How not to grow sales by Christmas!

  Three B2B sales strategies to do now to ensure you don't grow sales by Christmas! It seems silly writing about how to grow sales by Christmas before Halloween, yet on Halloween day there will only be 54 days until Christmas… Spooky indeed!! And in the B2B sales world that isn’t long at all because the window of opportunity is drastically reduced as most companies we want to sell to are either winding down or totally flat out the weeks preceding the Christmas break. So here are 3 simple tongue in cheek that will help you focus on how to not grow sales by Christmas so that you are not successful in achieving your sales targets. 1. Don't have a plan! If you don’t have a plan to optimise your selling time in the next few weeks you will not get full benefit of the time that is left. Get your calendar out and plan what activities you need to do to reach your targets by mid December. Know your sales stats inside and out. How many prospects do you need in your pipeline to achieve your goals? How many prospects are stuck in the process and need a kick start? Sales time management is key to make sure you know what you have to do to be successful. Use your CRM or a project management software program (like teamwork.com) to ensure you or your team are hitting the activity levels required to optimise your sales potential. 2. Don't have a marketing Frenzy!  This is the time that your potential clients need to focus to buy from you sooner than later. Try creating a very special offer/deal especially if they buy in the next few weeks. You should also increase your social media activity. Try posting interesting white papers, do some more pro-active networking, have a Christmas contest, whatever you know works for you.  Make sure whatever you do you’re in the forefront of your prospects minds without irritating them with too many bombardments! :o) 3. Don't follow up all qualified leads now! Spend your time following up all your qualified leads now… don’t leave them in a pile and do non-sales activities… If you have leads to follow up do it now… you can do your admin and any planning that you haven’t already done for next year in the weeks before Xmas as trust me not many people will be making decisions at that time. Good luck and I wish you well with improving your sales in the next couple of months.