This article has been adapted from a two-part post by @claudiomkd which you can find here:  Part1 and here: Part2  

Reducing the sales cycle with laser-focused value propositions

If one thing I learned about B2B markets during my career is that business-to-business models, although very monetarily rewarding, can pose two huge challenges for sales & marketing organizations:

1. Sales cycles can be very long, taking months or even years to close a deal
2. Typically, the customer lifetime value (LTV) is relatively short due to high competition and pricing wars

There is a conflict here between the sales cycle and LTV, which can only be mitigated by minimizing the sales cycle and establishing a long-term customer lifetime value.

Beyond all product features and benefits, you always have to design your value proposition in a way that minimizes the sales cycle and establishes a long-term customer LTV.

Designing value propositions is one…