What Q1 Through Q3 Can Teach You About Q4 Success
The calendar flips, fall sneaks in, and suddenly every seller feels the pressure: Q4 is here. The deals are different, the timelines are unpredictable, and the window to hit your number shrinks by the week.
So what should you do with the lessons from the first three quarters of the year? Hosts Mark Hunter and Meridith Elliott Powell dig deep in this fast-paced episode, sharing what’s worked, what hasn’t, and the best ways to maximize the new selling season.
Consistency Beats Everything
Meridith didn’t miss a single day of sales calls all year, and that consistency paid off. Momentum matters, especially with the distractions inherent to fall.
“I was so consistent this year… I never, ever, ever missed a day, not one single day of making my sales calls.” —Meridith Elliott Powell
Mark backs her up, noting that blocking time, every day, is what keeps your sales pipeline healthy and businesses growing. Don’t get distracted and start thinking about next year before you’ve maximized what’s on the table now.
Deal Timelines Are Wild, Don’t Get Comfortable
Deals used to move in predictable cycles. Not anymore. Sellers are finding some customers make decisions last-minute, while others are content to plan for projects years out. Assume nothing, and always dig deeper to understand real buying urgency.
Mark said it best: “Don’t give up. There’s so much business right now to be had. But you’ve got to be in the moment.”
Quality Over Quantity in Your Pipeline
Chasing every new lead might feel good, but too often it leaves sellers with an overflowing, unproductive pipeline. Meridith admitted she spread her attention too thin, pulling in new prospects rather than working her top 100 list with focus.
“I pick a top 100 at the beginning of every year and I didn’t focus down on that top 100. And I’ve not closed as many of that top 100 as I typically do in the past.” —Meridith Elliott Powell
Mark emphasized tough love here: Stick with your leading opportunities long enough to really qualify them. Don’t accept pushback as a no, and don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions early. Keeping your pipeline full shouldn’t mean keeping it full of dead ends.
Measure, Analyze, and Stress Test
Many sellers don’t track close rates or dig into why proposals didn’t turn into business. But if you don’t know your win ratio. and why you win or lose. you’re missing out.
Meridith reflected, “I need to go in and figure out why. And what I’m guessing is I didn’t stress test it enough right at the beginning… I didn’t have a good way to differentiate myself.”
Mark offers a simple benchmark: if you’re closing less than 30% of proposals, it’s time to examine your process and up your game in early conversations.
KPIs and Decision Makers: Go Deeper
Sellers increasingly face multiple decision-makers on every deal, each with their own priorities. Discovering every stakeholder’s KPIs and getting face time with the true buyers is critical.
“We’ve got to be willing to ask the tough questions early on.” —Mark Hunter
If you can’t get in front of the main decision-maker, find ways to enable your contacts to sell you up the chain. Customized videos and clear, concise explanations help “gatekeepers” champion your pitch internally.
AI: Crutch, or Superpower?
Both Mark and Meridith see the pros and cons of artificial intelligence in sales. Used right, AI cuts research time and enables hyper-personalized outreach at scale. Used wrong, it leads to generic emails, lazy proposals, and lost opportunities.
“AI is a starting tool, it’s not a finishing tool.” —Mark Hunter
The goal? Deliver value in every follow-up, focus on the human element, and use AI to enable, not replace real relationships.
Lightning Round: Top 10 Ways to Win in Q4
- Get hyper-focused. Dial in on your top 100 prospects and let go of the scattergun approach.
- Map out the quarter. Know exactly how many selling days you have, factoring in holidays.
- Review lost deals. Decide which to nurture and which to drop from your pipeline.
- Simplify your offer. Make it easy for customers to say yes before year-end.
- Tighten value-adds. Develop content, videos, and articles that deliver clear ROI.
- Deepen relationships. Invest extra effort with key contacts who can refer or open doors.
- Double down on your best channel. For many B2B sellers, that means prioritizing LinkedIn.
- Set new goals. Establish a fresh target for deals closed before year-end, and track your benchmarks.
- Plan proactive thank-you calls. Reach out to customers in November and December to nurture the relationship for now and next year.
- Clean your CRM. Ruthlessly interrogate every name in your pipeline. If it’s not worth your attention, cut it loose.
The Bottom Line
Fourth quarter is the time to get intentional. Use what you’ve learned in Q1-Q3 to sharpen your focus, hold yourself accountable to key metrics, and invest in meaningful, personalized touches. Work the right opportunities until the finish line; there’s still plenty of business to be had right now.
