Thanksgiving is Over So You May as Well Stop Selling

Thanksgiving is Over So You Can’t Sell Until the New Year???

So often I hear things from salespeople like, “Jeff, what am I going to do? You can’t sell during the summer, because everyone’s on vacation.” I hear that A LOT around April and May each year. Is it true? Not in the least, but it doesn’t matter, because if you believe it’s true, you’ll do everything you possibly can to be right about it.

At this time of year I hear, “Jeff, what am I going to do? It’s after Thanksgiving and I’m nowhere near reaching my quota for 2023. Everyone knows you can’t close business once the holiday season starts. HELP!! Fortunately, I do have help to offer:

GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD AND OFF YOUR BUTT AND START SELLING!!

If you think you can’t close business between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, you’re right. But the reverse is true too…if you don’t use the holidays as an excuse you CAN sell between now and the end of the year.

The thing that most often slows down at this time of year is prospecting. “Why bother Jeff? No one answers their phone, or their email. I can use the rest of this year to get organized, maybe sharpen my skills, and I’ll get going full blast on January 2.”

This is a HUGE mistake. Now is NOT the time to soften up on your prospecting efforts, and here’s why: Unless you are involved in a highly transactional sale, anything you start now probably won’t close before the end of the year anyway. The business you can close in December is probably business you prospected for in August or September and the sales you’re working on probably first spoke with you In October or November. Most of us in sales are working on deals that will close 2-4 months (or more) later. So, the prospecting you do now is to set up your Q1 of 2024, which is just a month away.

NOW is NOT the time to stop selling or prospecting. I guarantee you I’ll close business in December. And January. And February, and so on. Consistent prospecting keeps the top of your funnel full so that you can close business year-round.

Sales is a game of making things happen, so get out there and MAKE SALES HAPPEN!