The Holiday Week Sales Productivity Challenge
Jeb Blount discusses how salespeople can remain productive during holiday weeks.
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The Holiday Week Sales Productivity Challenge
Let’s face it, in sales, holiday weeks wreck productivity. People are on vacation, some businesses shut down completely, prospects put off decisions, and in many cases our heads just aren’t in the game. So what is a high-performing sales pro to do? How can you get the most out of holiday weeks like the week of the 4th of July?
Before I continue I want to make my apologies to our non US based listeners. Because I live in the U.S., I am using American holiday weeks as examples. However, all countries and cultures around the world have similar holiday weeks when it is difficult to maintain our sales productivity. Just substitute your holidays for the ones I have used as examples.
Take Your Own Vacation
As a Sales Professional, Sales Manager, and especially as a Vice President of Sales I was faced with the dilemma of how to keep myself and my sales teams focused and productive during holiday weeks. My solution was simple. I encouraged everyone to take a vacation.
The best way to get the most out of a holiday week is to take a vacation and hang out with your family and friends. It makes sense. Salespeople get paid to sell and it is very difficult to sell during weeks when customers are not that interested in buying or are off on vacation with their family and friends. So why waste time at work? Go do something fun. On the flip side, I think it is nuts to take vacation during times when customers and prospects are in their offices and ready to buy. To me that is like throwing away money. If we get paid to sell then we should be at work selling when our customers are at work buying. So the best way to be productive during a holiday week is to take a holiday.
When You Can’t Take a Vacation
Now clearly there are salespeople who have just started a new job and don’t have vacation time, or who don’t subscribe to my vacation philosophy.
If that is you then you have a challenge on your hands: how to stay focused and productive. As I described earlier, people are on vacation, customers put off buying decisions, and you will find it very hard to keep your head in the game as well. But it is not impossible. The key is to have a detailed plan for what you will be doing virtually every minute of the day. If you don’t, you will just drift and a week later, discover that you accomplished nothing.
Schedule Activities and Tasks
The most important step is deciding what actions will be most productive for you during the holiday week and then scheduling those activities on your calendar. Though the opportunity for sales calls may be limited there are a number of things you can do to set yourself up for success when things get back to normal. Activities I recommend include:
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Research on potential clients
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Cleaning up and organizing your contact management system
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Developing future prospecting call lists
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Personal development activities like listening to my new audio book
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Analyzing your current accounts for up-sell opportunities
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Organizing your office, car and calendar
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Sending hand written thank you notes to current customers
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Developing a time and territory plan
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Setting new goals and creating a Goal Sheet.
I believe one of the most productive activities during a holiday week is taking time to reflect on your accomplishments and setting new personal, career and business goals. Taking time to set new goals will drive your future success and make you even more productive. You can get a free goal sheet planning guide at www.FreeGoalSheet.com.
Never Stop Prospecting
And no matter what, you should still set aside time on your calendar every morning for prospecting. Prospecting is something that should never be put aside for any reason. Even in a holiday week daily prospecting will help you keep your pipeline full of qualified appointments.
Holiday weeks will always be a special challenge for salespeople and it is important that you develop your personal strategy well ahead of time. So, whether you go on vacation or choose to work, you get the most out of your time which will keep you on the path to sales success.
This is Jeb Blount, the Sales Guy.
Holiday Working image courtesy of Shutterstock