There is one exception to “commission consistency” – It’s Q4 of your sales year!

Final quarter, how do you feel?  You have worked three quarters of the year and final numbers will be tallied shortly. Do I sound competitive? The reason is, I am. Most sales professionals are. It’s our nature.

But let’s remove emotion for now.  

Three months seems like plenty of time to hit your stated goal or beat last year’s numbers or move into the top quartile of the team.  It’s not.  This quarter your priorities change to nailing your goal.  Next quarter we can get back to “commission consistency” but for the next 90 days it’s about beating your goal whatever it is.

Two skills need to take center stage: pipeline management and time management. If you have managed your pipeline well this year you are well prepared for this quarter.  Your prospects that made it to the sales funnel are well defined and have received the attention needed to close. The obvious next step is to allocate your time so that you close them before year end.

Sounds simple, right.  Wrong.  Three months is not as much time as you think so get to work.

Two cautionary notes. First, quality of sales should not suffer, those clients will come back and haunt you. Second a “good close” between you and your prospect is still important. Remember the last step in a well-designed repeatable sales strategy is reference, referral or introduction. A bad close eliminates that opportunity.