Sales Experiment That Will Boost Sales in December

Every December, I am amazed by the number of sales professionals who start winding down at the start of the month; by the 15th of the month, they have stopped altogether. They also seem to take until January 5th of the new year before they start to reengage. They always share the same false narrative. Everyone is now enjoying the holidays and will not return until the second week of the new year.

The most successful sales professionals know another sale is always possible until the Times Square Ball drops. If you are lucky enough to live on the West Coast, you even have three hours after that. December has always been among the best months for personal sales. I continue to grind when others are enjoying the festivities. It is not that I am antisocial or don't enjoy a good party. It's that I have learned that you have to make a choice about what is more important.

The only sales professionals you really see are still grinding until the last minute are those behind on their sales quotas or just shy of a bonus level. This blog is dedicated to them. The ones who are hustling till the New Year's Eve crowd starts singing Auld Lang Syne. I am going to share ten strategies and tactics that I have used to make December the most productive month each year.

Admittedly, some of these suggestions will require approval from your manager and maybe senior management. However, I can vouch for each one, as I have utilized them in the past.

Here is my suggestion: If you are a salesperson who aspires to one day be Chief Revenue Officer, shift through my suggestions and find three that are most related to your industry and company and that resonate with you. Send a proposal to your manager asking if you can run an experiment during the last 30 days of the year. Tell him this will be an A/B test to compare some new ideas and continually improve the process during that period.

The original process, which your sales team is currently using, is version A. The first of the ideas you selected will be version B. For the next 7 days, two teams will compete. Ideally, your management team will buy into this idea, and the entire sales force is split into teams. However, if they are barely convinced, have yourself as the champion of version B and one other person competing against you as the representative for version A.

After 7 days, the results are evaluated, and whatever version worked best becomes the new (or existing) sale process and designated version A. This experiment is then run using one of the other ideas you pulled from this list. It becomes the new version B.

This then happens again after another 7 days with the final idea you decided to test.

Pro Tip #1: It is important that you are always the champion of the new version being tested. Nobody will have as much incentive to show the value of the experiment. If at least one of the B versions is found to be superior, then the experiment was a success.

Pro Tip #2: The test will be more valid if there is more than one person on each team. If there are disproportionate skills or levels of experience between the one-member team, the results can be skewed. One way to encourage management to adopt this test using most or all of the sales staff is to gamify the sales process to create the competition that will drive results.

Pro Tip #3: If the sales department is divided into teams, let each side present how their version of the sales process will run and the benefits of that system. Then, allow (as much as possible) the individuals to select what team they want to be on. Both sides have an interest in seeing that the people on their team are true believers and want their version to win.

Pro Tip #4: While this thirty-day experiment can be run anytime during the year, it always seems to be most effective at the end of the year for two reasons:

• Businesses often have a yearly budget or tax reasons or want to set themselves up for the new year, so they are looking to make a purchase at the end of the year.

• The competition between the sales professionals always seems to keep them from checking out during December.

Pro Tip #5: For those new to this type of A/B testing and the urgency required for decisions and implementation, the seven-day implementation period can be taunting. We recommend that you run only two experiments over the 30-day period, each lasting 12 days, with three days set aside for planning and set-up.

Sales Experiments

These sales experiments are not listed in the order in which they performed the best. Still, if you want my personal recommendation, you will always have item ten as one of the three experiments you will run during the thirty-day experiment. When you are looking for a quick sale, the strategies and techniques you have utilized for the past year may not be the ones that will provide the results you need.

Law of Social Proof and Liking

I recommend you start by looking at Dr. Robert Cialdini's Laws of Influence. These are universal laws that apply regardless of age, gender, nationality, religion, or race. They are all shortcuts designed to get a person to say "yes." The first law we will rely upon to achieve an expedited sale is the Law of Social Proof and the Law of Liking.

Law of Social Proof - It is a well-established principle that we are constantly bombarded with information and ideas and do not have the energy or time to investigate every concept. We compensate for this by taking a shortcut. If another individual has tried the product or service, we often rely upon their experience to help us decide if it is a good fit for us. Think of looking to Yelp to help determine where you want to eat. You don't know anything about the person making the review and yet you take their advice.

Law of Liking - People are likelier to be influenced by someone they like and can relate to. Typically, the Law of Liking applies to the rapport built with the salesperson; however, it can also be transferred to another person. If a true friend or business acquaintance happens to make a recommendation to you about a brand, you are more likely to try it because of who made the recommendation.

