase your product or service during the initial correspondence with your company. On the contrary, most will take time to research and consider the product or service before agreeing to engage or even buy it. The longer an industrial prospect takes to make his or her mind, though, the lower your chance of converting them into a customer. Furthermore, an excessively long sales cycle will consume your company's resources. It takes time, energy and work to communicate with prospects. If a prospect continues to decline your offer, you'll exhaust more resources attempting to convert them into a customer.

How to Shorten Your Meters & Controls Sales Cycle

You can shorten your B2B company's sales cycle by following some simple steps. First, use customer relationship software (CRM) to automate certain tasks like email follow-ups. Second, align your company's sales and marketing teams so that they can help each other achieve a common goal. Third, focus your sales efforts on the gatekeepers -- prospects with the authority to make purchasing decisions.

Another great way to shorten the sales cycle is to know who exactly to call that’s handling a current industrial project. That’s where we can help. SalesLeads provides industrial project reports and new business opportunities as we call and track thousands of companies each year. When a new industrial opportunity arises, you’ll get an email notification. Now you can call and get them into your sales funnel right away.

Keep in mind that there’s always a good balance to maintain. Not too short, and not too long of a sales cycle as this can prevent you from effectively nurturing prospects throughout the sales cycle. You should, however, work to streamline and optimize your company's sales cycle for the highest level of productivity possible.