Closing Business During the Summer

 

It’s late June and the temperature is rising! For us beach lovers, that’s good news…but for salespeople, it’s a dreaded time of year. Summer.

Everyone in sales knows you can’t close business in the summer. As a sales trainer and coach, I hear the same refrain every year…things slow down dramatically during the summer and you simply can’t close business. When I ask reps the reason, they always have the same answer, “Everyone is on vacation.” That sounds reasonable, but let’s stop for a moment and analyze it.

Did you take a vacation last summer? If you did take a vacation, how long was it? A week? Two weeks? Few people I know take more than one week of vacation at a time. Let’s say that EVERYONE took their vacation at the same time during the summer (which, of course, they don’t). That would mean that business would shut down for one week. Let’s say the entire population split their vacation…half taking one week during the summer, and the other half taking a different summer week. That still means business stays open and, of course, we DO NOT all take the same week (or two weeks) off. The point is, the excuse that you can’t close business during the summer is a crock of you-know-what.

I live in the real world…people DO often take a vacation in the summer and some companies offer summer hours, letting their people take all or part of the afternoon off on Fridays. That simply means it’s a little more difficult to reach people during the summer, but it’s certainly not impossible. To continue closing business during the summer, my coaching for you is:

1. Prospect slightly more than you typically do. Make more calls, including follow-up calls.
2. Change your mindset. Immediately stop thinking, “I can’t close business during the summer,” and change it to “Yes, some people may be a little harder to reach but I have fantastic products/services that they need, and I may need to make a few more calls than the rest of the year, but I close business ALL YEAR ROUND! My prospects and clients WANT to hear from me.”

If I listened to rep’s excuses, there may be three or four days during the year that you can close business. (You can’t close during the summer, after Thanksgiving, during January, at tax season, etc.) Stop the useless excuses and mind games you play on yourself. Get out there and MAKE IT HAPPEN!

By Jeff Goldberg

Jeff Goldberg & Associates
76 Troy Avenue
Long Beach NY 11561
Telephone: 516-608-4136
E: Jeff@jgsalespro.com
www.jgsalespro.com

 

Jeff Goldberg is a sales trainer and coach who helps individuals, and organizations of all sizes attain measurable and sustainable sales increases. He offers a free coaching session to anyone interested. For your free session, email him at jeff@jgsalespro.com with the Subject Line – Free Coaching Session!