OK, here we are, Q4. Time to get dirty. Pull out the stops. *Do what it takes to make your number for the year.* Get on airplanes! The pressure’s on, team. Q4 is the hardest quarter, full stop. The best sales reps do a few things differently in Q4. Let’s talk about why Q4 sucks, what the best reps do to prevail, and one *free, delightful antidote* you can use to close Q4.
Top 5 reasons Q4 sucks:
You really have 6 weeks to sell, not 10. Sure, some deals close on Dec 31. We closed a deal on Dec 31 last year. But you can’t plan to close anything past Dec 15. Our team knows that our contracts must be with the customer legal team no later than Nov 10, planning to close by Thanksgiving. Customer legal teams are focused on myriad other internal issues before EOY, and new contracts from vendors usually take last place.
If you don’t hit your number by Thanksgiving, it’s hard to enjoy December holiday parties and family activities. ‘Nuff said.
To succeed, you must become a project management ninja. Let’s say “success” for an individual rep is closing 4 deals. If you want to have a great Q4, you must project manage the calendars of about 40 people. For each deal, you have approximately 5 internal constituents (sales management, legal, SE/ technical, you, finance) and 5-7 external constituents (your sponsor, their boss, legal representative, the key influencer or POC contact, contract signer (e.g. CFO), and IT / security). That’s 10+ people per deal. Who will be on vacation when? Whose kid will get sick? How do you sequence the meetings and buy-in to ensure everything happens on time, including the signature? Good luck.
Sales management is more anxious than ever. Get ready for a barrage of texts, Slack messages, and Salesforce Chatter comments, asking you about deal status and next steps. I haven’t met a rep who has enjoyed this degree of proctology. But as they say, “it is what it is,” as sales leaders are justifiably concerned about their own success. And their success depends on yours.
Customers know you’re under pressure, and they use it to their advantage. Savvy buyers will expect you’ll have a lot more wiggle room on price the closer it gets to the ball dropping in Times Square. They’ll cancel or reschedule meetings, and pretend not to have received emails/ information.
