Inside Sales Reps: A Few Tips to Help Your End of the Month Jitters
We’ve all been in this position before – you have a good month and then you turn the page on your calendar only to start off with a zero. So you hit the phones hard, try and keep the momentum going and you feel like you’re on track and ahead of the game. Now there’s only a week or so left to the month and all of sudden you start to get nervous because you need 2 or 3 or 4 more leads to hit your lead goal.
Here are a few things to focus on that could help you meet and even exceed that inside sales lead goal of yours.
First off, don’t waste time panicking: Time is never on our side so don’t give in by indulging in your worries. Those worrisome thoughts will only hinder your path to the ultimate goal. Spend more time on the phones instead and stay late or come in early if you have to. Set a short term goal to do 20% more in call volume instead of the standard quota. Either way, approach the last week with a “heads down” attitude and suppress any anxiety that wants to creep in during downtime.
Strategize with your managers and directors: You don’t need to spend hours in front of the drawing board but take 10 minutes to formulate some quick hit ideas. If you get a new list in that is scrubbed and the information is, for the most part, valid then suggest mass emailing to it with a short but strong email. Mass emails are always a good means for getting a few opportunities to surface. If you don’t have a good list left, then think about creating a list of all your past “Not Interested” accounts that haven’t been touched for a few months and email them. It’s worth a shot, especially if your manager is willing to help you with an email of your choice.
Realign your pipeline: Take a look at prospects or accounts that expressed interest in the past and go after them. But at the same time don’t grasp for straws with unrealistic pipeline – these would be the prospects that are just too far out to legitimately pass over. However if they wanted a call back in mid-November and it’s the end of October then focus on getting them on the phone. If you can’t get them on the line, send out a friendly Outlook Invitation to touch base before the month ends. Chances are they advised you several months ago when to call them back, and honestly, you’re not going to get yelled at because you called two weeks earlier than you were supposed to. They deserve a medal for having an incredible memory if they ever did.
The bottom line is the fear of you not reaching your goal is usually the key element that stops you from getting there. Focus on breaking down the remainder of the month one day at a time, even one hour at a time, and you’ll be surprised at the results you’ll get.