“You are going to blow the number badly if you just divide the quarter out evenly. Plan for Q4. Be proactive.” —Mark Hunter
Question: Carolina from Bangor, Maine asks, “So, I am curious how I make the most of the 4th quarter of the year? I hear you two talk about it all the time and want to know what I need to be doing and what I need to be focused on?”
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:00:19]:
Hey, this is Meredith Elliott Powell. I’m hanging out here with my partner, Mark Hunter. I can talk this morning. It is 8 AM Eastern on Saturday morning and it is time for Sales Logic.
Mark Hunter [00:00:31]:
Good morning.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:00:32]:
Mark, I know we got a power-packed show, but I was just sitting here thinking, I mean, I feel like the summer went so fast and here we are past Labor Day weekend, slipping into the fall and slipping into what is the most important, in my opinion, quarter of the year.
Mark Hunter [00:00:46]:
It is. And that’s the topic we’re going to be talking about. What are the lessons we learned from the first, second, and third quarter? Because again, the year has changed and you’re right. And you know, this is kind of— this is another selling season. We get this window between now and about Thanksgiving where People are buying and we got to be ready for it. So that’s the topic. We got a great question that leads right into the lightning round, which is top 10 things I’ll be changing or adding for the fourth quarter. Now, not just me, but I know you’re going to be adding some things.
Mark Hunter [00:01:15]:
So let’s dive into it. Let’s talk about this. Hey, what are some of the lessons that you’ve learned? I learned several, but you’ve probably got some.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:01:22]:
Yeah. You know, I think, first of all, I think that— I think this is such a good time to sort of pause Take a breath and really ask yourself, what did I really do well in, you know, in the first couple of quarters of the year? Maybe where didn’t I do well? And what could I adjust for Q4, which is the whole goal of this episode? I mean, if you’re listening right now, like jot some notes or type in your phone or do something like really make a plan of what you’re going to do, what you’re going to do differently. Let’s start, you know, I’m going to start with some things I really did well. I was so consistent this year. I mean, I was really, I never, ever, ever missed a day, not one single day of making my sales calls.
Mark Hunter [00:02:07]:
See, I think that drives home, that’s the key to success, you know, in sales. It’s just being consistent. I see so many salespeople because that was something that I really learned. It’s You’ve got to be blocking your time literally every day. But there’s something else that I think comes into that in terms of the power of relationships because you’re in the mood, you’re in the groove. And, you know, I’ve said this before, I have this objective, 5 conversations a day, and I found that I stay in that mode and it’s amazing. And that’s a key lesson because I think all of us— and this is going to be something Salespeople can get off track this time of year because I’m going to begin planning for next year. And you give up on the business that’s available right now.
Mark Hunter [00:02:55]:
Don’t give up. There’s so much business right now to be had. But you’ve got to be in the moment. So, don’t sit there and say, I’m just going to turn the page to the next year.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:03:04]:
Wrong.
Mark Hunter [00:03:05]:
Big mistake.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:03:06]:
Yeah, you know, I think another thing that I really learned from the first, second, and third quarter kind of goes in line with what you’re saying is that Uh, timelines for deals to close are all over the map. I just had somebody call me yesterday and said, what am I seeing in the speaking industry as far as close rates? And I told them I just closed 2 deals for November, um, just this past week. That, you know, when I first started in this business, lead times would be 6 months to a year. Now they’re still 6 months to a year. I’m still booking things for 2027, but that I don’t have any idea what the— what that— I shouldn’t assume that because, you know, I— because their deadline is November 10th, that the deal is off the table.
Mark Hunter [00:03:58]:
So true to that, because when we talk about timelines, I’m seeing them going in both extremes. One, extremely short, just like what you’re seeing. I mean, I’m seeing people not making decisions until they absolutely have to. They’ve got a gun to their head. And at the same time, I’m seeing people who are literally saying, well, you know, we’re going to do all the planning, planning, planning, but we’re not going to make the decision for 18 months, 12 months. It’s not going to be in this CapEx budget. It’s going to be in next year’s budget or the year after. So I’m seeing both extremes.
Mark Hunter [00:04:31]:
But I think what that comes down to is that there’s more challenge than ever to really figure out what is the real need. that the customer has? And is there an urgency or what’s their timeline for getting it solved today or next year, whatever it might be?
