[Note: If you didn’t read it yet, go back and check out Part 1: Cost Of Ending The Month Strong]

Introduction

What can you do to stop the cycle?

Answer: Some things, but not what you want.

Your business has needs, goals, plans.

While I like to use professional sports analogies in comparison to sales, in some ways it works, but in one big way it is like comparing apples and fish. The advantage that professional athletes and even teachers have is they have an off-season. They have a period of several months away from their professional grind to allow for recovery, both physically and mentally.

Of course, professional athletes are still thinking about their game in the off-season, still doing some exercise, maybe some workouts, drills, etc. Teachers take some time off mentally but then start thinking about lesson plans, room setup, and things to do differently in the year. The mind of a driven professional won’t turn off long. But those groups at least can physically and mentally step away from their role and routine for a while.

Salespeople don’t ever get an off-season (except for unemployment, but then they are focused on selling themselves to a new company). There is no break from the grind. They don’t get a few months off to celebrate and analyze, to relax and recover. They also don’t have a pre-season each year, where they can work on new skills and refine their best practices. It’s all or nothing. It’s constant and relentless. It is nonstop.

To be in sales is to commit to a life of the grind and cycle. The ups and downs cause our primitive brain to struggle.

Understanding the Sales Cycle

Then you add in the monthly/weekly/quarterly/annual pressure.

That first month of a new salesperson who has hit their stride will go well. Month two in their tenure will probably go well also. Then they will hit the cycle, where you push them to finish the month strong, but they will take their recovery time at the start of the following month.

You let them, because they did well the month before. Then by week two, the pressure from above you starts to form, so you roll that pressure downhill.

Cycle repeats. That’s what cycles do. They go in circles, doing the same thing over and over again. Until the system or the player breaks.

So, one of the keys to success as a sales leader is to understand the cycle and do what you can to even out the effort and results. Make it more of a marathon than a series of high-pressure sprints. Can you do anything to get the marketing/leads to have a more consistent, even flow during the month?

Adjusting Expectations and Goals

If you do not have direct control of a gas and brake pedal for lead flow, then the next best thing you can do is alter the expectations of the month. With enough historical data, you can map out the percentage of the monthly goal that is achieved in week 1, versus week 2, and so on. Instead of assuming an even, 25% of goal distribution, or hoping for a front-loaded 30-35% week one (‘start off strong and we won’t have to push at the end, right? If we are never behind then we don’t have to play from behind), make it realistic.

For example, I worked with a client where we found that week 1 was on average 15% of the goal. It was tough for the leadership to acknowledge that and be okay with setting that as the goal for week 1. The results? The team was excited – because they knew, without the exact stats, that week 1 was never 25%, and by setting it at 15% of the goal they had a target they felt they could hit [And yes…I know I know…I will save you from saying it – whether you think you can or cannot hit a goal, you will be right. That sounds great for a motivational poster or something leaders wish was true with humans…but it’s not valid all the time.]

So the team, feeling like they had a goal they could hit, came in at 18% for week 1. This was a win for the company (because we set it at 15%) and for the team – they felt like they actually won week 1 for the first time. They didn’t get a ‘you better work harder’ speech. They just rolled into week 2.

Week 2 goal was set at 20%, which made week 3 at 30%, and week 4 at 35%. That might seem like a lot of weight towards the end of the month, because it was. But it wasn’t just about hope; it was based on analyzing years of monthly data. With the pressure off the team, with a solid outline of what is realistic each week, the team did well.



And not just in that month, but continuously. Yes, they were still pushing at the end of the month, but in their business, that worked well. It also built in a natural off(ish) season. Where the team knew it was okay to take it a little easy week 1 of the following month. They knew the cycle and could plan their own lives and energy around it.

Conclusion

How can you build your goals and expectations around what happens in the real world, not just what you want on paper? How can you hit your business, and revenue goals while accounting for what your humans can do short-term and need long-term?