What Are You Buying This Holiday Season?

We’re officially in the holiday season and I find it fascinating from a business and sales perspective.  I hear frequently that “it’s slow out there,” “no one is around,” “not much happens in sales this time of year.” But is that true? Is it absolutely, 100% true? How do you know?

My observation is that the best salespeople- people in general- “zig” when everyone else is “zagging.” Here’s what I mean: while the masses of salespeople have already bought and paid for the excuses listed above, the best salespeople aren’t buying. They’re thinking, “Okay, some potential customers may not be around but there are plenty of people to talk to. Yes, it may be slower, but there’s still business being conducted. “

Most salespeople also buy the “call me after the holidays “excuse. This is a very common brush-off this time of year to get rid of pesky salespeople. Often potential buyers are just being nice when they say this. They’re not really interested in speaking with you now or in January as they don’t have a compelling reason to. Good salespeople don’t melt when they hear this. They dig deeper to see if they can potentially help the buyer or not.

Unfortunately, too many salespeople buy all these excuses and choose not to prospect during the holidays. Not the good ones. They decide (yes, it’s a decision), “I’m going to double down on my prospecting efforts so I have a full pipeline and hit the ground running on January 3rd.  When the other salespeople are just getting back at it, I’ll be writing business.”

The holidays also provide us opportunities to be around other people. Is your next client standing next to you at your neighbor’s holiday party? Could these people introduce you to the right person? Or, could you help them in some way?  Active people get lucky. Engage in friendly conversations, be curious about the other person and what they do. You never know when and where you might have a game changing conversation.

So are you buying holiday excuses or are you buying there’s people around for me to have sales conversations with? It’s a choice. What are you choosing?