We’re now in the final month of the year, and when we combine it with the holidays, it’s easy to simply pass on December and focus on January.
I can’t emphasize enough as to how much business you stand to do lose if you start focusing on January now.
Just because you’ve had a couple of customers or prospects tell you to check back with them after the first of the year doesn’t mean there’s no business out there. The closer we get to the end of the year, I’ll argue the more business there is to be had.
It starts with your competition throwing in the towel on the year and going into hibernation. Hey, I’ll encourage my competitors any time to do just that because it leaves me with more business.
This is especially true if you sell in a very competitive category or sell products that need to be replenished often. Go for it! Keep on pushing just as hard and you’ll find yourself taking customers away from your more lazy competitor.
Second is the end of the year spending blitz many companies are going through as they look to spend their remaining budget or accelerate buying decisions due to their year-end numbers.
Either way it is easy business, but there’s no way you’ll get it unless you’re out there making it happen. What’s nice about this business is the customer is under the gun to get things done and that means many times you’ll have an accelerated buying process.
Nothing better than getting business to close quickly, especially from those companies that normally take forever to make a decision.
Final reason I like selling in December is it shows your prospects and customers alike that you’re working hard to make things happen. I’ll never forget the first year I was in sales walking into an account the day after Christmas at 8:30 AM. They were shocked to see a salesperson — so shocked that I walked out the door with a huge order.
Make this December a big December by keeping on track making it happen. You’ll be thanking yourself come Dec. 31. Best of all, you’ll also wind up jumpstarting the new year!
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.
