Do you believe this statement? “The holidays are a hard time to sell.” Today we are going to dismantle this statement. We will talk about your own mindset, your schedule and how that affects your customers, and how to increase your average order.

Instead of focusing on the two reasons that customers won’t buy, let’s focus on the reasons customers do! The two major objections I hear from my students are that customers are so busy, and they don’t have any money because of the holidays. While that may be true for some people, it’s certainly not true for others.

Every month is a bad month to sell if you want to give reasons why you can’t do this. January is right after Christmas. February it’s cold. March is spring break and everyone is gone or spending their money. April is taxes. May might be ok. But June and July, forget about it, it’s summer and EVERYONE is gone for the whole two months.

So let’s start by talking about why December is a great month to sell:

  1. Many people have vacation days they are using.
  2. People are looking for gifts.
  3. Their moods are heightened. If they are in a good mood they are more likely to buy. If they are aggravated by a problem they are more likely to want a solution.
  4. The special events of the holidays bring a need to look your best- great for beauty products.
  5. The winter brings an acute awareness of the need to be healthy- great for health and wellness products.

So the real question is, “do YOU want to sell?” Or would you like a vacation? That might be the core issue so make sure to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

But they are so busy!!! “The holidays” are a six-week period. There are actually only three days that are holidays. Nothing is happening on December 8th. Here are the necessary steps to have a full schedule for the holidays.

  1. Block your own schedule out. “X” out the days you won’t be working because of your own commitments. Block off the time you need to shop or cook. Then circle your appointment times.
  2. Give a choice of two times. Because of being nervous about scheduling this time of year, many reps change the choice of two times to saying something like, “when is good for you?” Since people think in time chunks, they will respond, “after the holidays” and you my friend have found yourself in some self-fulfilling prophecy.
  3. Give a choice of two more times. So they might say, “I am busy during those times.” No big deal. Respond with, “are those bad days or bad times?” Then give two different times. Don’t flinch, and do not under any circumstance say, “when works for you?”
  4. Keep going. It may take a few more calls to book your schedule. Stick to your approach and don’t worry about a few people who can’t or won’t meet with you. It doesn’t mean everybody will blow you off.

Now let’s talk about increasing your average order through gifts. A big mistake made here is to change your presentation for new customers to lean them towards gifts for others. If someone doesn’t see the value for their own life, they are less likely to buy that thing for others. Furthermore, if you have now added a bunch of stuff to the sales presentation you have too many products and risk, “I need to think about it.” So here is what to do:

  1. Stick with your basic sales presentation and your normal closing process to solve their problems and meet their goals.
  2. Solidify their own order and start filling out the order form.
  3. Give them a booklet or a few sheets that show the gift add-ons and directly ask, “here are some really popular gifts. Which ones would you like to add to your order to get some shopping done as well?”

Last I checked, customers still have goals and problems in December. And you still have bills. Use the skills we talked about today to ensure that your December is successful.

If you need a little more help with selling and closing, I have you covered. Come to the $27 live closing workshop Saturday morning, December 10th. I’ll help you write your super simple, yet high-converting sales presentation. Register at emergesalestraining.com/closing.