‘Tis the season to be selling’

‘Tis the season to be selling’, forgive the obvious reference to Christmas and let me share some interesting experiences in relation to selling this time of the year.

 

Whilst leading large sales operations, it struck me several years ago that our sales performance use to dip in August and always came back much stronger in the months of September October and November. Not just an increase versus August sales but an overall increase on the year’s sales and quite often a substantial one.

 

So I asked myself the question what’s’ creating this unusual phenomenon and to get the answer I shared my thoughts with my managers, other sales leaders and the businesses we actually sold to and this is what I found;

 

• Business decision makers have returned from their summer holidays, feeling upbeat, refreshed and therefore more receptive, so if this is handled well, you are more likely to get a positive response and subsequent sale.
• Budgets are quite often based on the calendar year or on the financial year. Either way come September, October and November, businesses are well into their fiscal year, so you can expect at this stage the budgets are on track and well managed. This means spending is less risky and more likely.
• The Christmas factor means the final quarter of the year is shorter, because of Christmas and this means buying decisions, which are made in this quarter, will be made sooner giving you a greater chance of closing the sale.

 

How do you take advantage of the selling season, here’ three tips of what to do.

1. Book some time out to review all your outstanding quotes and where ever possible follow up these opportunities and get in front of the decision makers
2. Create an offer, it doesn’t necessarily have to be festive and use this as an additional reason why you need to get in front of the decision maker.
3. Do 1 and 2 quickly if not someone else will be taking advantage of this year’s ‘selling season’.
Thanks for reading my blog; if anyone has any questions, thoughts or considerations with regards to what I ‘ve said then don’t hesitate to contact me.

 

You can also check out our website www.kennedyross.co.uk for further information.

 

Happy selling – Cheers Ali