Take a quick look at the forecasted end-of-year close dates in your CRM system. What dates do most of your sales team’s opportunities show?
Do you see a lot of December 31st close dates? Chances are your sellers don’t understand how high performers close business and enjoy a more stress-free holiday.
Whether it’s a more basic deal qualification tool like BANT, or a bit more sophisticated as with MEDDPICC, sellers are mistakenly taught to chase deal-close clarity in a sequence. Towards the end of the year, that sequence-mentality can cause a lot of unnecessary stress for sellers and the customer. It can also put a damper on the holidays.
High-performer sellers do things differently. They start thinking about a strong close to the year weeks, sometimes months in advance. Here are the seven steps high-performer sellers to close deals at the end of year.
High performers consistently apply basic selling fundamentals to any perceived late-stage sales opportunity by not rushing in for the close.
Advice: Begin the closing process by first ensuring business value is present with the customer and confirm you are the stated vendor of choice. Skipping this step almost always results in sloppy negotiations and customers that ghost sellers.
High performers are bold when it comes time to begin negotiations with the customer.
Advice: Ask your tested champion the following question, “are you authorized to negotiate on behalf of your organization?” If the answer is anything but a solid yes, hold off on negotiations until you understand who the actual economic buyers are and get them involved.
With confirmation of value and clarity around negotiating power, high performers then float deal-close timing feasibility and begin negotiations.
Advice: Any give should be met with a get from the customer. “If we’re able to offer X concessions, can you achieve Y by Z date?”
High performers ruthlessly clarify how the decision will get finalized and the paper process steps.
Advice: Not all letters of MEDDPICC are created equally late in the year. Ensure you have a crystal clear understanding of the decision and paper process. Document it and share it with your champion. It’s easy to skip this step. Don’t. Your ability to accurately forecast and hold your champion accountable depends on it.
When the decision and paper process are clear, high performers are both effective AND efficient.
Advice: The clock is ticking and every business day counts. Execute the final steps in parallel, not in sequence. For example, securing the group demo with the specialist engineering team to drive the necessary consensus is important. But it’s also critical to try and drive the customer’s paper process in parallel. “I believe we can safely assume the group demo is going to go well Mr. Customer, does it make sense to get the contract and MSA language reviewed by your legal/procurement team now to avoid any frustrating delays down the road?”
Don't find yourself in a position at the end of the year where the customer writes to you “we were SO close, if only we had a few more days. Can you secure an extension of these terms into the new year?”
High performers proactively de-risk their deals.
Advice: Anticipate likely hurdles and then remove them. Be prescriptive and coach your champions to be proactive with their leadership, legal and procurement teams. For example, if you know that your customer’s legal team likes to use their own contract terms, try using a phrase like “Our MSA is narrowly tailored to the exact service we provide. In my experience it really streamlines the relationship finalization process for both parties and makes it super easy.”
Don't lose valuable time.
Most sellers and customers are operating in an unpredictable macroeconomic environment. High performers proactively explore the elephant in the room. They shake the trees for bad news and assume there are surprises hiding behind every buying group stage and approval corner.
Advice: Ask your customers questions like: What is the current investment climate? What is getting approved in your organization right now? What criteria are the approvers leveraging to assess solutions? Can we work creatively to find a solution that gets our foot in the door now versus next year? Don't delay these difficult conversations, have them NOW.
Closing the year like a high-performer seller isn’t about last-minute heroics or scrambling for deals on December 31st. It’s about proactive planning, disciplined execution, and focusing on foundational selling skills. By following these seven steps, you’ll not only finish the year strong, but you'll also enjoy a stress-free holiday.