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:04:49]:
Yeah, I think, you know, when I look at a couple of things that I think I have not done well in the first and the second quarter, I was not focused enough. And what I mean not focused enough is I made calls all over the map. I kept adding new prospects in instead of continuing to work my existing prospects. I pick a top 100 at the beginning of every year and I didn’t focus down on that top 100. And I’ve not closed as many of that top 100 as I typically do in the past. I have— I almost have too many leads in the pipeline.
Mark Hunter [00:05:19]:
Is this a challenge because we want to just chase— I mean, again, that’s the nature of sales. We want to chase leads, we want to chase opportunities. And I agree with this because I think it’s human nature. We get one pushback. Well, I’m going to give up here. I’m going to go someplace else. And we don’t stay in the game long enough to really realize, is this lead a highly qualified prospect and can I close it? We just don’t stay in the game long enough, which maybe goes back to your first comment regarding consistency. We’ve got to be consistent with what we have on our plate.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:05:56]:
Yeah, I way underestimated too how much would fall out of my pipeline. I had a lot of inquiries in the first, second, and third quarters. People interested getting me all the way to proposal and I didn’t get them across the finish line. And I need to go in and figure out why. And what I’m guessing is I didn’t stress test it enough right at the beginning. Like I did proposal before I really knew if I was in the game, before I really, I didn’t have a good way to differentiate myself. And I think I just went into a vanilla pipeline.
Mark Hunter [00:06:30]:
Well, that brings up a key issue that I think so many salespeople have. And that is, We’ve got to be willing to ask the tough questions early on. I think there’s this attitude in sales, got to keep the pipeline full, keep the pipeline full, even if it’s full of garbage. And this comes back to ask tough questions early on because if we don’t, we wind up with stuff that just hangs around and we put proposals out there, which I think comes back to something that every salesperson should be measuring. What’s the percentage of proposals that you actually close, that you actually get? You know, I mean, that, that is a metric that I think unfortunately, uh, too many people don’t measure, and then they don’t measure why they didn’t get it.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:07:18]:
Yeah, but Mark, here’s my question with that. Like, so what percentage should close? Like, okay, so I mean, like, I’m, I’m curious of that for myself for 4th quarter because I wrote a lot of proposals. I’ve had a good, like, If I look at what really went well, people obviously found my information. They are interested in me. They want to get me to proposal phase. Some of those closed and some of those didn’t. What percentage should I be looking at to close?
Mark Hunter [00:07:43]:
Well, I think it’s going to vary by industry. It’s going to vary by type. And sadly, close ratios have declined over the last 10 to 15 years. And I’m really willing to say it’s got to be at least 30%. at least 30% of the proposals you put across the table should be closing. I used to say 50 to 60, but sadly it’s changed. But I think it comes back to the quality of your conversation early on. It goes back to Terry’s comment.
Mark Hunter [00:08:14]:
He says, you know, we’ve got to focus on what timing is right for the customer. And that’s it. Because if you can’t uncover fast enough what is the timing, what’s the urgency, what’s the need the customer has, and why do they need to solve it? In other words, They may have a need, but if they don’t have a reason as to why it needs to be solved, they’re just not going to solve it. So, you got to connect the dots, or the sooner you connect the dots early on, the better your close ratio is going to be.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:08:44]:
Yeah. Speaking of tough questions, what’s our question for the week?
Mark Hunter [00:08:47]:
Well, the question— I’m going to hold on to the question because it really lends in well to the lightning round. So, I’m going to tease it out there for a bit. But I want to come back to something else that I found, and that is KPIs. I first began talking about this probably about 3 months ago. But I’ll tell you what, understanding your decision-makers’ KPIs, understanding what are their specific metrics that they need, what are their specific goals, what is it that they— I think goes a long ways towards helping us really uncover And that’s a big lesson that I’ve learned from the first half of the year, and I’m carrying forward. Understand the KPIs that our customers have. And when you uncover KPIs, it’s not just the decision maker, but it’s every person, because it’s amazing. You and I both get in a lot of situations where there’s multiple decision makers.
Mark Hunter [00:09:44]:
Everybody’s got different KPIs. Whoa. And any one of them can sink our deal. Anyone can. We got, we got to know all of them.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:09:53]:
Yeah. Yeah, that was a big— I said, that’s a big fail for me in the first 3 quarters of the year that I want to change for 4th quarter of the year is that, is I want to— I didn’t do a good enough job of getting to the decision maker. Like the person contacted me and they wanted my information to give to the decision maker, but I’m not getting in front of the decision maker. And that, that’s a lose.
