Depending on what you sell, the holiday season can be your busiest time of year or a slow season. For B2B sales teams, the holiday season can sometimes be challenging because key decision makers are out of the office, or budgets might have changed, or the prospects’ organizations might not be ready to move forward with new purchases until the new fiscal year. Conversely, the B2B sales game can also experience an uptick in activity during the holidays, in case your prospective buyers are facing a year-end deadline to make decisions about allocating the rest of their budgets.
No matter what you’re dealing with, whether it’s a last-minute sales rush or a slow time of year, here are a few tips to make your holiday sales season more robust.
Check in with “cold” prospects.
People you first contacted several months ago might be ready to talk. Things can change quickly and drastically. It’s possible that something has changed with a cold prospect’s supply chain: maybe one of your competitors raised the prices of their solution, or maybe they failed to fulfill orders in a timely fashion. Regardless of the exact reason, it’s possible that some of your longer-term “cold” prospects could be ready to make a deal with you. Your company might be ideally positioned to acquire some new accounts, but you will never know if you don’t ask. Make sure that you touch base with cold prospects during the holidays. They can be an overlooked source of additional revenue for your business. Even if they said “no” six months ago, they might be ready to say “yes” today.
Re-organize your sales lead management process if times are slow.
If the phone is not ringing and your prospects are out of the office, this could be a good occasion to reorganize your system of ranking and organizing your sales leads. Are some of your high priority “A”-rated sales leads really ready to buy? Are some of your lower-ranked sales leads perhaps closer to being ready to buy than you initially thought? Update your rankings with any recent developments, and try not to take anything for granted when you are assessing your potential clients. If some accounts have historically been big spenders but have recently gotten quiet, make sure you are taking note of that. There are no guarantees in the B2B sales world. You might have enjoyed brisk sales from a given client before, but it’s possible that your business relationship with them has changed over time, or that something has changed within the client’s organization. Make sure you’re not relying on outdated information or making any risky assumptions when you’re evaluating your sales leads. Stay flexible if your holiday sales are dragging, and try to embrace sales leads that are less of a “sure thing.” The holiday season can be a great time to make inroads with some unforeseen new customers.
Add extra holiday incentives.
If you’re in B2B sales, you probably don’t have the same pricing flexibility as a B2C discount retail store with its Black Friday “doorbusters.” But there are still things you can do during the holiday season to get things moving. For example, offer a free demo or free holiday “gift” to any prospects who agree to a sales meeting during the month of December. Offer to add value to the package of services that is included with a new purchase. Look for creative ways to sweeten the deal, even if you can’t advertise the deal on TV or offer exactly the same deal to everyone. Try to find a way to customize the incentives for each of your accounts if possible. Since all business relationships are different, what might be enticing to one of your clients isn’t necessarily going to appeal to another one in the same way. A personal touch can go a long way with a B2B sales relationship, especially in this era of mass-mailings and email campaigns. People want to feel like their business is appreciated and one of the best ways you can show them that is by offering personalized perks around the holidays.
Keep your nose to the grindstone.
While the holidays tend to conjure up images of good food, fun parties and celebrations, it can also be a very lucrative time of the year to put in a few extra hours of hard work. Lots of businesses will take advantage of the opportunity to drive more sales before the end of the year. Many retailers, restaurants, and hotels see a massive boom in sales in the run up to the holidays. If your business is seeing a spike in demand, maybe consider extending your hours of operation or adding an extra day to your work week. You can always take a little more time off after New Year’s when things go back to normal, but the old adage “make hay when the sun shines” comes to mind: when you have steady demand and strong momentum and a great opportunity to capitalize on it, keep pushing ahead.
Lots of employees are happy to get some extra hours and earn extra cash before the holidays, your business’s bottom line will improve, and your customers will be grateful that you are able to help them out at a time of year when some businesses are scaling back their hours. Sometimes the best ability is “availability,” and if you are in the fortunate position of being extremely busy at this time of year, it pays dividends to work a little harder when opportunities are at their peak, and then take a break when things calm down.
Whether your holiday season is busy or slow, I hope you have a peaceful and prosperous holiday and a Happy New Year full of exciting opportunities!