Ever heard of conversations about the fourth quarter sale trends? Notice how they tend to drift towards holiday spending and retail. B2B patterns suggest that some revenue is still up for grabs, despite the usual B2C consumer behavior in those final months of the year. Obviously, winning this revenue requires intensive planning and organizing, and using customer interaction data throughout the year. Q3 is just about over and it's time you start thinking about those Q4 revenues and how you can work your way to success.
A fiscal year may or may not merge with the normal calendar year. Also, businesses in the U.S. are free to start and end their fiscal year at any date, but it has to be for a period of 52 weeks.
Towards the end of the year, with Christmas and New Years’ around, nobody wants to work. Everybody is either out on a vacation or in that mood. This is the Distracted Q4 Buyer. Typically there are 6 to 7 stakeholders that reach consensus for the average B2B sales. There will be some who are still stuck at work, but it's quite evident that their mind is put down on travel plans or the incomplete holiday shopping list.
You have to reach your sales goals before January 1st. the clock seems to be ticking away. So what now? Have your Sales and Marketing team pick only on those where there is potential, i.e. contact limited but assured customers/buyers.
What does a sales and marketing intelligence tool do? It identifies and ranks your likeliest buyers, based on the custom criteria set by you. The tool can also identify potential intent to purchase or upcoming initiatives. As mentioned above, there isn’t enough time to contact several buyers, you just have to focus on the ones where you see potential business happening. So, trust your data and predictive analytics.
Most of the time, content creators reserve October to December to see what worked and what didn’t work that year. And they also start planning for the next 12 months. There’s nothing wrong with recirculating and repurposing the best or greatest of this year.
It's the holiday season and there’s nothing wrong with sending personalized greetings. The combine is with the right value message and it can yield results for your outreach team! Personalization helps cut through the “noise”. Why not sweeten the deal with a little giveaway?
When the two departments know that they must rely on each other to achieve success and they see it happen, they will be working side-to-side throughout.
Perhaps you didn’t give much discount throughout the year. But, at this point in time, your “buy now and save” message will resonate the most. You could provide extended free trials, or just say the prices will hike up next year. This ensures people buy right now. Obviously, who would wait till next year when the prices are lower this year?
Social media advertisements are the best. Start advertising on social platforms, and you have assured yourself higher sales in this quarter.
Work through the distractions and it will pay off. You can make a lot of profit in those final weeks, so put in your best efforts. Success depends on how well your team ranks prospects, uses the data that is identified and ranked, and then, of course, the selling.