Change Your Year By Teaching This One Skill

The end-of-quarter crunch. It’s a familiar feeling for many sales leaders: the pressure mounts, deals slip, and the entire team scrambles to hit those crucial targets. You get daily calls from your Board and CEO, worried about whether you’ll make the number.  It’s a lot of  stress and and anxiety for everyone involved – and even if you hit the number, it doesn’t seem like anyone is celebrating.

You can avoid this mess, and have a more predictable, sustainable, and even enjoyable sales environment by teaching your team one key skill:

Aggressively managing in-quarter seasonality.

Most sales teams fall into a predictable rhythm: a slow start, a slight uptick in the middle, and a mad dash to the finish line. This graph illustrates the typical pattern for most teams – heading into the last week of the quarter with only 44% of their quota retired.

 While the team might ultimately achieve its target, the erratic performance can be unsettling for everyone, and can even jeopardize your position if the board loses confidence in your ability to deliver consistent results.

Why This Matters to Your Board (and Your Job Security)

Imagine what it’d be like to present this to your quarterly board meeting.  Yes, you may be reporting you were 100% of plan for the quarter.  But it still paints a picture of inconsistency and instability. It raises questions about your team’s ability to execute and your leadership.

Now, consider the alternative. What if you could demonstrate consistent progress throughout the quarter, exceeding expectations early on and maintaining a steady pace?

This demonstrates strong leadership, predictability, and control. It instills confidence in your abilities and showcases a healthy, well-managed sales organization. In the high-stakes world of private equity, this kind of stability is invaluable.

The Power of Shifting Deadlines

One of the simplest yet most effective ways to manage in-quarter seasonality is to shift your deadlines. 

Companies who don’t follow a calendar year (with a Q1 that ends on February 28th, for example) report that their teams still tend to close most of their business on the last week of the month. So there’s clearly not some unique seasonality to the business their clients operate in – it’s a response sellers are having to the artificial deadline of the end of the quarter.

That’s why, instead of pushing for deals to close on the last day of the month, we need to aim for the 15th.  Tell sellers to generate contracts whose terms expire on the 15th, and let them know that any of the special incentives, commission accellerators, or other motivational tools you’ve given your team also expire on the 15th of the month, too.

This seemingly minor adjustment has a profound impact. It provides a buffer for those inevitable deal “slips,” ensuring they still land within the current quarter as far as your Board and investors are concerned. It reduces stress, improves forecasting accuracy, and allows your legal, services, and accounting teams to operate without constant pressure.

As you can see, simply shifting the closing date for just half of the deals by 15 days creates a dramatically different picture. The team reaches nearly 70% of its goal with two full weeks remaining in the quarter. This translates to greater confidence from your board and a more secure position for you.

Creating a Culture of Early Success

To further enhance this effect, I’ve also been successful by implementing a “Quick Starters Club.” This initiative encourages healthy competition by recognizing and rewarding those who reach 66% of their quota by the end of the second month.

Instead of financial incentives, I focus on recognition, trophies, and celebrations of this team to foster a culture of early success and motivates everyone to strive for consistent performance.

With just 25% of the salesforce achieving this “quick start” goal, the impact on quartely spread is significant. The company reaches 80% of its target with two weeks to spare, showcasing impressive progress and a well-managed sales pipeline.

Reap the Rewards of Consistent Performance

By aggressively managing in-quarter seasonality, you’ll not only improve your team’s performance but also enhance your reputation as a strong and capable leader. This translates to:

• Increased confidence from your board: You demonstrate predictability and control.
• Enhanced job security: You prove your ability to deliver consistent results.
• Reduced stress and improved morale: You create a more enjoyable and sustainable work environment.
• Greater efficiency: You enable smoother operations across all departments.

More ideas like this can be found in the book, The CRO’s Guide to Winning in Private Equity. It’s a comprehensive resource for CROs looking to thrive in the dynamic and demanding world of private equity.

Get your copy today at www.jdmillerphd.com/book.