I’m concerned about my sales dropping over the Christmas break. Got any tips?

I live by this maxim: “Chance favours the prepared.” We all know the festive season and corresponding break is looming, yet I’m staggered by the amount of salespeople I speak with that don’t have an end of year strategy. Be prepared for this period well in advance and don’t wait until December to think about it.

If you’re in retail and your offer is relevant, then Christmas is a busy period and you will need to have plenty of the right stock at the right price and all hands on deck. Conversely, if your product or service is not relevant, you will find the dip between early December and late January a challenging one. Some businesses find the dip deeper and longer than these two months and severely reduce costs and resources accordingly. Suffice to say, Christmas is a tough time if you don’t have the right strategy.

You must plan or you plan to fail. My end of year strategy is not too dissimilar to my beloved AFL football. In AFL the third quarter is known as the Premiership quarter. Those that follow AFL will know the game consists of four quarters and the team that captures momentum in the third quarter carries this energy into the final quarter and has a greater chance of winning the game. The sales game is much the same.

If you lose momentum over the Christmas break, it’s hard to regain in the short-term. As a consequence your third quarter starts poorly thus reducing your ability to kick your New Year off with a bang. The third quarter is notoriously the period that salespeople lose momentum and enthusiasm, and is also the highest turnover period for salespeople for those reasons. Christmas is such a critical period to get right because it sets up your third quarter and run home to the end of financial year.

Sales tips for overcoming the Christmas dip:

• Next year, plan in advance (initiate your Christmas strategy in July).
• Create urgency in October and set up opportunities for December and January.
• Leverage this time of year with cheer – extra value and a compelling end of year offer.
• Have all sales hands on deck in December and January to ride out the dip.
• Take a break in February once you’re past the dip. (You may never afford a better holiday).
• Don’t use the dip as respite, initiate your plan and setup your premiership quarter.

When the New Year hits make sure your plan is well underway. Don’t just survive Christmas – thrive. This is the time of year you don’t want to be overcoming apathy and working with zero strategy, or worse relying on luck to get you through.

You’re better than that – put on your Santa hat early and have a jolly crack!