Inside Sales Tips – No Vacations the Last Week of the Month

It's the end of the month.....are you closing?

The message of this post is pretty simple: Managers and reps should never schedule vacations during the last business week of the month.

I’m sure some of you—most likely front-line sales reps—growled a little bit at hearing that.

On the surface it sounds harsh, right? Companies don’t control our lives; we should have the freedom to go on vacation when we wish, shouldn’t we? This is the United States of America, free country, and all that, right?

In principle yes.

In the real world of professional sales?

Not on your life.

The last two to three business days of the month are crucial for sales teams. Not because it’s necessarily “crucial” for the people doing the selling, but because in many cases, it’s crucial for potential buyers.

Whether it’s real or simply imagination, the end of a month pulls on buyers’ psychological strings.

Many budgets run on end-of-month or end-of-quarter schedules. Department productivity goals are clearly in focus, and decision-makers want to, well, make decisions.

When the calendar turns, we don’t want to leave old problems unfinished. Old problems are stale, dull, rehashed.

We want to “gear up” for the next month, tackle new problems and fresh ideas.

And like it or not, sales reps need to be around to take advantage of it.

Whether it sounds disingenuous, whether it feels like a “mercenary” tactic, there’s a reason that sales reps need to be in the office on the last day of the month, because C-Level decision-makers want to make decisions, and mid-level managers want to impress the C-levels.

The bottom line? The last week of the month, money is floating through the air, and deals are begging to be closed.

Top 20 Articles on www.KenKrogue.com (with total views)

  1. What is Inside Sales? Our Definition of Inside Sales | Ken Krogue – 16,115 Views
  2. Inside Sales Best Practices – 1,623 Views
  3. Inside Sales Tips by Ken Krogue – 1.026 Views
  4. KPI – Key Performance Indicators – 867 Views
  5. Inside Sales versus Outside Sales – 542 Views
  6. Is Leaving a Voicemail Worthwhile? – 456 Views
  7. 6 Reasons Salesforce Users Need Hosted Dialer Technology – 382 Views
  8. Behind the Cloud – Ken’s Notes – 310 Views
  9. Inside Sales Tips – No Vacations Last Week of the Month – 298 Views
  10. Funny Inside Sales Videos – 290 Views
  11. Inside Sales Tips – Skip to the Beep – 273 Views
  12. Demand Generation Tactics and Strategy – 258 Views
  13. Inside Sales Tips – Interest is The Counterfeit of Need – 252 Views
  14. Inside Sales is Top Method of Lead Generation – 231 Views
  15. Inside Sales Training – 214 Views
  16. Inside Sales Tips – How LinkedIn Gives you 3 Free SEO Backlinks – 206 Views
  17. Inside Sales Tips – Specialize – 174 Views
  18. Marketing B2B 4 Quick Email Tips – 168 Views
  19. Leadscon East Vendors Need to Drink their Own Medicine – 137 Views
  20. What is Lead Response Management – 137 Views

Author: Ken Krogue |
Summary of Ken Krogue’s Forbes articles

Inside Sales Industry Research

Free Inside Sales Industry Research

Gain access to additional inside sales industry research, including the original Lead Response Management study.

Receive email updates from the Sales Insider

Related Posts