Summers are generally quite sluggish for sales. As prospects go on vacations, calls go unanswered, emails yield automated responses, and the number of meetings takes a slump. That’s the general trend. If you add to it the disruptions caused by the pandemic, the situation gets even trickier for this summer.
There are two possibilities – one, businesses might be itching to get back to the market (and people are avoiding vacations in any case), so they might be more open to doing business this summer. Second, given summers are sluggish, they might decide to further lean back making this summer even more sluggish than usual.
That said, it’s not that business comes to a stretching halt. The rate of transactions takes a hit, but sales opportunities are available nonetheless. Here are are few tips to help you fight the summer sales slump and keep your revenue stream flowing:
Leave an Impression
One of the key mistakes many sales professionals make is that they start fighting the summer challenge only after it’s already too late. That is, after their calls start to go unanswered and they receive, “I am out of the office” automated emails, they realize sales are beginning to slump and thus scramble to get in touch with more prospects.
Now given it’s an annual pattern, good salespeople plan in advance to make maximum connections before the slump starts. For instance, we still have a week or two left before the full effect of the slump this year. Use this time to reach out to as many people you can. Ensure that by the time they take their vacation, you’re on their mind for when they return in full swing. Hence, they feel obligated to contact you upon their return.
Use Trigger Events
As mentioned earlier and although business slows down in summer, it never comes to a complete halt. There are opportunities on the horizon that you can pull by using trigger events. All you need to do is pick up on buying hints by keeping an eye on their activities.
For instance, SalesIntel provides intent data and company insights that help SDRs and AEs keep a close eye on their target accounts to pick up those hints. For example, if a target account raises a flag or there is a sudden surge in their interest in a topic related to your product, it might be a good time to reach out with your solution.
Try Multi-level Outreach
Buying decisions usually don’t rely solely on one individual, but rather an entire buying center consisting of around 5-8 people. So even if you aren’t able to get in touch with your target prospect, it would be a good idea to reach out to the rest of the buying center or even lower-level employees to increase your visibility into those accounts. It is also important to keep the key stakeholder involved or in-the-know during this outreach. Yes, you probably won’t be able to close the deal in the absence of a key decision-maker, but you’d be able to create a collaborative environment to support the deal when they return.
Refuel Your Funnel
When there’s little activity at the bottom of your sales funnel, it’s a good time to refuel the top. To make the most out of this time, you can run extensive lead generation campaigns and sales reps can focus more on prospecting to replenish your top of the funnel lead opportunities. So when sales eventually pick up, you won’t be short on leads.
Deliver Value-added Content
Decision-makers never truly shut down. Yes, they might be on vacation and might not take calls or respond to emails, but they are always looking out for value. And yes, they do always check their emails. Use this behavior to your advantage by sending them value-added content with little-to-no sales push. Send them a relevant case study or a whitepaper without the need for any action. They will most likely read it and will quite possibly share it internally with their team. Thus, would be more receptive to your outreach when they are back as you’ve created both trust and value.
To sum it up, most companies are set to witness a significant sales slump in the coming months. They will need specific tools to help them target their prospects, gain company insights, and run marketing campaigns at scale. And to do that, they need data – contacts, intent, insights, and more. SalesIntel is a one-stop solution that provides all the information you need to find and convert your next customer…even during the slow summer months.
