Q4 Quick Tips – 3 Ways to Boost Sales

As we collectively cross Q3 off our lists and fall (literally) into October, the tendency for some sales organizations is to set the cruise control through December and begin focusing efforts on sales objectives for the coming year.

But why waste valuable time? The way we see it, the more productive the end of the year, the better positioned you’ll be to hit the ground running and tackle those objectives on the horizon for 2014.

Here are 3 Ways to Boost Sales and End the Year on a High Note

1) Conduct Internal Account Reviews

Now is a great time to review and study each account. Drill down deep. Look to determine whether certain buying habits or cycles may have developed over the past year (or over the past handful of years).

What were your customers doing last year at this time? Were they stocking up on your products or enlisting your services? Find behavior patterns that can help your team make the most of the last quarter.

Also, do you have record of the sales tactics that worked for certain customers – and those that didn’t? Now is the time to sharpen all of your records making sure your team is in the best possible position and armed with the most quality information to start 2014.

2) Enlist Sales Training

Instead of giving the sales team down time during the upcoming holiday season, why not take the opportunity to improve or fine tune their skills? Consider it sales spring training…in the fall.

Tailored private training can help your organization hone in and work out any specific system kinks that may have developed during the past year. In other words, push the reset button and get your whole sales team back on the same page.

Another option is a public sales training workshop. This can be a quick, convenient and effective way to equalize your team – reinforcing the skills of your more senior sales professionals and helping to develop proper fundamentals for your less experienced sales team members. In both cases, off-site public sales training workshops can be a great morale booster and team-building exercise, setting an extremely positive tone for the new year. View upcoming public sales training workshops in your area.

3) Leave No Stone Unturned

Do you have customers that you were never able to connect with, or perhaps a customer that you put off for one reason or another during the year? This is the time to reach back out and see what magic you can still work. Why not – what do you have to lose at this point? Leave no stone unturned and no unfinished business on the year.

This tactic is also a great group activity. Ask your team to make a list of customers who have somehow eluded them this year – a sale they have just not been able to close (you know every sales rep has at least one customer that comes to mind). Get the team together and take a group approach to solving each person’s sales problem. It’s likely that someone will be able to point out what has been going wrong with the account and can present a better approach – one that hadn’t been considered before.

As we all know, time is money, so don’t waste yours! Make the most of this last quarter. And look for more Q4 sales tips to come.

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