handysales

Enterprise Sales Lead

It's the end of the sales cycle (Oct 31) and a prospect is this close – do you EVER mention that as a way to urge the sale along?

Forgive me if this has been asked 80 times already on here.

Every way I think about phrasing this just sounds cringe in my head – is there ever a case or an acceptable way to phrase an email to a hot prospect to tell them you're up against a deadline and looking for a signature ASAP?

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📈 Closing

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31 comment

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funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

I'm of the opinion that prospects don't give a fuck about our quotas or preferred timelines so I don't ever mention it.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

It's...October. If I got an "end of year" email now I would be very, very confused.

That said, I've sent emails with end-of-year pricing/incentives in December. It's effective if the incentive is compelling enough.

handysales

Politicker

Enterprise Sales Lead

Shoot, sorry – Oct 31 is end of year for us. Updated in the headline.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Well then carry on, savage.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Pretty tough to pull the end of year card with 3 months left in the year.

You need to have a crazy close relationship with your champion or its going to fall on deaf ears unless you have something super worthwhile that comes along with it.

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

I almost spit out my water at your headline.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

lol "hey coupons, ive got a killer deal on some golden straws, deal expires in 169 days so its super important we get this order placed today"

handysales

Politicker

Enterprise Sales Lead

See comment higher up in the thread – meant to clarify that EOY for us is Oct 31. Updated the headline.

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

WHERE DO I SIGN

handysales

Politicker

Enterprise Sales Lead

See comment higher up in the thread – meant to clarify that EOY for us is Oct 31. Updated the headline.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Gotcha - i still stand by what i said tho, unless you have a really close relationship with the champion and are brining a compelling offer you're just going to come across desperate

handysales

Politicker

Enterprise Sales Lead

That's my thought. I try to be obsessively self-aware in these convos (hence the question), but it might be like oil and water in this case.

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

I've done this but on a phone call rather than an email. Had a pretty good rapport established with the guy and everyone was pretty much sold so it was just a matter of lighting a fire under his ass.

Called him up and legit just told him that if we got this signed before the end of the day it would make me look like a fuckin king to my bosses. He signed while on the phone with me.

handysales

Politicker

Enterprise Sales Lead

HOT DAMN SON. That's an awesome story. Thanks for sharing.

Fletch

Opinionated

Full-Time AE/Side-Hustle Owner

I’ve done this once or twice with prospects I built a lot of rapport with. The last one, I was honest with her and told her that if she signed Friday instead of Monday I’d get a $500 bonus and would get to spin a prize wheel. She was so enamored by the idea that I got to spin a stupid prize wheel that she agreed on the condition that I would send her a video of me spinning the wheel.

handysales

Politicker

Enterprise Sales Lead

That is OUTSTANDING. Great story, thanks for sharing.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

You might want to check this to get an idea - https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/last-day-of-q3-who-needs-help-with-a-deal

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Yeah, that's totally fine. But I'd talk about it with them instead of emailing. See if there is anything that makes the deal sweeter for them.

handysales

Politicker

Enterprise Sales Lead

Thanks for the tip – much less ability for them to think I'm being greedy or desperate or something.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Exactly. I've always framed this kind of thing as "just so you know, we're motivated to do something here because of X date so if I can do something within reason to make this decision easier for you, let me know."

Mobi85

Politicker

Regional Sales Manager

I think you can also spin it back on them if they are wanting to implement by X date and you need Y amount of time to get them fully integrated in the system they will need to make a decision by this timeframe. It walks them through everything they need to do and if they go past this set date they would be looking at a possible up charge of some amount. I am speaking without fully knowing what industry you are in and if this doesn’t have any effect on your industry then scroll on past

handysales

Politicker

Enterprise Sales Lead

That's good insight too – we just went through a pricing increase so their quotes are (incidentally) only good until Oct 31 as well. Trying to swing the "come on bro let's grandfather you in" angle.

Mobi85

Politicker

Regional Sales Manager

Yea, price increases typically get people to make a decision….the old saying of “shit or get off the pot” will help with understanding did you ever really have a good opp with them or not.

CloudyWithAChanceOfQuota

Politicker

Corporate AE

I just push the "lets get this finished so that we can onboard you as soon as possible/ship product as soon as possible so that you can take advantage of the product immediately" angle

1nbatopshotfan

Politicker

Sales

Is the person you’re dealing with the one who will sign? Do they need internal approvals? Does the quote need to go to a committee. If you aren’t dealing with the signatory, all you can do is ask for a favor but know that the deal is gonna run its course whether that’s the last day of October or 1st of November.

The main success I’ve had in locking deals in at end of month or quarter is to let the client know the last day is my last day before time off and that I want to make sure this gets handled by me and my team. Tell them you want to proactively line up your implementation team so while you’re gone it’ll go flawlessly etc.

hh456

Celebrated Contributor

sales

dude level with them. 'hey, it's end of quarter, i can make a deal. call me if you want to get this in today.'

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Easy and effective.

Tatertot

Executive

Business Development Executive

I’ve done this both over the phone and over email. Got me 2 deals through at the EOQ. Definitely want to have a good working relationship but I believe people want the best for one another. I phrased it like this : “hey (client name) I am working really hard to finish up this (quarter, year, cycle strong) and i’m currently (at 90% of my goal, or x$ away from my goal) and this would help push me over my goal and really help me as I continue develop in my company. Is there anything I can do to help us get over the line and get started?“

Ball02k

Executive

Head of Sales and Business Development

I’ve used “I’m about to hit my PB and would be very grateful if I can get this agreement in place” it worked, sent him some gin for his trouble

thebuckhunter

Politicker

Ask the prospect what the hold up is (respectfully). If its a done deal and they are waiting on a signer, offer a Starbs gift card fi they get it done before deadline.

If it's a budgetary issue, try some accounting acrobatics to sign now and not start paying until a month down the road.

TrooperJim

Personal Narrative

VP of Sales - Central

I struggle with this same "strategy". I have leaders who try to push the "If you don't sign by 10/31, we can't offer this price". That is complete bullshit.

Imagine someone saying that to you. Imagine going to buy a car, they tell you the next day the price goes up $5K. Would you really buy from that person ever again? Our buyers aren't stupid. They know the games that these Boomers try to play.

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handysales

It's the end of the sales cycle (Oct 31) and a prospect is *this* close – do you EVER mention that as a way to urge the sale along?

31 comment

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You can have the absolute shittiest elevator pitch/cold opener ever and you can still close deals.

It's the end of the sales cycle (Oct 31) and a prospect is this close – do you EVER mention that as a way to urge the sale along?