punishedlad

Business Development Team Lead

Tycoon

Big Shot

Politicker

End of year push.

December.

It approaches.

That time of year when new opportunities are hard to come by. When the team puts their heads together and their noses to the proverbial grindstone to try anything and everything in order to get their numbers up before EoY.

What are your top strategies for bringing those deals across the finish line before the books close on another year?

How are you bringing in new opportunities when most everyone else in the business world is checked out?

How do you avoid burnout when you yourself want to check out?

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20 comments

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antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I just remind myself that January is going to suck if I don't keep going.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

#makeJanuarygreat!
If we give up now we just screw our future selves

punishedlad

Tycoon

Business Development Team Lead

Oh yeah, I didn't mean to imply that anyone should sit on their laurels during December. It's just notoriously a slower month for net new opportunities, so I was wondering if anyone had tips for overcoming that.

BourbonKing

Valued Contributor

VP of Sales

This time of year more than ever it's important to have solid "next steps" for every deal in your pipeline: date and time, on the calendar, yours and theirs. Leave nothing to chance. Discuss holiday plans ("When are you going to be out of the office? Here's when I'll be out of the office."). Anticipate what could go wrong and cause your deal to push into next year. Structure your closing plan so that it doesn't come down to the last day of December (give yourself room to pivot when the shit hits the fan).

punishedlad

Tycoon

Business Development Team Lead

This is solid advice. I sell into education, so the deadline is even sooner than December 31st. If it doesn't close before winter break, it's not going to close until January. My company actually does a PTO blackout between Thanksgiving and Winter Break to focus on getting things done. We get the 23rd-2nd built into our time off, so can't really complain.

hh456

Celebrated Contributor

sales

Q4 ends today actually.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Close everything before Thanksgiving ;)

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I always aim weeks out from when I “need” the deal. That way I have some time when things inevitably go sideways.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Our performance is quarter wise so I tend to push hard to have strong Oct/Nov. Depends upon the conversation I have with my prospects, I strategize my year end opps - if things are under my control I definitely leverage that I.e. budget, terms, additional post sales benefits etc. If things are not in my control, I can only wait for the right time Vs. being too too pushy.

punishedlad

Tycoon

Business Development Team Lead

Yeah we definitely go hard on the end of year "special pricing" to try and bring things across the finish line.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

I handle net new but if pricing is the strategy and you also farm existing clients for an upsell, great possibility that you will hear back from many without much effort.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

I push hard for exec alignment, get my VPs involved and even messaging their leadership in between meetings.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

Nice!!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Sales never sleeps. I’m always working on something, even if it’s moving at a more leisurely pace at the moment. Definitely need to set myself up for success in 23. :)

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

I respect the hell outta you.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Thanks, Foxy! I have to remind myself sometimes and fight my natural tendency to ease up.

activity

Politicker

VP, Business Development

Being disciplined and doing the what needs to be done on a daily basis adds up over the year. Generally, the people who have been disciplined with their activities through the year don't need to push hard. Deals naturally close.

punishedlad

Tycoon

Business Development Team Lead

I came on with my current employer about 5 months ago, so it's been a lot of pipeline building since then. Haven't had the whole year to get things cooking yet. I have managed to bring 5 deals across the finish line already.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

"I deserve a great New Year party" and I also deserve a great start to the new year. That's what I tell myself. I usually pivot towards building a pipeline during this time. A very strong and reliable pipe.

JustGonnaSendIt

Politicker

Burn Towns, Get Money

My financial year ends at the end of October. Yay tech.

So the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's is pretty slow.

But also it doesn't wig me out because January is also in Q1, and customers seem to come back with a fury to get stuff going mid-January.

I use this time to recalibrate my expectations based on new quotas/accounts, and to take some downtime around the holidays.

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punishedlad

End of year push.

20 comments

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