13 days and counting...and thinking ahead to January

Having struggled through the wonderful commute from Boston to the NH beach last night, I'm ready to declare that it is now officially winta'! 

6" at the beach, when I set off to Boston this morning after shoveling the driveway at 4:30. 

Driving in and out of Boston ...especially in the winta'...is all about the preplanning of one's schedules down to 30-minute time blocks. 

Exactly the same rhythm all of us in Sales need to be doing every day for the rest of this month!

The number of sales days left in the month to hit yearend quota are in all practicality 13 with maybe a fantasy stretch to 15.  In your own count right now, you may be using a day or two after Christmas, but in the real world of your prospects post-Christmas, most likely they're off skiing or headed to the islands. The other reality check you want to employ right away is that even though the primary decision maker you've been dealing with for the last month may be working after Christmas, getting everyone else involved including Purchasing and Legal may be a challenge. As a potential closing tactic for this week, you should be pre-planning with your December prospects to make sure that they are paving the way to identify any potential roadblocks with other people that will need to sign off on your deal.  

But you know most of this already, and this morning, there's really nothing I can add to your daily sales planning that would be of any deep value to you closing deals for the remaining few days of this month. That being said, given my frequent and long end-of-day commute, connect with me if you want a sounding board.

It is time to think about your January sales kickoff.   

At this point, I'm sure that you already have a date and location planned for your event.  Here's just a couple of pre-planning items to think through by actively engaging your sales team for a few minutes for their ideas.  This tactic is also a point of positive reinforcement reminding everyone that five or six weeks from now, the awards for the best salespeople by various categories will be handed out. 

You can ask these questions at next Monday's sales recap meeting or through an online poll.

• What do they want to leave the meeting with?...other than their quota and commission plan.
• What's a possible theme for the sales meeting?  
• What roadblocks do they feel need to be opened in order to close more deals more quickly?
• Are there critical tools that are needed?  Ask for priorities in criticality and timing.
• Do they want better competitor intelligence and battlecards for example?

• Is there a need for in-depth product topics that go beyond the standard training?
• Is there a hands-on deep dive into AI functionality that ties directly into your CRM? 
• Do you want to use gamification tactics or interactive challenges to more actively engage everyone?

One reason for thinking about this now is the active engagement of everyone both individually and as a team.  The other is that unfortunately, all of us have attended at least one deadly sales kickoff in our careers so actively soliciting ideas now will make sure that that never happens again!!!

Have a great day selling today! 

Now's THE Time to dive into your business planning for what lies ahead in 2026!

Think about taking a full day in the second week of January to polish your detailed business and sales planning process for 2026. Here's our free how-to ebooks for a few ideas:

"Writing the Winning Sales Plan"
"Writing the Winning Business Plan"
"Writing the Winning Marketing Plan"
"The Marketing of Me"

We outline ideas on structure, models, process funnels, productivity tools and how to recruit, hire and onboard the best people.  A few hands-on guides for sales, marketing and business managers written by heavily experienced line managers with your titles and responsibilities.   

Connect with me any time at jack@derbymanagement.com and let's discuss your own 2026 planning!