It’s that time of year. For most security professionals in the US and Canada, January and February are dead. You catch up a little between St. Patrick’s Day and Independence Day (or Canada Day for my friends up north). July and August are usually slow because of vacation, and now you’re rolling. How much more do you have to sell to hit your number this year? What are you going to do to reach your goal? Below is the best approach a sales professional in the security industry can take to optimize Q4.
First of all, put it in high gear right now. As soon as you’re done reading this, get in the field. You have a seven-week sprint in front of you. Knock out as much customer-facing activity as you possibly can. If you feel a little unorganized or like the wheels are going to fall off the machine, that’s ok – keep pushing forward. You’ll be able to catch up on your CRM, 2016 planning, expense reports, dental visits, etc. the week of Thanksgiving. Use the Monday – Wednesday of Thanksgiving week to catch up on all of these things. (For my Canadian customers, ignore this and keep pushing.)
Ok, Thanksgiving is over and you’ve got a month left to close business. Not so fast. You only have three weeks. If you plan on winning any business after December 18th, you’re in trouble. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, but you can’t plan on it. During the three weeks following Thanksgiving, hustle, hustle, hustle. If you’ve hit your number already, hustle anyway and get in front of new prospects because they’re going to be unavailable until March, remember? I don’t care about your 2016 benefits paperwork or your messy desk. On December 21st, take care of all that stuff. You’ll have two weeks to clean up whatever you messed up, but you won’t be able to get an audience with the right people… I promise.
Sound crazy? Give me a shout on January 4th and let me know how crazy this is!
