November and December are the retail industry’s time to shine. For much of the B2B world, not so much. People are away from their desks due to family gatherings and office parties; deals stall due to budget freezes and end-of-year cuts. It can be quite a frustrating time due for sales executives and revenue leaders.
But we shouldn’t give up because there’s a positive side to the “slowness” of the season. That is, it can be the perfect time to brainstorm new strategies to enhance your B2B sales and prepare to crush in Q1.
Here are some areas you can focus your efforts and reap the benefits into the next year.
5 Ways to Enhance B2B Sales In Slow Season
1 – Sales Training
The end of the year is one of the best times to refresh your sales team’s training. There are several ways to go about this.
One is to have them go through onboarding training materials again. Seeing that old material after gaining experience can reinforce their knowledge. It can also provide a new perspective. For example, the onboarding material can help reps recognize daily habits they’ve formed over time that don’t align with policies or best practices.
2 – Sales Process Enhancement
You know all those little things that came up during the busy season that you didn’t have time to fix? Now that they’re out of sight, they may be out of mind as well. Smoothing out rough patches in your process is one of the best ways to gain efficiency in your sales processes. And now is the perfect time to do it!
If possible, you may want to engage other team members and make a list of bottlenecks in your process. Come up with a solution for each one. Then, split up the tasks so that everyone does their part to ensure implementation. Assign deadlines that will arrive before business picks up again, and remember to verify completion.
3 – Updating Sales Presentations
Are you tired of going over the same old case studies in your sales meetings? Is the content of your presentation outdated or needing a facelift? If so, it’s a good idea to spend some energy on refreshing your sales decks.
Some of your reps might have a creative side. This can be their chance to contribute something different to the company. Or, you can collaborate with members of your marketing department to ensure across-the-board-cohesiveness for your company’s collateral.
4 – Brainstorming Sessions
At small companies, planning and strategic sessions can fall by the wayside. On the flip side, large companies can spend too much time on administrative tasks and meetings related to sales instead of actually selling.
If most of the prospects in your pipeline are waiting for January to sign, planning can appropriately take the front seat with a clear stopping point at the end of the season so you can put your plans into motion.
You can conduct research that will help you to solidify your structure into the next fiscal year. Assess the year’s results. Evaluate what worked and what didn’t. Dig into root causes and retarget.
Some businesses don’t have an appropriate business plan in place to begin with, and if that’s the case for you, make one now. This process alone will be instrumental in fine-tuning your sales strategy.
5- Collecting Feedback
Even more than your holiday cards, your clients might appreciate receiving a call or email from you asking how they feel about your performance. You can send out a survey or make calls to collect data while solidifying your connections.
You can apply the feedback you receive in all of the other end-of-year projects we’ve suggested. It will mean so much more when the improvements you make for next year directly address your customers’ needs.
A final, very feasible bonus to running a customer satisfaction campaign would be winning renewals or upselling opportunities that result from your conversations.
Last Thoughts on Ways to Enhance B2B Sales During the Holidays
By the end of each year, we should feel hindsight is 20/20, and hopefully have a deeper sense of purpose in business, and ambitions for the future.
The B2B world is changing, and if companies have a moment to pause in the quiet of holidays, they should consider most whether they’re positioned for effective selling in the modern sales climate.
Whether this quiet time comes for your business in Q4 or another time of year, we hope you have an enjoyable and productive downtime!