I have a love/hate relationship with holidays, especially the ones that we embrace this time of year!
I love the spirit, the music, time with friends and family, the food, the overall vibe of people trying be nice to each other (we give the finger a little less during the holidays in NY) but;
I absolutely despise what it does to people in the business world!
Seriously, I hate it!
What do I hate about it?
I hate the way people milk the ever loving piss out of it and turn, for example, what should be a 4 day weekend at Thanksgiving, into a 7+ day slack fest or;
What should be a week between Christmas and New Years into a damn near 30 day mental sabbatical.
Sales reps rationalize this behavior by thinking that its pointless to call clients (and especially potential clients) because they think its a fruitless effort.
So they default to doing “admin” and “planning” or just slacking!
Why would you ever do that during “Game Time”?
Here are a few BETTER suggestions;
First, make sure you schedule meetings ahead of time for those peak holiday weeks.
Hear me out . . .
If you typically travel to see your clients and prospects, do it via phone, Skype, or WebEx so you can avoid the airports.
And yes, you’ll have a tougher time finding people who want to meet during those times but it will still be easier than trying to reach someone the actual week of the holiday.
You’ll also have more cancellations but still more appointments than you would if you sat there doing “admin” stuff!
Instead of being challenged by a holiday week, LEVERAGE the holiday week!
Your competitors are going to slack and therefore you need to pounce on the opportunities that they’ve left for dead (or hibernating until January 1st!)
Increase your outreach at this time of year but;
Make sure you’re embracing a cadence that helps, not hurts.
Use the holidays to change the “flavor” of your messaging.
How about something holiday specific that could help you clients/potential clients. For example, this time of year I talk about things that I know reps are wrestling with (like what to do to be more productive during the holiday season, finishing strong, goal setting, etc)
What can you do to be more helpful during the holiday season?
How about something fun or funny?
How about calling people to wish them a Happy Holiday and to find out what they have planned?
How about dropping off some cookies, candy or a Santa mug filled with candy and your business card?
A tad more effective than doing admin and pissing and moaning about how unproductive a holiday week is, right?
This next one goes in all caps . . .
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF “OUT OF OFFICE’ REPLIES
During peak holiday/vacation weeks you get out of office replies which can provide you with things like;
Direct line
Cell #
Additional contacts
Work On Your Pre-Call Planning
Why not set yourself up for success for the following week?
Schedule Calls and Email Your LinkedIn Network
I mean, if you’re always too “busy” to do this, now there’s no excuse, right?
Use This Down Time To Learn
Again, us sales folk LOVE to tell the world that we’re too busy for this, and too busy for that;
Your excuse has now been removed.
Listen to a podcast
That audio book you’ve been meaning to dig into.
Read
Or download one of my Black Friday discounted webinars by clicking HERE.
And if you really feel that a holiday week is unproductive, then take some well deserved time off but;
Don’t you dare mentally check out and push your paper clips around your desk thinking its your only option!
And if you work with people like this;
Be a good leader and set them straight!
Please share this post with your team!
This might seem a tad late for our my friends in the US but its actually early for Christmas and New Years.
