Escape the End-of-Year Trap

Are you caught in the end-of-the-year trap? According to sales trainer Colleen Francis, that's when "you've got pressure from your manager to close deals NOW, while you're getting the put off from clients who want to call you back after the holidays, next year."

"The end of the year is a time when both you and buyers have fires burning bright and often those priorities conflict with each other," continues Francis. "Many times we find that buyers use other priorities as an excuse to put buying decisions on hold. This can be especially bad if your clients tend to be publicly traded companies with a budget to hit by the end of the year."

"We're too busy now!", and "Call me back next year" are two of the most frustrating stalling tactics you'll ever hear in sales.

So what can you do to stop your prospects from stalling - and put a stop to the end of the year trap? Here are 10 suggestions from Francis:

1. Keep your pipeline full. If you have a pipeline with at least three to four times as many prospects as you need in order to meet your goals, you (and your manager!) will feel far less pressure. When you feel less pressure, you'll close more deals. Ironic? Yes. True? You bet. Most closing problems are prospecting problems. In other words you are not closing the sales you need because you don't have enough prospects to sell to.

2. Have a "closing blitz day" at the office or, better yet, arrange a week or month long contest to see who can close the most deals.

3. Reach out to customers personally, on the phone or face-to-face this month. Emails are easy to ignore. Meetings where you are learning more about their business and presenting creative solutions to their problems are not. While you're at it, take your manager with you. You send the message that your client and prospects are valuable to you if are willing to make the investment in bringing a senior level manager to meet them.

4. Make the customer be specific when they stall. "Thanks for letting me know that next year is better for you. What date would you want to place the order?" Or: "I would be happy to call you back next month. Would Tuesday, July 11th at 10:00 a.m. work for you?"

5. Offer alternatives. Once when I was selling software, we offered to split an invoice in two, charging the customer for the software in March and the maintenance in April. Because the payments were split, the order fit better into her quarterly budgets, and the customer was able to make the deal right away. Can you think of a creative way to help your customers say yes right now?

These are just a few ideas you can use to continue closing business through the remainder of the holiday season. We'll be back tomorrow with a few more to keep you busy!

Colleen Francis, Sales Expert, is Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions. Start improving your results today with Engage's online Newsletter Engaging Ideas and a FREE 10 day intensive sales eCourse: www.EngagingIdeasOnline.com