Churn Season: How Year-End Sales Tactics Are Turning Revenue Into Butter

It’s the end of the year – YAY – except for most people in sales, it is what we call, a race to the finish. And how you finish says a lot about what’s coming next year.

Discounts flying, pushing deals, sellers getting super creative brainstorming how to send one more “checking in email” to their customer who has checked out (you know – to be with their family). Your sense of urgency is the last thing on their mind. It’s an all out race to HIT THE NUMBER (you feel me Sales Leader?).

Except, here’s the thing: At what cost?

Because when you’re hyper-focused on closing the year you might just be opening the door to a much bigger problem NEXT YEAR—churn.

Churn is the silent revenue killer.

It doesn’t just chip away at your recurring revenue—it impacts your customer acquisition costs (CAC), damages your brand, and burns out your sales team (plus so much more). Yet, in the rush to meet quotas, many leaders unintentionally set their teams up for this vicious cycle.

The Hidden Cost of Selling to Sell

Let’s break it down:
Revenue Loss: Churned customers take recurring revenue with them, and the cost to replace them eats into profitability.
Skyrocketing CAC: Discounts to close deals today inflate your acquisition costs tomorrow. Add churn to the mix, and you’re in a losing game.
Brand Damage: Disappointed buyers don’t just leave—they leave loudly, impacting your ability to win future business.
Burned-Out Teams: Reps know when they’re selling “stretch deals” just to hit a number. It’s demoralizing and leads to its own version of churn—your best sellers leaving for greener pastures.

The Leader’s Role: Stop the Spread

Well, I mean we all like spreadable butter, but as leaders, it’s our job to ensure we’re building revenue strategies that go the distance, not burn out within a few months. That starts with shifting the focus from short-term quota chasing to long-term customer retention.

• Solve Real Problems: Encourage your team to dig deeper into the buyer’s problems. Can you solve them? Do they NEED to change? What happens if they do not change? What’s the impact. If you can’t show them how you’ll solve their problems and what their cost of inaction is – why are you pushing to sell them just for them to churn?
• Prioritize Outcomes Over Discounts: A deal closed on value will stick; a deal closed on price won’t. (Don’t believe me – how many times have you gone back to your customer at the first renewal event to sell them at list price only for them to bawk and churn?)
• Equip Sellers for Success: Train your team to uncover gaps, show impact, and create urgency without resorting to desperate tactics. Sellers resort to discounting when they are not trained to make a problem/product recommendation that actual showcases to the customer what bad thing will go away as a result of the partnership. When sellers focus on the product and stay super surface level, they often discount right off the bat just to make the sale. (No one is saying discounting doesn’t happen – but come on – let’s dial it back and dive into why/how often).

When you lead with a retention-first mindset, you’re not just hitting the number—you’re ensuring sustainable, scalable growth.

So, before the year closes, ask yourself: Are we buttering up the board with big numbers and look great right now, or are we building revenue that sticks through next year?

PS: Churn isn’t inevitable—it’s a symptom of selling to sell, not selling to solve. Time to fix that!