It’s a tie game going into the fourth quarter. You call your team into a huddle. Some things worked the way you drew them up, and some didn’t. But none of that changes the scoreboard. You’ve got one quarter left.
This is where good coaches earn their money. They don’t walk into the huddle and say, “Just work 25% harder.” They look at what’s actually happening in the game and make adjustments.
In my years in this business, I’ve watched a lot of sales organizations arrive at exactly this spot as summer winds down. Maybe you’re on plan. Maybe you’re behind. Maybe you’ve got enough pipeline on paper to make your numbers, but some of those “committed” deals have been sitting untouched since April. The question isn’t what happened in the first three quarters. It’s what you’ll do with the quarter you have left.
Here are five tips for capturing the win.
1. Look at the scoreboard, not the game plan. Set aside what was supposed to happen back in January and look at what actually happened. Where are you winning? Where do deals stall? Your best Q4 strategy may look nothing like the one you wrote at kickoff, and that’s fine.
2. Decide who gets the ball. In a close game, you want the ball with the players most likely to score. Which reps need help closing? Which opportunities deserve executive involvement? Treating every deal equally this late in the year is a mistake.
3. Stop running plays that don’t work. We’re all good at doing things simply because we started doing them in January. But every hour spent chasing a deal with a five percent chance of closing is an hour stolen from one with a sixty percent chance. The same goes for your sales leads. Chasing leads that tie up your schedule for thin margins is a bad play. Focus on high-margin products and play to your strengths.
Coach the next possession, not the final score. Everyone knows the number they need to hit. What great coaches do is make the next action clear. Instead of asking a rep, “Are you going to close this?” Ask, “What specifically has to happen next for us to get there?” That turns forecasting into coaching.
Play to win. Don’t play not to lose. As the clock runs down, it’s tempting to get conservative and protect what you have. But you still have to prospect, and you still have to take some swings. Pivoting to sell into an underserved market or product line is exactly the kind of offense that changes a scoreboard.
The game isn’t won because you had the perfect strategy in January. It’s won because you read the field and adjusted faster than the other team. The scoreboard may be tied today. Good. You’ve still got the fourth quarter. The only question is whether you know what play to call next.
Bob Saunders is VP Sales of Wise, Alpharetta, GA. Wise manufacturers industrial/prime labels and tags, traditional forms and digitally printed products and services for resale only. To learn more about prescription pads, visit our prescription pads FAQ or email Bob at [email protected].
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