Mark Hunter [00:10:19]:
And does that have us then racing to the proposal? I think it does. I think it moves us too quickly. And I think because we think customers are urgent, we hear urgency in the marketplace, we hear it, we scream, it screams in everything that we just think we got to race to the proposal and shame on us maybe as a sales community.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:10:44]:
So yeah, I love what Brynn is saying here. She said her biggest learning is using LinkedIn Insights, call transcripts, and AI for pre-call planning that aligns data with where we are in the sales process and how to keep it, how to keep it moving forward. I will tell you something I feel like I learned a lot from, from the first 3 quarters of the year that’ll carry me through 2027 is that I had a lot of first times at bat, meaning that a company reached out to me or I reached out to them and I got an opportunity to to do a proposal. It didn’t get through, but it’s led me to— I did a great pitch to stay in the game and lead for other opportunities in ’27 and ’28. So not using the no as the final opportunity, just almost expecting the fact that I wasn’t going to get through on first round.
Mark Hunter [00:11:35]:
Wow, that, that is interesting. You know, I want to touch on something that Brynn brought up— AI. Are we— I mean, we’re all using AI more and more in our sales process. And I’m seeing a real concern that it’s making salespeople lazy. Are you seeing that?
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:11:56]:
You know, yeah, I don’t know, Marc. I guess I’m going to push back a little bit. Is that— no, I feel like it’s making salespeople get way back into the human aspect of it. And so, I mean, look, lazy salespeople have been out there since the beginning of time. I don’t think AI made salespeople lazy. They were lazy to begin with. What I see is people really using AI to have a hyper-personalized relationship and to spend more time making calls. I mean, I know I’ve tripled the number of calls that I make.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:12:35]:
I used to be a 3-call-a-day, no matter what, where I was in the country. Now I’m 9 calls. a day because that’s the thing that I’ve learned from the first 3 quarters of the year. I don’t know that I could make 9 hyper-personalized calls a day without AI.
Mark Hunter [00:12:49]:
Well, that’s good that you see you’re using AI to help you. See, I’m seeing people, and this is what really distresses me, I’m seeing salespeople basically write their entire proposal, write their emails, write all that sort of stuff. And, you know, we’ve talked ad nauseam that AI is a starting tool. It’s not a finishing tool. It gets us the information. It doesn’t complete the information. But I’m seeing more and more that salespeople are just— and I think it’s under this pressure of they got to triple the number of calls they make, number of emails, etc., etc. So they’re just banging this stuff out and it’s not happening.
Mark Hunter [00:13:24]:
Hey, I want to come back. Bill King’s got a great question for you, Mayor. How do you balance the way they do business with our goal to get in front of the real decision maker quickly?
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:13:35]:
Such a good question, Bill. And I really wrestled with this. So here’s, here’s what I’ve done is like, I’ll give you an example. This week, somebody reached out to me and wanted information. They just want to get it in front of their, their CRO, right? And my first pushback was, oh my gosh, I would love to work with you. Such a great company. I’d love to set up a quick call with your CRO. Blah, blah, blah.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:14:00]:
Response was no, he’s just looking at proposals right now. So I responded back, understand completely. I’m going to put together some information. And with that, Bill, I shoot a video for and instruct the person working for my contact to share the video with the CRO. So at least I get my energy, my explanation, and a little bit of my customization. I mean, if I looked at one thing I have increased that has really been effective in in the first few quarters of the year, it’s really— I’ve used a lot more. I’m doing a lot more helping my contact sell me to the team.
Mark Hunter [00:14:42]:
See, there’s something really real what you just said there. And that’s so many times there’s a gatekeeper that we all find ourselves with. And we may think they’re the decision maker, but they’re not. But you’re really spending time, you’re investing into how to, so to speak, educate, help that gatekeeper, that information gatherer to be more qualified to know how to represent you. Is that what you’re saying there?