These two Laws of influence bring us to our first experiment:

1) Refer a Friend Initiative: The referral program leverages the trust between the referrer and their contact. When referred by a friend or acquaintance, you have an 84% higher chance of connecting with the prospect. (Harvard Business Review) You also have a 400% greater chance of making the sale. (Customer Guage)

We recommend starting the program with individuals who are already true advocates for the brand. Scour your CRM for customers and influencers who have shown they love the brand and have a large social reach. To be effective, the person making the referral must have a financial incentive to recommend you to a friend or a colleague. If you expect to get referrals, make the program truly worthwhile for the referral partner. So make sure that the people you ask will find the reward enticing. We always offer a bifurcated reward. If they submit a legitimate lead, they receive a case reward. If that company becomes a customer, they receive a significant percentage of the deal reward.

• To be considered legitimate, there are five simple rules to the program:

• They must be the first person to have referred the Company;

• The Company cannot be a current client or in current discussions;

• they must have a legitimate relationship with the Company and have spoken to them about the referral;

• The referral must have agreed to meet to discuss a possible engagement;

• You must completely register them

Make sure you provide a seamless means for the referrer to submit and track the lead. We recommend a personalized landing page where they can submit their leads. You should also provide them with collateral and templates that allow them to cut and paste the information that may change between leads.

Law of Scarcity

The Law of Scarcity is based on the fundamental principle that people naturally desire things that are less readily available. When something is perceived as scarce, it triggers a fear of missing out, leading individuals to place a higher value on the item or opportunity. The law of scarcity can best be described as the FOMO (fear of missing out). FOMO is so strong because it taps into our innate human need to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

2) Create a Scarcity Offer: The key is to create a sense of urgency that if they don't act now, they will forever have lost an opportunity. While many companies often threaten price increases will happen if they don't act by the end of the year, surprisingly, this is not the most effective way to use the law of scarcity. Many people reject the notion that they are being forced to buy now to protect the price.

We found that you often get more conversions by offering a positive opportunity. We have offered free premium training or customer support if they sign up by year's end. These benefits offer greater value and do not make the buyer feel coerced.

Law of Reciprocity

One of the most powerful Laws of Influence is reciprocity. We are compelled to return favors and treat others as they have treated us. This is because we’re uncomfortable with feeling indebted to them. Don’t believe it? If a friend gives you a gift for your birthday, don’t you feel compelled to reciprocate theirs?

3) Offer Personal Incentives: During the holidays, a decision-making executive must often be nudged to consider an opportunity. We offer them something that they cannot refuse. Every C-suite executive is frequently conflicted between trying to run their business and finding time to buy a gift for a significant other. After doing our research, we offer an executive a gift or a gift card to a business we know they can use to buy their loved one a gift. It is not always the value of the gift, but the fact it may be unique in nature that motivates the executive. For example, we often suggest that tickets to a concert or theater event be hard to obtain. We have secured reservations at that hot restaurant, which is otherwise impossible.

When they attend a personal product demonstration during the designated period, they will receive the gift.

Law of Authority

We are programmed to respect and listen to people with authority positions. In the pre-internet world, these were often doctors, academia, police officers, business leaders, etc. In today’s world, Subject Matter Influencers are also afforded that status because they have specialized knowledge that we have not taken the time to develop or the confidence to act on our own. Subject matter experts are highly trusted as they are considered some of the most knowable people in their area of expertise and have built a reputation of great trust amongst their followers. Subject matter influencers have a high degree of authenticity, provided they stay within their lane. Here are some suggestions on how to find the right influencer, "How to Find the Right Influencer."

4. Influencer Marketing: Find a subject matter expert who is well respected in the industry and has a significant social reach with your target audience. Engaging them might require a referral fee or help them generate high-quality content. Either way, the engagement will continue to pay dividends long after the experiment.

Our typical program is to help them create content they can share with their social reach. The call-to-action always invites their audience to a special educational webinar, which the influencer and we will jointly host. This will be an educational, informational webinar that addresses a pain point or concern that is a general issue in that industry. 80% of the session must be truly about solving the problem, and twenty percent about how your product or service can implement the suggestions.

Pro Tip #6: Help the influencer create social posts and emails that will entice and educate those in their social reach and in their CRM.

Pro Tip #7: This is extremely important. Near the end of the webinar, have the influencer make the call to action regarding your product. For example, have them say, "I have worked with X for a while and know that they have one of the best solutions for addressing ...." It will be far more authentic if the suggestion comes from them.

Law of Unity

The world has increasingly developed a tribal mentality, dividing everyone into two groups, “us” and everyone else. This is based almost exclusively on who you see as part of your tribe. Why is this often interpreted to be a group of people of a similar race, ethnicity, nationality, family, political party, or religion, it can also be those who are already part of your community of clients. To make this concept work, the recipient must feel they have a special bond with your organization.

