Think Holiday Weeks Are a Wash for Sales? Think Again

I recently read a post on Mark Hunter’s Sales Hunter Blog about this Fourth of July week titled “Don’t Waste Next Week. It’s Still a ‘Prospecting’ Week”.  I agree whole-heartedly with the ideas in this post, and don’t think they pertain solely to the Fourth of July — I think they apply to just about any holiday week.

Most sales people and business development reps are way too quick to write off a holiday week as a wash. However, in my experience I have found that those weeks can actually be extremely productive, and in certain markets quite fruitful, as well.

Regardless of what market you are selling into, the tips Mark Hunter’s post provides are things that you can accomplish in a slow week when many of your prospects may not be in the office. However, in some markets you may actually be more productive on the phones during a holiday week such as Thanksgiving or Christmas. I have learned this from experience in my last role leading the business development team at one of our portfolio companies. We were selling into small and medium sized managed IT service providers.

During Thanksgiving week we were expecting a slow week in terms of connecting with prospects and setting up appointments. What we found was that while the call-to-connect rate was a bit lower, the people who answered the phone were happy to speak with us and our connect-to-appointment rate was much higher. The reason was that the people running those companies are small business owners who are typically managing helpdesk tickets, putting out fires, and dealing with clients. On those vacation weeks their clients typically take time off, and that winds up being the only free time they have time to conduct research on new technologies and vendors proactively.

So before you decide to write-off the whole week next time there is a holiday, make sure you really understand your prospects. It may end up being a lot more productive that you think.

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