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:15:09]:
Yeah, it’s basically what they’ve done is to Bill’s point, they just blocked me. Like, there’s no way they’re going to let me in front of that CRO. So, I’ve got to figure out how to get in front of that CRO. And so, the very first thing I’ve got to do with the gatekeeper is to say, I understand completely. Your CRO’s got a lot on the plate. And I know you do too. You’re really busy. So I’m going to make this really easy for you.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:15:31]:
Rather than you having to turn around and explain the whole conversation to him, I’m going to shoot you a quick video kind of recapping everything that we talked about, talking about the things that I could do to hyper-personalize this relationship, ensure your return on investment. I’ll send that across to you. All you’ve got to do is forward that to him. And I really find my videos get forwarded.
Mark Hunter [00:15:56]:
Oh, I like that because I think what you’re doing is you’re allowing that gatekeeper, that information gatherer, whoever it might be, to really become more qualified themselves to be able to represent you. I like that. Hey, Kelly Wang has got a great question. As we use more data and AI to predict next steps, how do we make sure we’re improving customer timing and relevance rather than simply getting better at applying pressure? Great question, because again, it’s so easy for AI to get us information that we just shovel out the door. And I’m seeing this more and more, that I’m getting lengthier emails from salespeople trying to sell me, lengthier conversations, and they’re not going anywhere. And I can see they’re just gathering AI. So I think coming back, I’m going to answer Kelly’s question by It really is allowing us to get more information to answer in brevity. You know, it comes back to that, that we have to know more to be brief.
Mark Hunter [00:16:58]:
Otherwise, we just ramble.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:17:00]:
I don’t know.
Mark Hunter [00:17:00]:
Thoughts?
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:17:01]:
Yeah, Kelly, the way that I think this is a really great question and the way that I do it is the way that I’ve always done it before AI ever came about. My follow-up is 70% value-add and 30% asking for the business. So I think before you reach out, you need to explore your intention. Like, if I’ve put a proposal in front of Marc, my first touchpoint after, you know, after sending the proposal across is I do a quick touchpoint just to make sure it all got through. I always use the black hole of technology as the, you know, excuse to reach out again and see if they need any more information or questions. Once they let me know that and they say, you know, our head of HR is reviewing or whatever like that, I say, absolutely, you know, understand completely. You know, let me know your timing. I’m going to continue to reach out with some things that I think could supplement, help, or support what you’re trying to achieve.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:17:59]:
And so I’m going to continue to reach out that way. And so I’ll do a few more touchpoints, maybe with an article, with a video, a podcast that I think would be valuable, nurturing that relationship along. And AI has been so helpful With that, because I’ll talk to AI and say, you know, I’ve got to stay in touch with this customer, but I don’t want to be pushy with them. And then about the 3rd or 4th time I reach out, I reach out and say, you know, hey, Kelly, I’m just trying to see where you are in the process. So I use that balance of 70% value-add, 30% asking for the business.
Mark Hunter [00:18:35]:
See, because now you’ve earned the right. You have earned the right to be there with that person. Hey, that brings up a great piece because Kelly had a great question, talked about AI, and you and I are working behind the scenes on developing this interactive tool where people will be able to ask us questions 24/7. We hope to showcase it next week on next week’s show, but that’s going to be really cool for people to be able to ask questions, right? And just get answers from us all the time.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:19:03]:
Yeah.
Mark Hunter [00:19:04]:
Hey, here’s the deal. Terry’s jumping in. Good points about using AI to help, and that’s not to do it all. That’s so true. And that’s the key that we have to be able to understand how and when to use AI there. Hey, Brynn has got a great question there, or a great, great comment. As, you know, proposals, it’s magic, but you’ve gotta have a powerful prompt. And again, this comes back to how we use AI.
Mark Hunter [00:19:31]:
You know, it’s interesting. We have to prompt customers to make a decision. We have to prompt AI to make a decision. Hey, time is moving along. We got a book. We got a question. Let’s, let’s, let’s, yeah, Mary, it looks like—
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:19:45]:
Well, I was just going to make a comment. I really, I love, I always want to pull out what Terry is saying here. ChatGPT’s new Images 2.5 released this week. Terry, I don’t even know what that is, but I’m going to check it out today. And Bryn, I love what you’re saying is that because I’m doing this too, AI for proposals is magic. You put in everything you need and it takes— like, I’m using it so much to take my proposals and say, I need it exactly tailored to this audience. And to Mark’s point, we’ve got to go back and edit and things. But oh my gosh, the amount of time that that would have taken me in the past.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:20:22]:
You know, love that. And oh, Bill, so much. You said it so much better than I could have. Conceptually, I’m making 3 deposits before asking for withdrawal. I’m a former banker too. Bill, so I, so I get it. But absolutely, like, I’m nurturing, to Kelly’s point, I’m nurturing that relationship along without being pushy. But I’ve got to remain visible.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:20:44]:
OK, sorry, Marc. I know we haven’t done the question already.