5. Cross-Sell and Up-Sells: To properly set up this offer, you must find commonalities with the person you want to influence. We have done this by sending a "private offer" to our current clients. When communicating your message, use inclusive language that emphasizes togetherness and unity. We usually start by saying how we value our current clients and have been looking for a meaningful way to thank them for their trust and loyalty.

We continue by saying that we notice you have not taken full advantage of how we can help them and want them to see how much more they could benefit if they procured our additional services. We then let them know because of this special relationship, we are going to give them a special offer. While you can simply offer them a discounted product offering, it is not the most effective approach.

One highly effective offer we found is free access to the service for a 15-day period and a personal coach who will help them set up and optimize the service. After that free period, they will get a dramatic price discount if they wish to continue.

Personalization

We are in the era of hyper-personalization or one-to-one marketing. Personalization is a comprehensive approach that analyzes customer data, behavior patterns, and preferences to construct message strategies that are more likely to capture attention and drive engagement. The process that incorporates this type of personalization is account-based sales.

6. Account-Based Sales (ABS): This strategic B2B sales approach focuses on targeting and winning business from specific high-value accounts. We have written several blogs about account-based marketing (ABM), and this is simply the rest of that equation. Even if your company does not have an active ABM program, you can run an ABS. However, the process will be highly truncated and expedited since you only have a seven-day sprint. What may take weeks in a traditional ABM scenario will be done in hours for this experiment. Here are the steps that need to be followed:

a) Every member of team B identifies 15 targeted companies that represent high-value targets that, if acquired, will change your stars. Start with those in your CRM who may have had some interaction with your organization b) identify the decision makers. c) determine what type of information a specific person needs to be intrigued to consider your brand. d) develop highly personalized messaging for each account, create account-specific content, and utilize a multi-channel approach to engage key decision-makers. e) develop a steady persistence of calls, texts, emails, and social outreach. Each time, offer something highly valuable so they want to continue receiving and opening your communications.

7. Personalized Email Outreach: Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective methods of attracting and engaging existing customers. After all, 99% of people who have an email check it every single day (Optinmonster). The key is to ensure the email being sent is personalized and relevant to the recipient. We Remember, personalization is far more than just having them addressed by name it may include such nuances as:

• Segmentation

• Individualized Content

• Unique Product Recommendations:

• Location-Based Personalization

• Behavior-Based Personalization

• Contextual Marketing

• Unique or Dynamic Pricing

We have found that even your existing prospect list in your CRM can be a bounty with the right email personalization strategy. We will have a 34% lift in sales when we implement this year-end program. For ideas on incorporating this program, see "Leveraging Personalization in Marketing: Best Practices and Tips and Tricks."

Growth Hacking

We are strong advocates that sales success is 100% reliant on the product, the process, and the people. For this experiment, the product and people are the constant variables, but the process can be optimized continuously through Growth Hacking.

8. Growth Hacking the Process: Growth hacking a sales process is a rapid series of A/B testing everything. If you decide to implement a 12-day (beginner program) experiment cycle, every 30 to 48-hour period, you will conduct a new A/B test. These tests may be the subject line of an email, the layout, or the content of a landing page. Maybe it is adding third-party verification to a landing page.

Here are some suggestions to help you learn how to run the program and some ideas on what you can test: The Marketer's Guide to A/B Testing: Optimizing Your Campaigns for Success.

Gamification

Gamification will create a sense of excitement and challenge for your sales team. By introducing game mechanics such as points, badges, and leaderboards, businesses can incentivize the sales team to be excited about engaging in those activities that may seem monotonous but are known to drive results.

9. Gamify The Process: We ran an experiment to provide ways to incentivize our sales professionals better. Remember, they are willing to grind out the month of December, so let's give them a reason to up their game. We have set up a daily contest that rewards those with the greatest number of conversations with prospects, those who have the fastest speed to lead, or even those who have the most dials. The key is to reward the activities that produce sales. You will quickly discover that friendly competition amongst your team will drive the results.

Create Your Success

The final suggestion is almost always the most powerful and drives the best results. You know your company, competitors, and targeted personas better than I do. Use this knowledge and expertise to divine your own experiment.

10. Take Leadership: Do your own research, devise your own plan, utilize the knowledge that you have acquired, and impress your boss. Trust your instances and devise your own plan to test in December. What is the one thing you believe will drive prospects to buy? Put together the plan and test it. If not now, when?

Conclusion

The last month of the year presents a valuable opportunity for sales departments to secure additional sales and meet their annual targets. By implementing this experiment and A/B testing some of these ten strategies and tactics, you will generate excitement, enthusiasm, and sales. Remember to monitor the effectiveness of each plan and refine your approach based on customer feedback and data analysis. With careful planning and execution, your sales department can finish the year strong and set the stage for future success.