The holidays loom… Office parties, family celebrations,
religious celebrations, celebrations with friends… Meetings
are cancelled. Decisions are postponed. Too much to do, no
time to do it. The sales process turns to sludge.

The holidays can be a frustrating time for sales
professionals. Telephone prospecting calls end with no
appointment the prospect instead saying, “call me in the
New Year.” Proposals languish. Decisions are on hold.

During that time from Thanksgiving through the end of the
year, how do you keep from losing your momentum and how do
you keep the sales process moving forward? If you are not
able to keep the process moving, January can feel almost
like starting over. Instead of leaping into the New Year
with prospect meetings and starting new customer projects
you are busy following up with all of the prospects who
said, “call me in the New Year.” Here are two steps that
you can use to keep your sales process flowing, not only
over the holidays, but also year round.

1. When prospecting by telephone for new appointments do
not tamely accept the standard response, “call me in the
New Year.” Instead, suggest to your prospect that you
schedule a meeting in the New Year and promise to call to
confirm that meeting. (In the “old days” prospects would
frequently say they didn’t have their New Year calendar. In
these days of palm pilots and contact management software
that doesn’t fly. After all, January is only next month!)
At least 50% of your prospects will go ahead and schedule
the meeting leaving you with 50% less follow up calls to
make in January.

This is what you say:

“Let’s pencil in a date and time for January. It’s not
carved in stone, I’ll call you to confirm and if it doesn’t
work out we can always reschedule. Is early January good or
is later in the month better?”

This way you’ll have a series of prospect meetings already
lined up for January!

2. When a prospect asks you to submit a proposal, then and
there set up a meeting time with your prospect to go over
that proposal. Ask your prospect when they want the
proposal. When they give you a date or time frame say:

“Let’s set up a time for me to come by and go over the
proposal. Is (fill in date) good or is (fill in date)
better?”

It does not matter if your prospect wants to meet in
December or in January. The point is that you have kept the
process moving forward, you have an appointment to discuss
the proposal and you do not have to spend time in January
making calls to follow up to schedule the meeting or get a
response on that proposal.

And remember, on the appointed day, make sure to bring two
copies of the proposal, both signed and ready for your
prospect’s signature.

Happy prospecting, happy closing, happy holidays!

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling,” is a sales
trainer, author and sales coach. Her book, Cold Calling for
Women: Opening Doors and Closing Sales, can be ordered by
calling: (866) 405-8212. Contact her at
wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get her free e-zine at
http://www.wendyweiss.com.

(c) 2005 Wendy Weiss

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