This Week—Q4 Sales Race Begins!

Will you coast to the finish line or do you need to pick up momentum and make sales happen?

There are 13 weeks remaining in this year of 2011—realistically less than 60 actual selling days, if we remove holidays and weekends!

Wow! It's time to pour it on to ensure you will achieve your sales goal—only 57 percent of salespeople achieve their sales goal—which team do you want to be on?

I'm training for a 1/2 marathon on October 23. This past weekend we ran 18.5km. When I hit the final 5km, I was getting tired, my body was beginning to hurt and we were running into the wind. I took a deep breath and told myself "I can do this" (self-conversation!). My running buddy Holley coached me to keep my pace strong and stay focused on the finish line. I love running because there are so many similarities to sales. This last 5km was just like the Q4 of sales! I persevered, kept one foot in front of the other and compared the wind to customers' objections! Within another kilometer, I was stronger and knew I would finish by running and not stopping to walk. At the very end we sprinted—an 18.5km run—it felt so good and I'm feeling really strong and more confident for the 21km on October 23.

So here are 3 sales strategies to "coach" you into sales action during this Q4 Sales Race.

1. Create a list of ideal/hot clients you can secure business during these next 90 days.

• Who did you successfully sell to in Q4 in 2010 and 2009 and even beyond these years?
• Review all your open quotes/proposals/RFPs—it's time to follow up and secure this business.
• Go deeper within your existing clients—other departments, people, plants, divisions.
• What's this new list worth in sales dollars? Compare it to your closing ratio and work your new Q4 Sales. Plan to hit your sales goal.

2. Create a sales blitz. It's time to call all the clients/prospects on your list and set up purposeful meetings with them to discuss their Q4 and begin discussions for 2012. Just like running (the first few kilometers are always the toughest) so are the first few phone calls. I recommend blocking time in your calendar to make at least 10 telephone calls with 10 follow-up emails every week or even every day. Create a compelling reason why they should meet with you—if you are just calling to say "let's meet," it's not purposeful enough.