Closing out your sales year strong. Back to basics
For those sales professionals that run on the calendar year, you are in the home stretch. There are 78 business days between the U.S. holiday Labor Day, on Sept. 2nd, and Christmas on Dec. 25th.
What does this mean for you? You still have time to prevent a missed EOY goal.
There are some important dates to remember that seem to “sneak up” on us every year.
Thanksgiving is on Thursday, November 28th.
Christmas is on Wednesday, December 25th.
Now that you have dates down, let’s talk about what you can do to keep yourself ahead.
Avoiding pushed close dates due to missed steps.
Most of us are familiar with being on the sales floor at the end of December when one of our colleagues realizes that the person they thought was signing the agreement is, in fact, NOT the person who needs to sign the agreement. The person who needs to sign is enjoying a work-free, family holiday to Japan until the fifth of the New Year. Panic mode sets in as your colleague tries to remember where this information got lost.
To avoid pushed deals, here are some tips you can take with you on this home stretch.
Ensure a clear understanding, for you and the prospect, of the value your solution or product contributes to the prospect’s company goals.
Completely scrub your pipe. The kind of scrub where you break out the toothbrush getting into every nook and cranny. Be honest with yourself about how things are looking.
Agree on clear next steps in 3 places - between you and your customer, between you and your internal teams and between your customer and their internal teams.
Know what you need from your internal team to close the deal and why you need it.
Identify if internal leadership sponsorship is needed for your strategic/high-priority accounts.
Understand if your champion is a seasoned buyer. If not, who else understands the internal buying process?
Map out a close plan with dates and a responsible person on each step.
Check on vacation dates for the important people on your close plan.
Understand and plan for any recognized risks.
Depending on your industry and sales cycle, this list may shrink or expand but thinking through the details helps you and your prospects work through light turbulence as opposed to flying through the hurricane. This is your opportunity to show your prospect what it will be like to work with your company.
Avoiding lost deals due to miscommunication.
Have you ever had a prospect decide to go with a competitor, only to come back 6 months later eager to make the move? As a sales professional, it’s your job to understand where the prospect wants to go, why they want to get there and then help them connect the dots between how your company helps them reach it. Sometimes, information hasn't been relayed adequately for the prospect to make the most informed decision.
To avoid any miscommunication hiccups, here are some tips you can implement into your prospect interactions.
Identify your prospect’s goals and why these are important. Repeat these goals back to the prospect to clarify them not only for yourself but for them. Sometimes you are the first person they are talking to who understands what they are going through. They’ve never said these words out loud. Creating awareness allows them to be heard while also opening up the opportunity to expand the value they see in working with you.
Establish reciprocity in your relationships with prospects. Time is a non-renewable source so focusing your efforts on the give-take relationships instead of the take-take relationships is key. Set boundaries around when you are going to check yourself to ensure you have all the information from the prospect to move the partnership forward and vice versa.
Use internal resources to provide value. Great customer relationships often come to your company through a group effort. You are surrounded by people who can relay value differently than you do, that can resonate deeply with key individuals on the prospect side.
These all require your emotional intelligence game. This means listening instead of anticipating, developing healthy relationships and leveraging different ways of thinking.
Avoiding missed opportunities to leverage your resources.
It can be easy to get caught up in your pipeline. If there isn’t a formal process at your company to brainstorm and be coached through ideas regularly, you can be left to your small box of immediate information that you hit your manager with during 1:1’s as you rush from meeting to meeting. Expand your awareness of risks, ideas, and ways to provide deeper value.
To avoid letting opportunities slip through your fingers, here are some tips on how to harness the resources around you.
Brainstorm with a colleague who is not in your department.
Schedule a regular group feedback session with sales colleagues.
Hire a sales coach.
Schedule a coffee chat with a mentor.
Join a sales strategy group.
Sometimes these sessions with resources simply act as a reminder to you, giving you some clarity. Sometimes they offer up an idea that you never thought of that you can take action on immediately. Sometimes they spark creativity in you that can help you think of something new and inventive. Stay curious.
Avoiding lost time caused by chaos.
You know the feeling I’m talking about. It’s similar to being on a rollercoaster inside of a tornado. You are trying to eat an apple, pacing as you wait for your conference room to free up, excitedly answering a "we're moving forward with you" email from a prospect, preparing for a meeting added to your calendar 15 minutes ago while on hold with your doctors' office. And it’s only 8:30 in the morning. These are the times when having your ducks in a row counts.
To avoid any additional chaos during this insanity, here are some tips on proactively planning for this time of year.
Create, organize, update and set up your follow up/nurture content for prospects. How else can you ensure that new prospects don’t feel your EOY craze and are taken care of? 2020 isn’t going to hit quota by itself.
Develop a plan to collaborate with your manager effectively and efficiently.
Identify your optimal time, when you are 'ON', and understand the most time-consuming or difficult tasks of your week that you can control. Tackle those during that time.
Help the internal teams that you require to close your deals. How can you and your legal team collaborate efficiently when their workload ramps up?
Schedule in windows of non-negotiable time dedicated to focusing on your EOY pipeline prospects. Making calls, scheduling meetings, coffees, strategy sessions.
Proactivity will be your best friend in these next few months. End of year chaos is inevitable but you control how you handle it. Planning proactively will help you cross that finish line with your arms raised above your head rather than doubled over, limping and screaming for someone to call for an ambulance.
About Misha Bartlett:
Misha is a sales coach & consultant helping empower female founders and sales professionals to overcome challenges and reach their fullest potential. Her method centers around helping heighten their personal and professional skills, elevating their lives and careers.