Mark Hunter [00:20:46]:
Hey, we’ve got great questions. And like I said, you’re going to be able to ask us questions all the time with this interactive tool. Let’s, let’s do the book real quick. It comes to us from Chris Voss. You all know Chris Voss, ex-FBI negotiator. Never Split the Difference. Great book, huh? Isn’t that a fun read? It’s a fun read.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:21:04]:
Oh, it’s a really, it’s a really fun read. If you’ve not read it, you know, it’s a great read, but it’ll really help you go into, I feel like, Q4 really focused.
Mark Hunter [00:21:16]:
Yes, I think without a doubt, it’s a great book. Okay, the question, and then we go into the lightning round. Question comes to us from Carolina in Bangor, Maine. She says, so I’m I’m curious, how do I make the most of the 4th quarter of the year? I hear you 2 talk about it all the time and want to know what I need to be doing and what I need to be focused on. So let’s chime in on that a little bit and then we’ll take it right to the lightning round.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:21:40]:
Number one, Carolina, I love Bangor, Maine, beautiful area of the country. Number one is you need a plan and a strategy. Don’t go into Q4 blind.
Mark Hunter [00:21:51]:
Echo that. Bangor, Maine this time of year is absolutely fantastic. Okay, in about 6 weeks, no, I’m sorry. Yeah, I don’t want to go to Bangor, Maine. But anyway, hey, here’s the whole thing. I think when it comes to really developing that strategy, we look past existing and old customers too often. Go back to them because there’s so much opportunity that we can develop from them by having the right relationships, the right conversations.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:22:18]:
I, I agree. I mean, I think that, um, you know, I think that you should work on really analyzing as you look at Q4 what deals closed this year and why. Like, understand your win ratio better.
Mark Hunter [00:22:34]:
You know, something you have to do in the fourth quarter is you’ve got to plan for it. Too many people kind of respond to what’s happening out there in the marketplace. Fourth quarter is really a 10-week quarter. And I almost— and that’s sometimes kind of generous depending on the industry you’re in, because for many, many industries in the 4th quarter, come the middle of November, they shut down. They are no longer buying. They’re no longer making decisions. Now, others are making more decisions because they got year-end money to spend, etc., etc. So you got to understand what marketplace you’re playing in.
Mark Hunter [00:23:03]:
But this means you’ve got to be proactive in managing your calendar. It isn’t just taking, you know, 13 weeks and and dividing it out evenly. Wrong. You are going to blow the number badly if you do that.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:23:16]:
Yeah, I guess, Mark, we better hit the lightning round.
Mark Hunter [00:23:19]:
Well, we are. We’re kind of into it right now because the lightning round is top 10 things I’ll be changing or adding in the 4th quarter. You’ve shared a couple already, so. Hey.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:23:28]:
Yeah. Number 1 is I’m going to get way more focused. I’m not going to use a, you know, a spray approach. I’m going to really dial in on my top 100.
Mark Hunter [00:23:39]:
You know, I’m gonna— I’m taking the 4th quarter right now and, and I’m laying out the calendar and exactly, okay, what days do I have to take off? What days are gonna be because of holidays, et cetera, et cetera. So I exactly know how many selling days I’ve got to be able to make things happen. And then I’m doing the same thing with accounts, with major accounts that I work with, because I wanna find out, are they closing or is there holiday plans? What’s all that? I gotta get ahead of the curve. If you’re an account manager, you’ve got to be doing this right now in the month of September or you will get hosed come November and December.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:24:12]:
I’m going to go back and pull all my, all my deals that didn’t close and really analyze whether I should continue to nurture them and try to get them across the finish line or just be gut-wrenchingly honest with myself that a couple of them just need to get out of there.
Mark Hunter [00:24:28]:
I’m going to run with that a bit more. And that is, what’s your simple offer? You know, it’s so many times it’s easy for people to make a decision to say, we’re going to wait, we’re going to wait, we’re going to wait. And we begin to hear those comments come the middle of November. Well, after the first year, I want to make it very simple for customers to do business with me.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:24:48]:
I’m going to get a really, you know, I was, I was talking with Bill about my 70% value add, 30% asking for the business. I’m going to get really tight On that 70% value-add. What I mean by getting really tight is I’m going to make sure that it is really value-add. I’m going to create a few new articles, a few new videos that really tighten and really add return on investment to anybody who’s receiving those things.
