How to Crush your Q4 Quota
Q4 is the most important quarter of the year.
Chances are your company closes more business in Q4 than any other quarter. Hockey stick alert!
Some of your prospects have budget left that they need to spend NOW. How will you make sure they spend it with you?
That being said, Q4 is also littered with holidays, vacations and other competing priorities. How do you make sure YOU are a priority for them?
I regiligiously follow these 3 steps to set my deals up for success
Step 1: Find The Compelling Event
No compelling event, no deal.
Sales intelligence data tells us 50% of deals will be lost to our fiercest competitor: The status quo. Dead - no decision. "We decided to do nothing".
So what's a compelling event?
It's a strong financial business reason that drives urgency to make a decision.
For example:
Hiring 10 sales reps in January who need onboarding
January is high season for skiing and the resort needs a booking tool
They are trying to raise their Series B next summer and need to get to 500k MRR by then
A compelling event has a cost of inaction attached to it. This is the primary driver in B2B purchasing decisions:
If reps don't get proper onboarding they miss out on sales.
Without a booking site they will miss out on customers.
If they don't hit the growth targets they won't find new investors.
BAD things will happen if they don't make a decision. That's a compelling event.
.
Step 2: Competitive Analysis
Let's say a prospect came inbound with a strong compelling event.
They're looking at you + your 1-2 closest competitors. How do you win their business?
On paper all vendors look the same. Software has become a commodity, anyways. What makes you different?
Do NOT follow your marketing pitch. Instead, cite your customers.
Step 1): Go to a business software reviews site like G2. Analyse customer reviews for you vs. the competitors.
Then build a competitive matrix:
Rows: key cabalities of your category (Example: reports & dashboards, UX/UI, automation workflows, customisation, etc.)
Columns: you vs. the competitors
This will give you a good idea of your competitive positioning.
Step 2): Understand the customer's decision criteria:
Based on what criteria are you making this decision?
What are your must haves? What are your nice to haves?
Will you decide based on price? ROI? User friendliness?
Step 3): When you run your demo or presentation align your USPs/strengths with the customer's decision criteria.
Show them what they want to see and skip the rest. Reduce complexity.
WARNING: If your prospects's top decision criterium is also your biggest weakness, better walk away from the deal. Don't be me
Step 3: Mutual Action Plan (MAP)
You have a prospect with a strong compelling event. They seem to be the perfect fit. No competitors in sight. They really want YOU!
Obviously do your due diligence, but unicorns exist.
Now it's time to remove any friction from the sales cycle and run a smooth process.
Set up a strong MAP to ensure the deal closes on time.
Understand the decision process in detail:
When do the want to go live with the new tool?
When are they ready & willing to sign?
Who is the economic buyer?
Who approves the budget?
Is there a board involved?
Are investors involved?
Who will sign?
Make sure you leave out no detail. Then set up the MAP:
All steps of your evaluation process (disco, demo, pricing)
The purpose and benefit of each step for the customer
The stakeholders on both sides who need to attend
Then send all the calendar invites upfront. That's a real MAP.
If you can get the prospect's buy in on your process you won't have to chase ghosts in Q4.
Halloween is over
Not sure how to set up a Mutual Action Plan (MAP)? Check Break into Tech Sales Playbook
Summary:
Find the compelling event: what's the cost of inaction?
Understand their decision criteria: how do your USPs align?
Build a mutual action plan: what are all the steps that need to happen until signature?