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One way to get the new year off to a running start…
Several years ago I received a follow-up call in mid-December from a company that sells and installs carpets. They had given me a quote earlier in the year, and due to some unexpected expenses I had set the quote aside. It is important to note that the person calling was professional, likeable, and easy to talk to. She made reference to the quote and wanted to know if I was still interested. The timing of the call was perfect, and resulted in a $10,000 order. I can’t say this for sure, but my hunch is that the woman calling was given a list of outstanding quotes, and they were doing an end-of-year cleanup.
Many sales professionals regard December as a poor month to sell. People are distracted by the holidays and less likely to commit to any purchase that is not a Christmas gift. While this may be so, I have found that consistently top-performing sales people do well in December. They want to set the table to “hit the pavement running” when the new year rolls around. If you would like to increase your sales in December, here is an idea:
Write down all the accounts and contact people for those in these categories:
- Clients you are currently doing business with
- Clients you have worked with – but not for a while
- Outstanding quotes that have not been followed up on recently
After you have put together this list, commit to a block of time, and start dialing. You will probably get one of three responses:
- No longer interested
- Interested, but not until after the first of the year.
- Yes, I am interested now
- Let’s just say that the woman that called me had a list of 100 names. If my sale was the only one she made, that means she would have made $100 per dial. That is s pretty good hourly wage! Dig in to December!