Many times, customers do not think as far ahead as they should.
A great way to prompt them is by calling them right now and asking them what their plan is.
What you’re doing is getting them to start thinking about the end of the year, and in so doing, it can open up opportunities for you to ask them additional questions that can lead to some year-end orders.
Reason I like this approach is many companies are in a position to move purchases from January or even February into December due to their positive year-end cash flow. Problem is for a lot of companies is they don’t think of this until it’s too late.
Sure you can use the normal year-end sales pitches to try and get this business, but another strategy is to get the customer thinking about the end of year themselves. The reason this can work is it gives you another opportunity to try and secure more business when your other sales attempts have not been successful.
If you think this strategy won’t work for you, I’ll challenge you to use it for one simple reason. Most companies go through numerous ebbs and flows the last few weeks of the year with regards to their cash flow, etc.
I can remember customers who one day said they were done ordering for the year, only to place large orders just a couple of days later. Reason for their change could be one of a number of reasons. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter, but because of the change, both you and the customer now benefit.
For major accounts or any customer who you believe might be in a position to buy in the first quarter of the new year, make sure you’re touching base with them minimally each week during November and December.
You want to be the salesperson who gets the sale rather than having it go to somebody else.
Copyright 2012, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
