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Year-End Push and Your Role
We’re on the verge of the holidays and it means a lot of schedules get thrown for a loop.
A key insight I share with those who directly supervise salespeople is to make sure you’ve locked down schedules and customer calls for the 4th qtr. before Sept. 1.
If your managers didn’t do that this year, make sure you make a note of this for next year to keep your team ahead of the curve.
We’re now well into the 4th quarter and we have to be cautious that what we do or say isn’t taken wrong by the sales organization.
You might have planned to take time off, and certainly that’s your prerogative, but please don’t play it up with employees. I tell senior management to downplay their own vacation time at the end of the fiscal year.
Many sales teams limit their own salespeople from taking time off the last few weeks of a fiscal quarter or year. If this is the case and then they see you taking time off, the reaction can be negative.
Your role at the end of the year is to be the counselor and consultant to your sales managers, keeping them focused and on task.
Your organization may very well be too large for you to touch everyone, and that means your level of support to your immediate managers is that much more important.
Remember, your managers will take their cues from you. If they see you engaged with them, they too will be more engaged with their people during this critical period.
Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
