If holiday vacations brought your sales cycle to a screeching halt, you’re not alone. Here are a few things you’ll want to do to for a fast start to 2024.
Share important new workforce data employers need to be aware of.
For example, the American Staffing Association just published a new Candidate Sentiment Survey that shows that despite or possibly due to COVID-19, a full 80% of today’s active and passive job seekers foresee working for a new company in the next twelve months.
That means most employers are at risk of significant turnover.
Call each client you worked with last year and say, “I’m calling to personally wish you a happy new year! And I’d like to schedule a quick virtual coffee meeting to share new workforce survey data I think you’ll benefit from knowing. I’ll send a link to my calendar, and I look forward to getting caught up!”
Restart stalled deals.
If you have prospects who seemed excited about partnering together in November and December go completely dark on you, know that this isn’t uncommon over the holidays. But it’s true: time kills deals. The longer the sales cycle drags on, the less likely you are to win the business (you can probably point to losses of your own for further evidence). But your job is to resuscitate these before too much time elapses. Adopt the stance that it just isn’t okay not to reconnect, and call, email, send a LinkedIn message – persist until you get a response one way or another.
Reach out to companies whose business you lost to a competitor last year.
Usually six-twelve months is enough time for hiring managers to determine if they made the right choice in staffing suppliers. If they tell you they’re happy with the decision, move on. But you just may find they’re not content with the new supplier. Now you’ve restarted discussions with a prospect familiar with you and your firm.
Happy New Year, and happy selling!
