How Sales Leaders must plan for Q4

How should sales leaders plan for the Oct-Nov-Dec quarter – where potentially 25% of the days can be holidays?

October 2nd is one of the first days of Q4 – the birth anniversary of Gandhiji – this is a time to relax, lick one’s wounds and enjoy the laurels of the previous quarter’s exertions. Most importantly, it is the time plan for the quarter ahead!

One new activity to do this quarter is to plan for the holidays. This quarter is filled with a slew of holidays – with Dusshera, Deepawali & Christmas taking a major chunk of the quarter. Corporate India tends to bunch their leaves and take the week off, which poses particular challenges for sales leaders – nearly 3 of the 12 weeks, or roughly 25% of the selling time, is potentially unavailable!

What is important is to plan for certain regions being closed at certain times – not all regions are off during all 3 weeks. Is the North or East part of India closed during the week? Then your best bet would be to sell in the Southern parts of India! Similarly, if the South is closed – sell in the West! Don’t get flustered by the holidays. Not all the days that fall under the 25% need to be unproductive.

Plan for the regional nuances. Do non-customer facing work – there’s a lot of work to do – in the holidays. Last but not the least – enjoy the holidays, take your leave; come back recharged, reinvigorated and raring to go!