Hot Tips for Crushing Your Q4 Sales Targets

4 MIN. READ

 As the year marches steadily toward its close, industrial B2B salespeople find themselves at a critical juncture. The calendar may suggest summer's grasp lingers, but in reality, the fourth quarter looms large on the horizon. This final stretch of the year brings with it unique challenges and opportunities, making it a season of immense significance for those in the sales arena. Success in Q4 hinges on preparedness, adaptability, and a keen understanding of the shifting dynamics that define this period.

What Makes Q4 So Special (& So Profitable)?

The fourth quarter is a time of year when everyone seems to be closing the deal, and there are a few different reasons why this holds true year after year:

1. Buyers have excess budget to spend

Managers spend the first part of the year trying to figure out what their spending priorities will be and the months in the middle trying not to run out of money before the fiscal year is up. That often leaves excess budget at the end of the year that managers can spend. So, they begin to shift money around from various parts of the budget where there is extra to find the money for a priority that wasn’t in the budget or might not have been feasible earlier in the year.

2. Budgeting policies encourage spending over saving

For many companies, budgeting policies are more likely to encourage spending versus saving. As finance departments approve proposed budgets for the coming year, many will base next year’s budget on the total amount that the department spent that year. Leaders know that failing to spend their surplus could mean budget cuts for the coming year, so they instead encourage teams to spend it all.

3. Priorities and situations change throughout the year

The product or service you are selling might not be at the top of a company’s priority list early on in the year, but as things evolve, they may come around and see it as more valuable. Managers leave, people get moved around in leadership positions and new hires come on that might be better champions to push for what you are selling.

Why Salespeople and Prospects Behave Differently in Q4

For both salespeople and prospective customers, this is a time when behavior often changes, so it's a chance to crush sales targets in Q4.

Sales teams are now laser-focused on closing out the year by achieving a big sales goal or hitting the ambitious annual target that you set at the beginning of the year, which means most salespeople are now pulling out all the stops to make sure they hit those goals. Your team will usually be incentivized to offer better prices, throw in a few extras or find other ways to sweeten the deal to get someone to sign on the dotted line.

Your buyers, on the other hand, are probably conditioned to wait (especially on bigger purchases) because they know that salespeople want to hit their sales targets and might be willing to offer better discounts or added bonuses.

7 Steps to Take Today to Crush Sales Targets in Q4

The fact that most salespeople can expect a big Q4 doesn’t mean that everyone can just sit back and wait for the sales to roll in. To maximize sales in the final quarter, you have to have a clear plan in place to turnthose big goals into a reality.

Step 1: Know what you want to achieve

Set a goal today for what you want to hit in the fourth quarter that is realistic but that also pushes you and your team to reach for more sales this year. Consider breaking it down into weekly or even daily targets to encourage people to close deals through the entire fourth quarter and not just in the last few weeks.

Step 2: Be strategic with your time

Between Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and all the other holidays in Q4, you won’t even have the full 90 days to reach out to your sales prospects. Look at the calendar and create a plan for each week to connect with, nurture and close all your sales prospects.

Step 3: Address your weaknesses

Schedule a time to talk to your supervisor, sales leader or mentor about your current performance and your Q4 plan. Ask them to help you identify where you are struggling and have them provide strategic guidance to help you overcome these challenges.

Step 4: Use multiple outreach strategies

Use all the avenues you have to connect with prospects that are far enough along in the sales process to realistically close by the end of the year. Crush sales targets in Q4 by:

• Categorizing your existing leads into three categories (top, middle and bottom of funnel, or whatever metric you use).
• Sending out a friendly email to leads who you think are in the middle-bottom funnel stages and could be ready to make a deal.
• Hosting a webinar to connect with several prospects at the same time, remind them what your product can do and use it to gauge interest.
• Making personal phone calls to your top leads.

Step 5: Always ask for their business

This should definitely be part of your strategy all year, but it’s especially important in the fourth quarter to be ready to ask someone to take the next step. If you have done all the work along the way, this should be an easy commitment for your sales prospects to make.

Step 6: Partner With a Trusted Data Provider

Ready to crush sales targets in Q4 to achieve the best quarter of the year? Build your pipeline of leads and find new customers with an IndustrySelect subscription, with information and contacts for 460,000 industrial companies and one million executives. Click here to try out a free demo. 

Step 7: Scale Your Team’s Success

Using a trusted data provider like IndustrySelect can yield literally thousands of quality industrial leads for you to pursue. But if your team doesn’t have the time or resources to make thousands of cold calls, an outside appointment-setting service might be the right choice for your business. If you’re looking to make the most of your IndustrySelect data, check out IndustrySelect’s industrial prospecting and appointment-setting services and let us do the cold calling for you!