If you’ve been in sales for awhile, you likely know the anxiety that comes with the end of the year. It’s pure chaos as you’re trying to close deals while you decorate Christmas cookies or ring in the New Year.
What if we told you that there was a way you could get extreme clarity on all your open opportunities BEFORE December 31?
Our Q4 Deal Accelerator was born out of our founder, Bryan Neale’s, love of efficiency and his even greater love of Christmas. This time-tested tool enables you to close more business at the end of the year and enjoy the holidays stress-free!
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 sales manager) at which point all deals have either been closed won, closed lost, or have a meeting on the calendar to pick back up in January.
Most sales people’s gut reaction is to choose December 31. We teach that your YED-D cannot be December 31. We’re not doing this, because we want you to cut out on work early. Choosing an earlier date creates a greater sense of urgency and eliminates you chasing your customer in the week between Christmas and New Year’s when most people are offline.
Get specific with your YED-D! It’s not enough just to say a date. For example, one of clients chose December 22, 2023 at 3:00 pm EST. He chose 3:00 pm EST, because it gave him 2 hours to process orders.
You may be feeling some resistance to this, because you’re fearful of giving your prospect a strict timeline. While it may feel uncomfortable to discuss your YED-D the first few times, we promise that your prospects will appreciate it. Having a definitive date to make a decision by makes the buy process more efficient for both you and your customer.
Step 2: Rate Your Open Opportunities for Timing
So, you’ve chosen your YED-D, what’s next?
It’s time for 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.
What can be tricky to understand with this audit is that it has nothing to do with the quality of the opportunity. You could be working your biggest ever deal with a great prospect, but they’ve already 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 some sort of 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
You may be thinking, ‘how do I know what category an opportunity falls into?’ We don’t have a magic answer to that. Rating the opportunity is a combination of gut and logic.
Here are a few questions you can use to help with your audit:
- Is this an existing client or prospect?
- Is this a brand-new opportunity?
- Do you have a CFD (Clear Future Date) for next steps?
- Does your client/prospect consistently show up for your meetings?
- Does your client/prospect consistently do what they say they’ll do?
- Is your client/prospect working against their own decision deadline or pending event?
Step 3: Prioritize Your Open Opportunities
You’ve laid the foundation. Now, it’s time to get to work!
It’s natural to want to start with your green opportunities. They are the easiest and will require the least amount of effort.
The issue 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: Fill Your January Calendar
Your YED-D is fast approaching!
It’s important not to neglect your red opportunities. Although they won’t be making a decision before your YED-D, they are still valid opportunities for Q1 of next year.
Start your January off on a strong note by filling your first two weeks back with meetings with your red opportunities.
Get in on the fun! Download your own Q4 Deal Accelerator here.