Every November, sales executives all over the world experience a similar feeling of anxiety and dread as they race to meet their yearly objectives.
This period for many salespeople may be a difficult one.
It can, however, be an ideal time to improve sales abilities, elevate conversations with prospects, and fine-tune strategies for ending the year on a high note.
With a few simple steps, salespeople can improve their performance during the critical end-of-year selling season.
Examine Your Existing Sales Pipelines
If you are the sales manager, your end-of-year assessment should include identifying opportunities to move prospects from ‘interested’ to ‘ready to buy,’ and customers who are on the verge of leaving.
Chances are if you reviewed your existing pipelines or stuck deals from the beginning of the year to date, you will find some opportunities to move the deal forward.
This will help ensure that not only does your team meet their goals but also get closer to claiming larger deals for more revenue in the coming year.
Identify Key Accounts and Business Partners
In many companies, this is still ‘the’ period to engage those clients who have been identified as key accounts for the next year. These are not necessarily customers with perpetual or annual contracts but those who were identified as having long-term potential.
These customers may be worth over 10% of your company’s revenue and they should be treated as such – with extra attention paid to what they want and need from you and your organization.
Focus on Your Core Competency and Strengths
If you’re an inside sales representative whose skill set involves cold calling prospects and proactively engaging clients, this is an ideal time to put your expertise to use.
Similarly, if you work in a B2B environment where face-to-face meetings are part of your daily routine, the final quarter is the perfect time to excel at it.
Although there may be pressure on everyone within the organization to close deals and meet quotas (which can affect performance), focus on what you do best and that will help improve how you end the year.
Manage Your Time Effectively
Since many salespeople struggle with managing their time effectively in general, it’s important they make every effort possible to manage their time better in November and December than they did for most of the year before.
Plan when you’re going to take breaks, when you’re going to work on particular projects, and where you can fit in some extra calls or meetings.
By scheduling every minute during the day, you’ll be able to spend more time doing what needs to get done rather than worrying about it.
Create a Holiday Card List
If your company doesn’t do it for you, create a list of key people in your contact database whose holidays you wish to acknowledge in a special way this year.
Finding out when these individuals’ birthdays or anniversaries fall before Thanksgiving is the ideal time to add them with their family members’ names and addresses if possible so that cards can be sent with plenty of time.
This end-of-the-year activity will also help you get in touch with customers who may be too busy to chat during the summer months when sales are often at their highest.
End the Year Strong
The last quarter of this year is about finishing strong and beginning the next year on an even cozier footing than before.
By staying focused, using time wisely, and seeking out new opportunities for taking your game to the next level, salespeople can make sure 2021 is not only a successful year but one where all efforts contributed directly to its success.
To learn more about how we can help you strategize your approach in these last weeks before 2021 arrives contact us today on 09070047686 or send us an email sales@salesruby.com!
