At the end of each month and quarter, it’s important to close in a strong position. Often, this means pushing sales to meet your quota, which is especially critical if you’re lagging well behind.
A last minute push isn’t uncommon by any stretch. According to a study by Clearslide and CSO Insights, 58% of deals forecasted slip from the period that they are reported to be ready to close in.
Special offers that target your prospects most likely to buy quickly will help you to boost last minute sales and hit your quota ahead of the next month. Here’s our tips on making this a success:
- Create a strong offer with a close date
With your avatar in mind, put together a simple, attractive offer that is bound to draw attention. This could include buy one get one free, free delivery on orders over a certain amount, double loyalty points or a discount. Your marketing should reflect the urgency of the offer, letting customers know that if they don’t act fast, the offer will expire. Remember to also put up appropriate signage if customers visit your premises to make purchases.
- Select your prospects wisely
An end of month sales push needs to be focused and carefully planned. Instead of offering a deal to everyone, try using email and phone calls to target the prospects most likely to make an immediate purchase. Not only does this keep the offer out of the public domain, but helps the prospects you do target to feel exclusive and special. For more guidance on writing effective sales emails to your prospect list, take a look at our dedicated blog post.
- Don’t do it every month
A deal at the end of every month is not going to help your overall sales. Sooner or later, your repeat customers will cotton on and only make purchases when they know a discount of special offer is inevitable.
- Timing is everything
Try to align your offer with your customers’ payday to maximise their chances of making a last minute purchase. When doing this, there’s two things to remember. Firstly, most people get paid anywhere between the 25th and 31st of each month, except during months like December when they may receive their salary early. Secondly, a third of the UK population spend their month’s salary in the first week after payday. So, with your avatar in mind, pick a date to open and close your special offer so that it ties in with your prospects’ ideal buying times.
- Be prepared
There are a couple of issues to be cautious about when using special offers to push end of month or end of quarter sales. Sometimes it is the case that customers buy before they’re ready, or ‘impulse buy’, making them more likely to return their purchase for a refund. If you prepare for this in advance by checking over your terms and conditions surrounding refunds, the damage will be minimal to your overall sales.
You also need to be aware that you’re bringing sales forward, which is going to have an adverse impact on next month’s sales. For this reason it’s important to keep building your pipeline and generate enquiries as usual.
While it can be tough approaching the end of a month without having yet met your targets, it’s entirely possible to give your business a last minute boost to keep you in the black.