Sales–The perception of “The End of the Month”

October 14, 2009

In my experience working as a head of sales and now assisting expansion stage portfolio companies, I have found a consistent theme in the Sales teams.

The last week of the month has somehow been restricted to “closing” deals. Sales teams are supposedly wrapped up in sales cycles and have no time for anything else.

Here is the amusing part of this perception:

1. How many deals could an individual be closing during this time frame? Maybe a handful, but not more than that.

2. How much real time are they investing in the “closing”? If these deals are not in some form of procurement they are probably not going to close in time. The reality is the sales person is probably just checking in on the procuring process with each prospective sale. Net—They probably actually invest less than 5-10 hours of real time in the week towards sales cycles.

The reality is that the sales person has probably not spent an adequate amount of time throughout the month/quarter prospecting and building a substantial pipeline and they are desperately reaching into a weak pool of potential opportunities. These opportunities are probably not well qualified and are being negotiated in a non optimal way.

There is time to prospect in the last week of the month!!!

The key to a successful sales team is to create a culture where the last week of the month is very similar to the first week of the month. There are always prospecting and relationship building sales processes going on at both times.

My thoughts are that at the end of the month you are doing one of three things:

1. Closing the deals you have forecasted to close
2. Prospecting for more opportunities to add to your pipeline
3. Updating your resume, because you are not going to make your quota and are not positioning yourself to make the next one!!

 

SVP Marketing & Sales

<strong>Brian Zimmerman</strong> was a Partner at OpenView from 2006 until 2014. While at OpenView he worked with our portfolio executive teams to deliver the highest impact value-add consulting services, primarily focused on go-to-market strategies. Brian is currently the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at <a href="http://www.5nine.com/">5Nine Software</a>.