Last week, I talked about how taking a break can help for mental clarity and help for your overall sales process. However, this week I want to address the opposite end of the spectrum. In some industries, the holidays are the busiest time of year. During the holiday season, as a sales professional in such industries you are busy during the holidays and potentially making the most money you’re going to make throughout the year. Your commission checks are going to be the highest they’re ever going to be. Some of you are in industries where the urgency to get your product, or service or contract signed before the start of the new year is at an all time high. So essentially you’re working right now when some of us really are winding down and taking it a little easier. That means some of your prospects use the holidays as a reason not to sit down with you. This a common problem in this profession. As a matter of fact, I have used that very reason not to sit down with someone trying to sell me a product or service. “Hey, I’m really busy around the holidays. It’s difficult to get time on my calendar.” But here’s the truth. Yes, I’m busy. And yes, your prospects are busy. But can they spare 10 minutes, 45 minutes, and hour, however long your appointment time typically runs? The answer’s probably yes. So here’s how you get around that initial objection.

Beat them to the punch and add value

It’s incredibly simple and it’s one of the fundamental principles in the sales process. Handling objections before they arise and identifying the real reason someone’s telling you no. So here’s how we handle objections: first we beat them to the punch and second we give them additional value on that initial call. We identify that this is going to be a problem ahead of time and we tell our prospects what the objection’s going to be before they say it.

Sample script

“Hey, Ms. Prospect, this is Anthony. I’m calling to schedule the appointment to discuss this. Now, I know it’s an incredibly busy time of the year right now, and I’m sure you’re busy just as I’m busy. However, I want to ensure to be respectful of your time and I would like to squeeze in 30 minutes. I assure you that our appointment will be informative. [Here, add in the best value points of your proposition]. Can I get with you next Tuesday or next Thursday?”

More Closing, Fewer Objections

When you come across and you address the objection ahead of time, ask for the appointment and build additional value, you’ll find that you’ll have a higher closing rate on getting those prospect appointments. If you allow your prospect to tell you first that you can’t meet with them because they’re busy around the holidays, now you’re playing defense. Now you have to come back and try to create a rebuttal. You’ve already lost the upper hand. You already lost the element of surprise.

In some instances, your prospects really are busy. If they’re on vacation, even with alternatives like Zoom or Teams, many people don’t want to take meetings while they’re on vacation. There really isn’t much you can do about that. However, when your client is just using the holidays as a reason to decline an appointment, it is because of a lack of perceived value. They do not have a value assigned to that appointment. They do not have a value assigned to your product or service, or offering or even you. It’s a harsh reality we face. But the truth is if something’s important enough to you, you’ll find a way to make time for it, and we have to make our prospects see that our product or service is important and has the potential to add value to their business. So, to summarize, it is your job to create urgency by getting that appointment during the holiday time, acknowledging that they’re busy and giving additional value on why they should meet with you. If that is done effectively, your overall rate of closing appointments during the holidays will be significantly higher.

Reach out

If you need help booking those sales appointments or you need help working on that script, you can always connect with the Catapulting Commissions Community. Text Hello to (661) 228-8967. I’ll see you next week. Have a Merry Christmas to you and your family.