It’s the holiday season! The hustle and bustle of this time of year doesn’t just affect your personal life; your sales can be impacted, too. So many factors unique to the holiday season threaten productivity, from increases in PTO use among clients and prospects to end-of-year spending freezes.

Hit Quota During the Holidays

In an article for HubSpot, Sunny Sandhu reflects on her own experience during the holidays. While it can be tough, it can also be a successful–and fun–selling season. She explains what her own sales team does during this time of year to meet quota, and reps should consider adopting these tactics for their own holiday sales process.

Send A Gift to Prospects

Have any prospects that have gone silent or need a nudge? Send them a little gift (appropriate to budget, of course) during the holidays. “Make a list of hard to break into accounts, leads that have gone radio-silent, and other prospects who could use a gift to keep a deal moving forward,” she suggests. This show of thoughtfulness immediately puts you top of mind. And, by selecting something that is personalized, you demonstrate your interest in them as a person, not just a prospect.

Deals, LTOs and Discounts

Money is on everyone’s mind during the holidays, so it can be a great time to break out any promotions that you can offer. Tacking on a “limited-time” label also can’t hurt. As Sandhu explains, “The concepts of scarcity and FOMO can be applied to the extreme during the holidays — especially if your company is offering LTOs to prospects who sign up during this time.”

Just make sure that you’ve proven value to the prospect and you emphasize that the offer is only on the table for a specific time period. “When done effectively, prospects will be both excited about leveraging your solution (which creates long-term retention) and ready to take advantage of the holiday LTO,” she adds.

Implement Holiday Talk Track Revisions

Reps should always be emphasizing value. And during the holidays, consider shifting your language slightly to include more of a holiday-season emphasis. This subtle shift will, Sandhu points out, “[put] prospects in a good mood while effectively tailoring the value of your company's solution to the time of the year.”

Typically, holiday season-specific objections, such as timing and remaining budget, will be the biggest challenge you face this time of year. You can prepare yourself for these by learning as much as you can about the prospect so you can effectively stress urgency in light of their own goals and needs. Sandhu suggests pondering these questions:

What are the prospect's goals for next year?
How would getting started now set them up to accomplish those goals?
Why is it important they get started now to ensure success for those goals?
What risks did the prospect uncover that they are working on now?
How would your offering mitigate that risk?
What do they stand to lose if they don't get started now?

Uncovering the answers to these will help you effectively overcome common objections that hinder sales during the holidays.

Be Mindful of Timing

Keep in mind that prospects may have a unique schedule due to the holidays and PTO. As a past Sales Fuel article advised, “…be aware and considerate of any holidays that your prospect may celebrate. They may be observing a holiday during a time you try to schedule a pitch. Also, because the year is at its end, they may also be looking to use up any remaining PTO. And, those with kids will likely have them on break as well…Don’t let your year-end sale hinge on dates when your prospect won't even be available to talk business.”

Crush Sales This Holiday Season

This time of year is notoriously tough for sales reps, but it doesn’t have to be. With a little thought and proaction, you can make sure that you still hit quota during this busy season. As Sandhu adds, “Break the cycle of pressure to hit quota by playing into the holiday season and spreading the cheer!”

Photo by NORTHFOLK