Reduce stress and guarantee success in Q4

Q4 is upon us: The leaves are falling, sellers are stressing and Maria Carey’s defrosting process has officially begun.

Here are 3 actionable things you can do to reduce stress and guarantee success in Q4:

New quarter, new problems

Remember that your customers have unique problems in Q4, so lean into them. Some are worried about budget setting, others about hitting targets, some are even starting to set OKRs for next year. You need to lean into these unique challenges and change your messaging accordingly. People will start thinking about Christmas really soon, so use that to your advantage to be “relevant” with your messaging. Ask yourself the question “what are my prospects stressing about now, as opposed to what they were stressing about in August?”

Time management

We have 11 working weeks until December 20th, so it’s a short quarter. Now is the time to be absolutely ruthless with how you spend your work hours. You should have 2 modes, with dedicated “money time” and “admin time” blocked off every day. During “money time” we do lead-gen, customer calls, and important deal management. In “admin time” we reply to emails, take internal calls, and update the CRM. Your ratio should be no less than 60% money time, 40% admin time (ideally 66% to 33%).Don’t ever let these times cross over, it’s important that you stay in one “mode” at a time over the next 11 weeks. 

Leveraging leadership

“Hey boss, can you send this email for me please?” - you need to ask this question at least 3-4 times a week. If you’ve got big deals in the pipeline, you need to get senior leadership involved now. Not just because it shows that the entire business is dedicated to the partnership that you’re building, but also because your senior leaders will give you a different perspective on your deal. If you’re selling to a COO, then you need to connect them with your own COO so they can speak the same language. Leverage your leadership team, they love it, I promise!

If you want personalised tips on what you can do to guarantee success in Q4, drop me a DM on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/bryanmulry *

Happy selling, Q4 is one of the most exciting times of the year - remember that you’re supposed to enjoy this! Have fun!

Bryan Mulry (Sales Coach)

*warning - I will likely reply with a voice note