The holiday season is one of the hardest seasons to close deals. For the simple reason that your targets are taking the time to go on vacation. I mean can you blame them? Sales representatives are under the constant pressure of closing the quarter strong. To sell during the holiday season you have to adjust your sales approach differently. The holiday season presents a small window of opportunity that requires precise planning you're looking to close a deal before the years are over. If ending your year on a high note is your goal, leverage these four tactics to sell during the holiday season.
Determining your key dates can be a difference-maker if you are looking to close a few deals before the year is over. With the last quarter of the year having two major holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, you should try planning your sales activities around these holidays and set yourself up with the best chance to close a deal before the year is over. For example during Thanksgiving, the business has the tendency to slow down on Tuesday companies aren’t open the day after Thanksgiving, so you’d want to prioritize reaching around Monday and Tuesday of that week to have your sales conversations. Key dates always give you transparency as to how much time you have to complete your objectives.
December is one of the hardest months to sell in for the simple reason that most employees and decision-makers take an early vacation to spend time with their families. Ideally, you want your cut-off month to be around between the 10th and 14th. That gives you the November and half of December to reach new prospects and push the ones you have to the finish line. This would be a great time to leverage the tactics you have planned. If you are looking to offer a discount on your product or service, make sure you set your expiration date to be before your December cut-off. That way when you introduce your discount terms to your prospect and they ask for a few weeks to decide, you can say “No problem, but this discount will expire on December 1st.” Having the end of the year close can help you manage expectations with your team and keep everyone accountable.
Setting expectations for your team is a key tactic to selling during the holiday season. Look at your pipeline and determine the leads you are most likely to close. Once you’ve identified them, create a plan to get them to the finish line. You’ve already identified your key dates, so now you have your timeframe as to how you want to close your deals. Make sure that you are in constant dialogue with your likely prospects. Nurturing your leads is important to establishing a relationship and ultimately a partnership. If they respond to you with phrases like “we’d like to move forward” or “what are the next steps?”, map out how quickly you can get them onboarded. When mapping out your onboarding process, plan for any possible pushbacks or technical difficulties so you can fix things in a timely fashion. Once you have your sales process mapped out for your favored leads, put your plan in motion. Make sure you are always following up and pushing the process forward.
Closing new opportunities in mid-to-late December is very tough. If I’m being honest, it can be damn near impossible. If you have prospects looking to start a trial or have a late demo in December, push the chat to connect in early January. Most businesses use the last month of the year to plan out their budget for the new year. Some companies will even start planning earlier in November. Pushing your new opportunities helps you start off the new year strong. It also allows you to focus on the current opportunities you have in your pipeline that you need to get to the finish line.
Although there is a small window for selling during the holiday season, look at it as a time to nurture your best prospects. Look at the ones you have the highest chance of closing and throw everything you can at them to get to the finish line. While you might not close all of your prospects, you’ll develop a dialogue with them that you can carry into the next year. New year’s always provide a fresh start and a great conversation starter to pick up where you left off during the holiday season.
