Summer is creeping up on us, meaning for some sales and marketing teams this can be a slow time of year where sales numbers can dwindle. Prospects are on holiday, Emails come back with the dreaded ‘Out of Office for 3 weeks’ and calls go unanswered. It can be a frustrating time for a lot of sales people.
So what can you do?
Well the simple things really; Plan, Organise, Persevere and overall don’t Panic. Stay out of the mindset of “No one is going to answer the phone today” before its even 9am.
Plan ahead of time, do not wait until Summer before thinking of what to do. Start to increase your pipeline and contact list prior to the Summer months, acknowledge that its coming, ask before hand if the prospects are going to be on holiday at some point, when this is and organise your diary and tasks around these times to be better prepared.
Organise your bottom of the list pipeline or top of the funnel sales. Can you organise your data or lists better? Do not rely on just your pipeline, focus on other areas, developing data, adding to your contact list within the same or different companies. Give yourself more prospects to reach out to otherwise it is going to be a long Summer. Building on other contacts whether at the same company or different will only add to the pipeline and help come out of Summer on a positive note
Persevere and do not give up on the prospects and companies because you cannot seem to get through to anyone. There will always be someone available, its just about the timing. Have you considered the referral idea? Could you perhaps speak to other contacts at the business who may not be the correct decision maker but could possibly put you in touch with and help make an introduction to the correct person on their return or give you an ideal time to call and speak to the right person. This would take away some of the cold calling aspect and perhaps make it more inviting for the prospect.
Always be thinking of new ideas and ways to not only increase the sales pipeline but to enhance it somehow, whether that be by getting a direct or mobile number or even just finding out the best time to speak to that person.
These are areas that our clients are constantly asking us for support with as although it sounds simple enough it can be very time consuming, there may just not be the availability internally to carry out these actions or perhaps on the flip side the internal sales team may also be enjoying some summer relaxation and whilst they enjoy the sunshine, need some support to continue building the pipeline whilst the are away.
Whatever the reason, Route To Market are happy to share our expertise and happy to support any gaps within the Sales or Marketing function in any way we can.