Mark Hunter [00:25:17]:
I’m going to take that a step beyond. And that is, where are the relationships that you can really develop even deeper? Where’s that level of trust? In other words, are there people out there that you can invest a little bit of time on, you know, time in to take a relationship to a deeper level, to get a referral, to get a connection, to get more business, etc., etc.?
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:25:38]:
Yeah, I’m going to make Bryn Tillman happy. I’m going to double down on LinkedIn. I’m going to let my other social media channels go right now. And for my top 100, I’m really going to work on getting and focusing on commenting on their posts, on really nurturing and creating relationship there.
Mark Hunter [00:26:01]:
I’m going to add on that one because spray and pray does not work. And yet that’s what too many people do when it comes to social media. They’re on every medium out there. Own one and own it well. And for you and I and our respective businesses, LinkedIn is our go-to. That’s the one you got to find, the one that you own and stay there.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:26:20]:
I’m going to set— I’m going to set a new goal for Q4. I had set a goal in August for Q4, but I already hit that goal, which all that— don’t be impressed. That means I just set the goal too low. But I’m going to set a goal of how many deals I want to close before the end of the— before the end of the year. I think having a goal will keep me focused and keep me moving that along.
Mark Hunter [00:26:41]:
Yeah, and as you set that goal, make sure you have small benchmarks so you really can see success all along the way, because otherwise what will happen is you’re going to get discouraged and you’re going to check it out. But I’m going to add to that something that you really got to plan for now, and I’ve talked about this before— your year-end phone calls. It’s your year-end thank you calls. You really want to be proactive on those because it is amazing. I do them every year starting about the middle of November. And because it takes 3, 4 weeks to work my way through them. But you’re calling customers, you’re calling people, you know, and you’re just thanking them. And it’s amazing the relationships, the business, and the activity you can get going, not only for this year, but then setting up for next year.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:27:22]:
Yeah, I’m going to quit BSing myself about my CRM and my pipeline. My— one of my goals for Q4 is going to be to really clean it out, really, once a name pops in there, to really ask myself, is this deal worth my time and my energy? Am I okay if I say yes to this, that I’m saying no to something else?
Mark Hunter [00:27:42]:
Wow. And we’ve gone way past 10. So, I’ll share one more and we’ll close it out. And hey, lay the groundwork right now for your mega opportunities in next year. Because again, you may have some mega opportunities that are going to take— they’re going to take a full year with which to do. And you know what, you’ve got to realize you’re going to have to start on them now. But don’t do that at the expense of not getting business right now. There’s so much business out there in the 4th quarter if you are ready.
Mark Hunter [00:28:09]:
Hey, we’ve had a great audience this morning. This has been fantastic. And we’ve got behind the scenes. Mary, do you want to share a little bit about the behind the scenes thing?
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:28:18]:
Well, just that, you know, I mean, it’s just another continual tease. Hopefully Mark and I can sync up this week. We’ve both been incredibly busy. But a couple of things to think about. Number one, the Backstage Pass is coming, promise. One of our goals needs to be that we’ll roll it out here in the 4th quarter. But it’s really taking the SalesLogic community to another level. And then remember, if you have an SKO, if you’ve got something happening in the first quarter of the year, would love to reach out.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:28:44]:
Marc and I would love to be a part of it. One of us, both of us, all together. And anyway, we’ll, we’ll, we would love to help you reach your goals in 2022.
Mark Hunter [00:28:54]:
Great, because you and I will be on the stage together in Vegas here in a few weeks, and that’ll be a great opportunity. But many, many more of those out there. Hey, with that, we want to say thank you for listening to Sales Logic this week. If you like what you hear, subscribe, rate, review the show in your favorite podcast app. If we’ve helped you earn a single dollar, consider telling a friend about our show because it’s how we grow when we help you grow. I’m Marc Hunter.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:29:17]:
And I’m Meredith Elliott Powell. Remember, when you sell with confidence and integrity, All of this uncertainty suddenly becomes your competitive advantage.
Mark Hunter [00:29:25]:
And the sale becomes logical.
Meridith Elliott Powell [00:29:27]:
All right, we’ll see you all right back here next week for another episode of Sales Logic. Until then, go close a deal.