The holiday season is filled with indulgent food, joyful family time, and cheerful decorations. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Except, when it comes to customer engagement.
There are five weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. During these five weeks, it’s common for CSMs to run into the “holiday excuse.” Customers use the inevitable chaos of the holiday season as an excuse to dodge meetings and put off signing contracts. They say, “Call me in the new year, and I’ll get the contract signed.”
What happens then is that the “holiday excuse” becomes the “new year excuse.” Suddenly, the refrain is that they’re behind from the holidays and can’t commit until February. Just like that, you’ve wasted two full months chasing.
To avoid chasing your customers for renewals and upsells during the holiday season, try using Blind Zebra’s Q4 Deal Accelerator. This simple tool will help you get extreme clarity on all your open renewals and upsells. Having this clarity will allow your customers (and you) to enjoy the holiday season!
Step 1: Pick your YED-D
YED-D stands for “Year End Decision Date.” Your YED-D is a date chosen by you (or your manager) at which point all deals have either been closed won, closed lost, or scheduled to pick back up in January.
The key here? The YED-D is not December 31. Most people left alone will default to the 31st. Picking an earlier date creates a greater sense of urgency and eliminates you chasing your customer in the days between Christmas and New Year’s.
We recommend choosing the Friday before the week that has Christmas in it. Our reasoning is that not much deal movement tends to happen the week of Christmas. Lots of people are out of the office, and those who are working are likely vacationing at their desks.
This comes down to efficiency. Having a definitive date to make a decision by makes the renewal process more efficient for both you and your customer.
Step 2: Rate Open Renewal/Upsell Opportunities for Timing
Once you’ve chosen your YED-D, the next step in the Q4 Deal Accelerator is to conduct an opportunity audit. This is an audit solely for the timing of the opportunity. You are ranking your opportunities based on their likelihood to make a yes or no decision by your YED-D.
It’s important to understand that this rating has nothing to do with the quality of the opportunity. You could have a massive upsell opportunity with your top client, but they have told you that they can’t make a decision until mid-January. That opportunity would be categorized as red for timing.
Another key thing to understand is that you are rating opportunities based on the likelihood of reaching an outcome by your YED-D. Notice, we didn’t say a positive outcome. Green deals aren’t just those that we think will say yes by the YED-D, but also those we think may tell us no.
Here is the ranking system to use for the Q4 Deal Accelerator:
- Green = 85% probability of Yes/No decision by YED-D
- Yellow+ = 55% – 84% probability of Yes/No decision by YED-D
- Yellow- = 25% – 54% probability of Yes/No decision by YED-D
- Red = Less than 25% probability of Yes/No decision by YED-D
Step 3: The Priority Grid
Now, you’ve categorized your open renewal and upsell opportunities and have brightly colored Excel spreadsheet. Here’s where you take all that work and put it into action.
It’s human nature to start with the easiest task. That’s why most people’s default is to start working on their green opportunities. These are the opportunities that are already moving along on their own and are likely to get to a yes or no by the YED-D.
The problem with starting with the greens is it allows your yellow + and yellow – deals to slip between the cracks. That’s why you start by working your yellow deals. These deals will undoubtedly require more energy and work then your green deals. You’ll likely have to follow up more frequently, chase meetings, and send reminders to sign the contract.
By prioritizing your energy on your yellow deals, you will close more of these opportunities than if you’d started with your greens. And, it’s likely while you were putting in the work on the yellows that the greens took care of themselves.
Step 4: Work to Clarity
It’s easy to fall into the trap of only working to get a “yes” on your renewal or upsell. As you use the Q4 Deal Accelerator, readjust your goal to work to clarity. Your goal is not to get as many deals to a “yes” as possible. Instead, your goal should be to get as many decisions as possible.
As you work through the accelerator, your number of yellow + and yellow – deals should start to drop. Your aim is to get as many yellows turned to greens or reds as possible. As you start to work on your green opportunities, your focus should be getting those deals to close won or closed lost by the YED-D.
By the time your YED-D rolls around, our hope is that your spreadsheet is totally empty. Every single renewal or upsell has either been closed won, closed lost, or has a calendar date set for January.
Download the Q4 Deal Accelerator template here!